Itinerize me! Filling in some (many ...) blanks in this summer's trip in FRA out LHR

Posted by Hank (City of Seattle) on 03/22/25 08:52 PM

The scenario: 16 nights with family. I arrive and depart a week-ish on either end.

Family: me dad advancing middle age; mom ageless; daughter 16 going on 16; daughter's nice girl friend also 16.

Interests: dad rides bikes, likes it when everyone else is happy. Mom love every aspect of Europe in it's finer and more superlative iterations. Daughter loves Alps, volleyball, shopping, wearing her bathing suit, pretty places. Friend similar to daughter.

Biggest limitations: pesky dad will have his pesky bicycle, making some high speed train routes hard or not possible. Mom gets impatient if surroundings aren't blowing her socks off for more than few days. Teenager going to teenage.

Loose plan at the moment:

Fam arrives FRAnkfurt on a Sunday at 1:15pm

We want to scoot down the Tannheim in the Tannheimer Tal for 3 or 4 nights of schmaltzy sentimental Tirolean high country goodness. We love Tannheim and are stoked to be back! It's located close to Fussen, maybe 15km southwest as the crow flies up into the mountains.

No trains to Tannheim so we'll rent a car. Nice to have there for the occasional drive to a mountain coaster etc.

Plan is family arrives at FRA airport and instead of renting car there I meet them in Ulm, which is 2 hours from FRA by regular high speed train. Then either spend a night in Ulm or I drive them straight to Tannheim.

End of trip, already 4 nights booked in London, at forum recommended Hotel Premier County Hall, thanks.

SO! 4-5 nights Tannheim plus 4 nights London leaves 7 or 8 more nights to get from one to the other.

We want to spend a good portion of that time family bike touring. Say 5-6 nights, including 2 nights in one place with a washing machine in the middle of the trip.

We are thinking hard about bike touring in NW Belgium. For one, the Eurostar from Brussels to London is just a two hour trip and can take dad's bicycle. And Belgium, as the kids said 20 years ago, is dope.

Not sure on the cycle tour. Maybe pick up bikes on arrival day in Brussels, same day out to Mechelen or even Antwerp to sleep. Next day cross boarder to Holland, through Goes to Middleburg and sleep. Ferry back to Belgium near coast, couple of nights either Bruges or at the seaside. Then head back toward Brussels with a stop in Ghent, in Bruges too if we stay on the coast.

But this cycle tour is all sketched from thin air at the moment. Still quite open, even to other locations entirely.

And still working out the day two we'll likely have transiting from Fussen area to somewhere to bike tour. ANd open to one or two cycle intensive stays in one place, don't necessarily have to load up bikes with luggage and move point to point.

I have much more thinking on this itinerary of course, but thought it might be a good time to let in the air of ideas from the outside. Happy to hear any and all input/suggestions/clarifying questions etc.

Thanks!

Posted by geovagriffith

03/24/25 04:03 PM

8684 posts

Hank,
I lived in Bavaria for four years and have traveled to 4/5 if the countries in Europe. Every place I have gone has been good, but I do love some places even more.
Also, I once did a lot of long distance cycling, including rides across Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia and Florida. Did 500 miles a week on my longest ride. I am in my late 70s now and walk for exercise.

I researched doing bike tours as well as the barge/bike tours and found them to be significantly more expensive than what I would spend on touring. We like touring place that are historic, scenic and have cultural and art focus.

We don't spend lots of money to fly to Europe to go to the beach or cycle in limited areas.

One thing you don't want to do is ride bikes in crowded European cities with heavy traffic. You need to bike on a trail designated for cycling.
I assume that you have already determined where to rent you cycles. My wife and I have done three bike tours (just for a day), while cruising in a port and the bikes we were provided were in poor shape. Suggest verifying as much as possible, what you get for your bike rental? Will you have clip on pedal and thirty gears? Road bikes?
Perhaps you can find such places, but I never found anything that wasn't too expensive and took me away from seeing the Europe that I wanted to see.
Of course, you are the one to pick what you want to see, so I wish you luck.

Regarding your itinerary, you mentioned three distinct areas: Bavaria, London and Belgium/Netherlands.

You have 16 nights and need to minimize excess travel. Travel between places adds cost and loss of time touring.

Only booked four nights in London, why didn't you pick an area closer to the other two areas?

Brugges and Gent are by far my favorite places in Belgium. Brussels is good for a day or two, but that city was not one that wowed me, except for the Grand Plaza.