June 2016 Two Weeks in Europe for Family of 5

Eliminate all the short stops (1 or 1-2 days) and you will have a much better experience in Europe. Your family will probably have more fun, too. London, Paris, and Barcelona with a couple of day trips could easily fill a busy two weeks.

First, too many stops for 2 weeks. Second, too many large cities. Your first 4 stops are the largest cites in each of those countries, the remaining stops are all significantly large for their area. Also, start counting nights rather than days and don't be tempted to put ranges for each location as it give you a false sense of what you will actually be able to achieve.

Here is my suggestions for 14 nights:

• London, England - 3 nights
• Paris, France - 2 nights
• Bern and surrounding area instead of Zurich, Switzerland - 3 nights (you are already visiting the largest cites in the UK and France, skip Zurich and head to something smaller in Switzerland)
• Lake Como or Garda area, Cinque Terre or Florence instead of Milan, Italy - 3 nights (Milan is a big industrial city, yes there are some sights to see there but for tourism there are better options in northern Italy)
• Barcelona, Spain - 3 nights

Skip Brussels as it's not worth one night. Skip Innsbruck since you are already heading through Switzerland.

My 2€,

DJ

Too much, in my opinion.

What you need to do is draw it out in detail to see how much time you will have. If you do this, you will get a better picture than just listing "2-3 days". GOing between these places takes time

As an example (only an example, I obviously don't have your dates etc!)

Thursday - leave the US and fly overnight
Friday - arrive London, jet lag, sleep London
Saturday - visit London, sleep London
Sunday - same
Monday - leave London at 12, arrive Paris at 3 . This means you will need to leave your London hotel at 10:30 - 11 (depending on where it is compared to station, Eurostar trains require check in 30 min ahead. Then you will have another 30 min getting to your hotel from the train in Paris) Sleep Paris
Tuesday - Paris Sleep Paris
Wednesday - Paris, sleep Paris
Thursday - leave Paris 9AM in a train/plane for Switzerland, this takes x hours, arrive Switzerland at y, sleep Bern. (obviously I don't know Switzerland!)
and so on.

As you can see, above is one week with 3 nights in London (you will see it for 2 days, plus your jet-lagged arrival day and a tiny bit in the AM before your train). 3 nights in Paris (you will see it for 2 days, plus the evening you arrive), and then you arrive in Switzerland, but won't see anything until the Friday. From there you have one week to cover all the rest...

Obviously you need to cut. I suggest cutting Brussels and either Switzerland OR Austria. If Barcelona is a priority (and it is wonderful!), then skip Italy. If Italy is preferable, skip Spain.

Fly in to London (4 nights)
Eurostar to Paris (4 nights)
Fly to Zurich then train to Luzern (2 nights)
Train to Interlaken/Lauterbrunnen (2 nights), or train to Lake Como (2 nights)
Fly to Barcelona (3 nights) from Zurich, or Milan

Even this is a fair amount given your time frame. There is no way you could realistically also include Brussels, Innsbruck and the Cote d'Azur.

Keep in mind that every time you change locations, all 5 of you have to pack up (and check for forgotten items), then get to the train station, through city traffic, with enough time to find and board the train. When you get to your next city, you have to find your way to your hotel to check in and drop your luggage before you start enjoying the sights. Be realistic about how fast your family will move around, especially with luggage.

Do not try to replicate a tour itinerary on your own. On a tour, the bus takes you door-to-door with your luggage and often to sights too. Independent travel requires more "travel" time. While you'll have more freedom to roam, you'll have less overall time to sightsee. And the more locations you hit, the more time (and money) you spend on travel.

If you are planning to rent a car in one country and drop it off in another one, you are likely to have huge drop-off fees. You'll need a car large enough to seat your family in comfort for long drives and hold all your luggage out of sight. Those short European flights don't save much time, if any. It takes longer to get to the airport, you need extra time at the airport for check-in, security, boarding, etc., and then waiting for luggage on arrival. Airports, unlike train stations, are far from city centers.

Hi trentmac41. I echo themes of previous posters. But I also think more than 3 nights in any one place eats up too much of your trip. Perhaps 3 nights London, 3 nights Paris, then 6 nights in a LARGE rental car or van driving thru France from northern France to southern France. You could do a combination of mountains, wine country, coast, as you desire. Then maybe drop rental in southern France and train to Barcelona for 2 nights. For me, the family in large rental car would be a memorable aspect / change of pace after the large cities. Also suggest you get the kids involved in the trip planning / decisions rather than just 'telling' them where you will be going. Enjoy your trip!

Aside from having too many places, they aren't logically connected. I mean, why not put Moscow right in the middle?

Plan a trip that is full of short jumps. Be aware that a trip by plane is equal to a six- to eight-hour train trip.

Do you have family or friends in Brussels? Why else would you spend so much money and time to go there in order to spend a few hours?

Trentmac - are you still there?

Thank you all for your responses. It appears uniform that I have too many stops. After going through the exercise of how much time I will spend in each place, and the logistics issue of packing/unpacking with all 5 of us, it became pretty apparent. The comment about adding Moscow, also highlighted the inefficiency of our initial plan. We mainly want to see London, Paris, and Barcelona. We also want to visit the French Riviera, and Monaco. I am going to try to put something together that allows plenty of time at those places.

I would like to still incorporate some "exploring time" throughout the countries. My family and I went on a 6 week vacation a few years back and traveled through 26 states in the USA. The kids still talk about how great that experience was.

I will post my revised plan when I get it together.

Thank you all again for the great feedback... and the wake-up call.

Spontaneity is overrated and 2 weeks is not much time. June is a high tourist month in Europe. For a family of 5, you need to book accommodations in advance. London, Paris and Barcelona have tons of places to visit and things to do, plus enticing day trips. If you stay longer in each of these places, you'll be able to "explore" them.

Does your 2 weeks include travel days? Remember you loose a day on your way over.

I usually agree with Chani, but in this instance regarding train travel vs air, you will

need to consider the price of the tickets.

1. Travel.
2. Arrive Barcelona.
3. Barcelona.
4. Barcelona.
5. Barcelona. Flight to Nice, Easyjet 18:05-19:30, 1H25m, $45 Sleep Nice.
6. Nice.
7. Nice>Monaco>Nice.TRA
8. Flight to Paris CDG, Easyjet, 9:20-11:25, 2H05m, $48. Sleep Paris.
9. Paris.
10. Paris.
11. Paris.
12. Train, Eurostar, Paris Gare du Nord>London St Pancrase, 9:13-10:39, 2H17m. fares as low as $59.
    Need to book as soon as they become available. Sleep London.
13. London.
14. London.
15. London.
16. Travel Home.