Mom & 2 Kids - First Timers

You have 11 usable days. Suggest you don't spread yourself too thin. Pick just two bases.

I'd do London and Paris. Or to keep the kids both happy, maybe Paris & Berlin. Head straight to Paris or Berlin after arriva in London (I'd take the train). Do a one-day blitz of London on your way back (you're gonna be there anyway, you need to spend your last night in London to be sure you don't miss the big expensive flight home next day). That gives you almost five days in each base city, allowing enough time for a pretty reasonable pace with time in both big cities and maybe even enough time for a day trip from each if you push things (but honestly, those cities can easily absorb all the time you will have there...try and resist the temptation to load up on more cities).

Too bad you didn't fly open-jaw, but you got tickets you're happy with, go with that and just take trains beyond London. Fly in to London, upon arrival don't stop, press on with a train to your actual destination. Trains between all other destinations. Head back to London the day before your flight home, catch an early train, so you can enjoy your "bonus" afternoon and evening in London, spending your last night there, and fly home next day. Have fun.

(And you found cheap business class tickets, too? Are you sure you want to spoil the kids that way? They may never be willing to suffer in the back again...)

Flying into London on March 10 and out on March 23 gives you 13 days. The first couple days you are going to be jet lagged and you will not be as energetic as usual. So, with your first day just a struggle to stay awake— plan on being in London four or five nights.

You can take the Eurostar train from London to Paris in 2.5 hours. Paris is going to require 4 nights since half of your arrival day will be taken up in the transfer from London to Paris and getting to your accommodation.
This means 8-9 nights are spoken for; that leaves 3-4 nights for Berlin.

I’m assuming you need to return to London for the return flight back home. If this is the case, I would recommend being in London the night of March 22 before your return flight on the 23rd. The consequences of missing a return flight are so expensive— the risk of that is not worth the potential cost.

This means there’s really not enough time for Amsterdam if you want to allocate enough time to actually see London, Paris and Berlin.

I’ve been to London and Paris many times and found that only when I was in each of those cities 4-5 nights that I finally felt like I had adequate time to get my fill of each capital. There is always more to enjoy in these cities. And Berlin is equally impressive and so spread out that it also needs 4 nights.just to scratch the surface.

Check for airfares and flight schedules from Berlin to London at www.Skyscanner.com
Have a great trip!

Since you’re at one of the airports already, isn’t it simpler and probably quicker just to fly on to Paris from there? You might have to change terminals but that’s much easier than having to get into London with your luggage to St Pancras station in enough time to go through border control for Eurostar yet again?

Just make sure that the flight to Paris is from the airport you fly into - London has 5 airports and you don’t want to have to get from one to another when you’re jet lagged etc.

I note you mention all big cities, not any scenic areas or small towns. I'll be curious and ask why your son is interested in Berlin. Is it the WWII/ Cold War connection? If so, there's plenty of WWII stuff to see in London & Paris. To me Berlin sounds like a serious mature adult destination. You could stretch visiting the Rhine area of Germany from Paris][1] But I agree that is not enough days to spend so much time in transit. Whether train or plane you eat up most of a day going from one city to another.

AmandaR’s suggestion to fly to Paris from London would work IF you didn’t plan to spend a few days in London. But since you want to see London (as you should), the Eurostar to Paris from St. Pancras station works much better than returning to the airport. The Eurostar train only takes 2.5 hours, and it departs right from downtown London. So in the time it would take to travel to the airport, plus the 2 hours “security time”, you could be in Paris before you would even board the plane at the airport.

Buy your Eurostar tickets as soon as your itinerary is firm; the prices rise as the travel date approaches.

Paris to Berlin by train is a jocular Nye of 8.5-9.t5 hours, so I personally would want to break that up with an overnight or 2 on the way. Or you could take a night train, if that sounds appealing. Or fly.

If you decide to take the train and break up the journey, look at the possible routes on bahn.de and choose a city that the train is passing through anyway. Amsterdam and Strasbourg are possibilities, along with a number of German cities (Essen, Karlsruhe, and more). Strasbourg might be nice as it is a smaller city, and Alsace is a nice place to visit.

Then fly from Berlin back to London the day before your return flight. Or better yet, book open-jaw (listed as “multi-city” on the airline booking sites. Then you don’t have to overnight in London, checking in and out of a hotel, etc.

Add me to the voices saying you need to drop one city. In this case, A'dam. Knowing that your arrival day will be hampered by jet lag, and that each change of city will eat up half a day, plus needing to be back in London the evening before your flight home.... need I say more? 4 nights in each city will give you 3 1/2 days in each place to explore. That is not very much time for 3 of Europe's major cities. If you include A'dam, your time in each city shrinks to only 2 1/2 days Take the train to Paris (and A'dam), but fly to Berlin and back to London.

For your first time, read through the Travel Tips section, and get the guidebooks for each city. Also consider getting the Europe Through the Back Door book for a more thorough primer on European travel for novices.

It would be a shame to use London for your air travel and not spend any time there. How about this?
Nights of March 10-12 London (2 full days there)
AM flight to Berlin on March 13, nights of March 13-17 in Berlin (3 1/2 days there)
AM train to Paris on March 18, nights of March 18-21 in Paris (3 1/2 days there)
AM train to London on March 22, night of March 22 there (1/2 day there)
March 23 flight home
This gives you a fair amount of time in Paris and Berlin to satisfy your kids' requests, and a taste of London.
I haven't checked out plane or train schedules, but with these large cities there should be lots of choices. An early departure on the days you move would really make your visits in each city more enjoyable, because it gives you a half-day to sightsee, instead of spending the main part of the day en route.
Happy travels!

Oops! Typo!
My plan should say spend nights of March 13-16 in Berlin, travel to Paris on March 17, and nights of March 17-21 in Paris. That gives you 3 1/2 days in Berlin and 4 1/2 days in Paris. A better choice IMO. You could also go from Paris to London on the 21st for a day and a half in London and only 3 1/2 days in Paris. Your choice.

Note that Eurostar tickets are priced and marketed similarly to airline tickets. You can pay extra for changeable times, as well. It's a bit of a mistake to view London as an entrée to The Continent. I know you jumped on an air deal you liked, but the Immigration formalities between the UK and the Shengen Zone require a non-optional 60 to 90 minute advance-checkin for Eurostar, before boarding is permitted.

As others have noted, a Multi-City air trip can often cost no more than the simple Round-Trip you chose. Be careful of bargain airlines that charge for carry-ons and boarding passes, as well as a few that use inconvenient "alternate" airports in order to offer those great fares.

Each of the cities you are interested in is good for a week, on a first visit. You may wish to evaluate your childrens' attention spans, and their reasons for selecting one city or another. The time to change hotels and get to another city take a lot of time from Sightseeing. Yes, I am suggesting that you don't simply say, "Sure, whatever you want" to your children. WHY do they want to go this place or another? It's fun to take a train, but it eats up a lot of time, and view isn't really all that rewarding. Especially the Eurostar.

Please also think about whether this will be their last time in Europe, ever? I know you are thinking about your time with them, and their upcoming college and departure from The Nest. But how many cities do you really need to visit? I was reluctant to travel when young, but each of my 3 siblings "backpacked" for many weeks in Europe, independently or with friends the same age. My parents (4 children) had no impulse to go with them. (1960's) Youth-oriented Amsterdam is a particularly rewarding stop for teens in groups on their own, and there are about 10 possible highly-rated 1-1.5 hour unreserved train daytrips from Amsterdam.

Think about a few places that absolutely require advance booking, like the Anne Frank House and the Eifel Tower. Also seasonal events, like Keukenhof flower garden near Amsterdam (open only March 20-May 11, 2025).

You are a cool mom! I'm a single mom, and I spent 7 months in Europe with my son when he was 12. You needn't worry about safety. Make sure your kids' phones have some kind of locator on them and that they know to stay put if you get separated. When boarding the subway, corral them ahead of you. The one time we got separated was when I boarded the Paris Metro ahead of him, and he didn't make it on. Oops. He stayed there, and I took the next train back. It was fine.
I'm a big AirBnB person (many on this site are hotel-only). You travel a lot, so you know what you like. Even if you don't have a kitchen or plan to cook, your kids are sure to enjoy shopping for candy, snacks and soda. Even before our trip, we often enjoyed a meal called "snacks" (because I realized I didn't want him telling the teacher he had "cocktails" with his mom), which is basically the Rick Steves picnic concept. European grocery stores (especially Lidl, which is SO cheap!) made this even more fun. Also, great souvenirs!
Berlin is massive. We used the HopOn/HopOff bus to get out to the East Wall Gallery. We're not big museum people, but we did enjoy the GDR Museum. Since my son was "homeschooling," we read this graphic novel about the GDR:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24209891-the-other-side-of-the-wall
If you can get to Amsterdam and see the Anne Frank House, try to get the kids to read the book first. It's really not necessary, though, as the museum was really well done. We also loved the Van Gogh Museum and our evening canal tour with Those Dam Boat Guys. I see you're from Wyoming, so I don't have to warn you about the cold (if they are even running evening tours in March). It's very expensive to stay in Amsterdam, and AirBnB is problematic there, so staying in Haarlem or another nearby city is advisable. We really loved our stay there and ate fries from the shop around the corner 4 times in 3 days. The BEST fries ever!
For planning your train journeys, check out The Man is Seat 61 (seat61.com). He has all the answers, including how to book an overnight train for a group of three. We took one from Munich to Cologne, more for the experience than anything else.
And don't worry about jet lag. Try the Timeshifter app (first trip is free), and take advantage of your comfy seats to sleep on the way over (I would've put the kids in coach if it were me).
I have become a big fan of eating food on a bus for some reason. In Paris, Bustronome is fun, but a bit of a splurge. The food is very nice. In London, I haven't done this yet, but others on the forum can vouch for Brigit's (https://b-bakery.com/london/bus-tours/afternoon-tea-bus-london). Bustronome also operates in London.
In Paris, I recommend the Montparnasse Tower instead of the Eiffel Tower (certainly, you want to see the ET, but if you go up it, you can't see it, so why squeeze yourself in with the masses on a timed ticket?). Incredible views. I think March is a bit early for Giverny, an easy day trip and (at least when we were there) a combined ticket with the Orangerie. I found it made the water lilies more meaningful for my son (and me, quite frankly) to see them after having seen the garden.
Sorry if this is a bit rambling. Have a great trip!!!

One more thing. The only "must sees" are the things that you and your kids must see. If you don't want to haul them around the Louvre, don't. You will not be graded on this assignment.

I think the outline Judy proposed makes very good use of the time you have. Trying to cram in Amsterdam is one too many for your time.

You are the coolest mom! Good for you. Plenty of good city advice already here. Re: what to do: have the kids decide this as much as you possibly can. Daughter can google "top things to do in Paris" and your son the same for Berlin, and plan your time accordingly. Pick one specific thing a day plus time to wander.

Discuss some things now, so your assumptions won't be wildly different:
* what will be their spending money budget
* how fancy will your eating be
* whether you want to go everywhere as a team of three, or split up on occasion
* what time you'll want to get rolling each morning.

Also think about what phone plan/coverage you'll have, so you can use mapping, text and "find my friends."

my kiddos (14 boy & 12 girl)

Doubt they will be off on their own during the trip ( at least not intentionally)

Easy, London and a day trip or overnight for 33% of your time and Paris 50% of your time with a day trip or over night, then London for the last 17%.

Mr. E, poster said her son picked Berlin, so that is why some of us figured it in.