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Posted by (Omaha, NE, United States) on

Hi!

My family of 3 is planning a 30 day trip to Europe in June and July of 2016. So far, I have created a pretty good itinerary for us. However, we have one 3-4 day section left to fill in. I am looking for suggestions based on the following back story:

We are staying with a friend in Kaiserslautern, Germany. The plan is to be there on the weekends and then do mini trips during the weeks. We already have plans to see Rome, Malta, Dublin, & Paris. So we are looking to fill in some time somewhere close to Kaiserslautern. For example, we had talked about Greece or Croatia but think it will just be too far away. So now I am trying to find something that is like a 5-6 hour train ride max. We are doing a few Ryanair flights and it is actually kind of a pain to get to the airport, so I was hoping to find somewhere by train. (Our friend does have a car so she could drive it if made economical sense.)

In a previous trip, we have been to Munich & Amsterdam, so we don't really want to repeat those places.

Our daughter is 10 and so child friendly is preferred. For example, we aren't planning to do a lot of museums. We will save up her museum threshold for a few already chosen places. Walking isn't really a problem.

Where would you go if you in the western half of the continent?

Thanks for any possible suggestions.

Posted by
4046 posts

You can take relaxing day trips by train anywhere in the Rheinland-Pfalz region for as little as 28 euro for the 3 of you. You could go to Trier and the Moselle region. A day trip on a Moselle cruise boat would be fun for a ten year old.

Outside of your region but within the 2-3 hour train ride is the fairy tale road which starts east of Frankfurt in the little towns of Steinau and Hanau and continues in a northeast direction.

You can dip down into the Alsace region of France in a couple of hours. There are great hikes, castles and vineyards in this region.

If you want some beautiful alpine scenery take an overnight trip to the Lauterbrunnen valley in Switzerland.

Just some family friendly ideas for day trips and a little further afield.

Posted by
20945 posts

Paris is just 2 1/2 hours away on the ICE. Paris Disneyland?

Posted by
8299 posts

Unfortunately, it's going to be very difficult to get to and from Kaiserslautern as it's not located near any large city airport that's served by European budget airlines. I would suggest you get your friends to meet you in some other cities.
I prefer to travel to cities that are easy to get to from each other.

Since you want to go to Paris, I'd suggest you start your trip in London and take the Eurostar to Paris. Then take a fast train to Barcelona. From there, you can get to Rome on Vueling Airlines inexpensively. Then catch a fast train to Florence and a train to Venice. From there, you could easily catch a train north into Austria and Germany. Or, you could catch a plane from Venice Marco Polo Airport to many different European cities.

Posted by
7175 posts

4.5 hours by train (with changes) to Luzern in Switzerland.
After a night in Luzern travel to the Lauterbrunnen Valley via Interlaken for 2 nights, giving you a day to take the Jungfraujoch Railway. http://www.jungfrau.ch/en/tourism/
Travel back to Kaiserslautern via Bern, spending 3-4 hours exploring the medieval old town.

Posted by
49 posts

Thanks for the responses. Sam, we actually have a trip to Paris Disneyland planned for my daughter's birthday on July 10th. We also have a lot of the day trips planned for around the area. I really like the ideas for Switzerland. I was kind of thinking that but wanted more specifics to convince the husband! Thanks!

Posted by
503 posts

Saltzburg, Austria would be a nice trip. Let your daughter watch The Sound of Music before you leave and then take the tour. The town is so easily walkable and a castle on the hillside.

Posted by
12040 posts

This won't fill your entire block of time, and I know you said you didn't want to hit museums... but anyway...

Speyer, which isn't too far from Kaiserslautern, has a very kid-friendly industry and technology museum. The city also hosts an aquarium, and contains a huge Romanesque cathedral.

If you're looking for an amusement park not affiliated with Disney, there's Europa Park near Freiburg (probably 2-3 hours away by train from Kaiserslautern, although if you qualify, the USO and MWR offer frequent bus trips), Phantasialand near Bonn, Legoland near Ulm and Playmobile Park near Nürnberg.

Germany has several fantastic indoor waterparks. The best, by far, is Therme Erding near Munich, but the same company runs a sister resort somewhere near the Black Forest, which would be much closer to Kaiserslautern. Other options are Kristall Palm Beach near Nürnberg and Tropical Islands Resort (built in a giant former zeppelin hangar, itself built on an abandonned Soviet airbase) hidden deep within the Spreewald near Berlin. All of these resorts also offer the typical German spa experience as well (ie, unisex and naked, although Therme Erding has a clothed spa section)

If you just want to spend some time hiking, Kaiserslautern sits in the middle of the Pfälzerwald mountains. Contiguous with the adjacent region of France, this is Europe's largest nature preserve, and it's criss-crossed by thousands of kilometers of well-marked hiking trails. You'll find Germany's highest density of castles here, although most are ruined and many sit deep within the woods.

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