Itinerary for Europe

"I am worried that short stays all over will be too stressful."IMO you're already on the right track, because some of us here do, indeed, find short stays too stressful.You may find this link helpful in getting started on itinerary planning Itinerary Planning 101It's difficult for us to give you useful advice when the initial question is broad and we don't have much info to go on, thus more information would be helpful, for example:1. Is this a first trip to Europe?2. If it isn't, where have you been on previous trips?3. Do you have any thoughts, so far, about the mode of transportation: train, rental car, flying within Europe (if the distance warrants), all of the above, are you disinclined to use one or more of these?4. 8 weeks minus the first 3 weeks leaves 5 weeks, approx how much of the remaining 5 weeks will be taken up by the work stints in Bonn and Copenhagen?If you can get back to us on these, and anything else you think we should know, that will get us started in helping you.

Kent, I might know about "small, German towns", but I don't understand teenages (not sure I ever did; I think I skipped those years).

I'm even pulling the plug on a planned trip with my 25 yo daughter and her fiance because all they seem interested in is the party scene. (You can party in this country; Europe is something else you can't do here.)

"I was trying to find some quaint small towns to blend in to for a week"

Now, that's my kind of trip, but I'm not sure teenagers would appreciate it.

Lee: Understood, I'm with you on that subject! Blending in and vegging for a week in a small quaint town or two sounds wonderful to you and me, but I guess it might not sound as good to two teenagers.Lee, do you--or anyone else out there--have any words of wisdom for Ed and his wife?(for those other than Lee, who has obviously already read them, reading the OP and Ed's subsequent post will tell you what Ed's specific question is)

Hi Ed,
My suggestion would be to get the teens involved in the research and planning (if you haven't already) so they have a vested interest in the trip. Since you're visiting some larger cities early in the trip you might consider working in some smaller cities.

If your family likes hiking, maybe some time in a village in the Swiss Alps, Interlaken perhaps;

for history, Berlin (though not a small city) is fun with a great transportation system that makes it easy to get around; or

something in northern Italy might be exciting--the Cinque Terre, Verona, or Venice for example.

You're so fortunate to have so much time to explore Europe! I think your idea of slowing down and enjoying each destination is great...there are tons of possibilities!

Thank you very much for your responses. I know it's a broad topic.
We have been to Madrid before. The kids are doing a language camp in Barcelona. Our work will be 3 days in Bonn, the last week in Copenhagen.
We are open to renting a car if we plan on smaller cities, otherwise we will take trains.
The main thing is, how do you relax (hang out in one place for a while) without boring the teens? I want to make this educational(inspirational?) for them. The specialness of museums,etc. can be diluted if you see so many. Hence I was trying to find some quaint small towns to blend in to for a week at a time.
This seems like a lot to ask of the forum, but I appreciate any information.

From your last post: "The main thing is, how do you relax (hang out in one place for a while) without boring the teens?"It's a dilemma. You would like to hang out for about a week in one or more "small quaint towns", but small quaint towns often don't have a lot of "sights" to keep teens interested. For exploring small quaint towns a car will probably give you the flexibility to drive to some things the teens will like.France has many small quaint towns. Caddogan France describes some. By the time the small quaint towns make it into Rick's books, his disciples (including us on this forum) start to ruin them, so I don't know if Rick's books will help.Lee (on this forum) knows about small German towns. And there are others here who may be able to help with the question you asked in your most recent post of today.

Ed, On this RS website there is an Andy Steves Blog 2008 while he was studying in Rome. He travels to many European destinations on weekends and school breaks and you might like to read about his experiences throughout Europe. There may be some ideas that you can incorporate into your tour planning that depending on their ages may appeal to your teens. Lucky family!