Month in Europe- family of 4 itinerary suggestions

Hint; You should make clear when you are planning to go and for how long. What is your maximum number of days? :)

Hi Tania. I would suggest getting Rick Steves books at bookstore or library; they are packed full of the info you are asking. Then come back to this site if you have specific questions. Enjoy your trip!

Tania, As this is your first trip to Europe, I'd highly recommend reading Europe Through The Back Door, as it provides a LOT of information on "how" to travel in Europe. Country specific Guidebooks have good information to plan sightseeing in specific countries or cities. In reading your proposed Itinerary, the first point that "stands out" is that you're planning to visit five somewhat geographically distant countries/regions in a one month time frame (Ireland, Scotland, England France, Italy). Especially in "high season", that could be somewhat difficult to achieve. Each time you change locations will require a minimum of half a day in travel time, and in some cases you'll need a full travel day. It would help if you could list the cities you're planning to see in each country / region, as that will make it easier to plan an efficient travel route. Travel by train and in some cases budget airline is usually the quickest and easiest method. It may be possible to get discounted rail fares for your children, but I'd have to research that (I usually travel solo, so have never had the occasion to check). Perhaps some of the others have more information on that. Car rental is certainly an option, but especially in Italy there are some potentially expensive "caveats" to be aware of. Some additional information on your plans would be helpful. Good luck with your planning! (PS: on an unrelated matter, as you're in Halton Hills, I assume you're familiar with the phrase "make it right")

In regards to Ken's comment about discount train tickets - In Italy, your 10yo is a child's price (-50%) and you'll get a 20% discount on the adult prices if you can get the "Family" ticket rate. The 12yo is an adult rate. (There are student cards/rates, but I think it would be difficult for you as a foreigner to get one for her) In France: Traveling within Paris, even the 10yo is too old for a demi-tarif (half price) ticket. The Paris Visite pass may be cheaper (or may not - depends on how many days and how much transportation you want to take). The 12yo is not a child's price on even the Paris Visite pass. You can buy a discount card called a Carte Enfant + for traveling with a child on SNCF (national trains), but at a cost of 71€, it is unlikely to pay out for you as compared to advanced bookings. That card gets you a discount of 25% (and sometimes more), and has only a 3€/ticket fee if your plans change. The discount cards are valid for a year.

Hello, thanks everyone, I am new to this so bear with me! LOL. I have planned many extensive trips through the US, but as we were always driving ourselves it was much easier. Anyway, we will be travelling the Month of July in 2013 and are flexible +/- 3-5 days. We are like kids at Christmas trying to fit in as much as possible in our alloted time frame without exhausting ourselves. Randy has already outlined an awesome sample itinerary for us. We won't be in London England more than two to three days at most though. Our primary places we wish to see are Scotland (west coast and Edinburgh) through England into Paris and then on to Italy. Ireland will be primarily our starting point only due to cheaper to fly into for us than the UK. I don't beleive we will be travelling any further than Rome. This is all in the first stages. I am just looking for some advice for regions in France and Italy that are great for family. Places to stay and see. Thanks to everyone who have offered their stories and advice. Very much appreciated in helping us to plan our route. I quess a large part of this forum is more designed for specifics, but those who have offered insight and suggestions, thank you very much, it is a huge help for us.

Tania, I have a couple of questions; 1) What airline is it that gets you from home to Ireland so cheaply compared to London, that it's more economical for you to fly into Ireland only to leave quickly on a ferry to England? This seems dubious to me, though I know Aer Lingus does have some economical fares, they don't depart from your area, and they DO connect to London for very little extra cost. You would have to go to NYC, Chicago or Boston first. 2) Given that you are a family that enjoys the outdoors, how much do you think you will enjoy big cities? Because a multi-country trip like this tends to become very city-centric - like maybe 60-70% urban. If you are a family that is a little uncomfortable with the intensity and the concrete and stone of cities in comparison to cute towns and pretty walks, I would think a trip that was more like 20-40% urban would be more ideal. The easiest way to make that happen is to cut the number of countries. Sure, you could only briefly visit Paris and Rome and London in favor of a small town/rural experience, but that's pretty hard to "sell" to the family when so many iconic sights are in the cities and so much money is being spent. Our month in France in 2009 included a week in Paris, but that was pretty much it for urban. The rest of the time was small towns. So it was under 25% urban. It remains our favorite trip in terms of pacing and "feel". If we had tried to do several countries, we would not have retained the same feel. I say this as a family that I would not consider particularly outdoorsy, with children who don't particularly like to hike. Since you do, I am even more leery of a city-heavy schedule. Any chance you could return in a couple years and split these countries up a bit? PS; You are a family of 4, right? Your title says 5 ....? You can edit it if necessary...

At the time of this post, flying direct to Ireland whether we stayed a day or two was 800 cheaper for us than flying into Edinburgh. I have not checked lately as I can not get anything for our time frame so far in advance, but was using a Canadian Charter site for average summer pricing and as we wish to fly direct, Ireland was the better choice. As we get closer to actually booking, I will keep all options open as we are on a budget. The ferry ride is still a consideration. We are still learning where we wish to go and see and with this I am not leaving anything out. For us it isn't just the destination, but the journey as well. We also enjoy all aspects of hiking, urban and rural. Dividing this trip up isn't an option at this time as it has taken a number of years to save for this one. Perhaps if we win the lottery!! LOL I edited the post, thanks for pointing that out, I didn't notice.

Tania, look at Air Transat, you can fly into London and out of Rome, no backtracking will save you money! Or fly into Dublin and out of Rome..they also fly into Glasgow, click on their multi destination tickets.

Hi Pat, I was only trying Edinburgh, I never thought to try Glasgow, that is awesome!! Thanks Pat, Air Transat is definitley our carrier of choice. I guess unless we add Ireland to the itinerary, this will be the way to go and makes much more sense for us. I even might have found accomodations already for the first leg if we land right in Glasgow, only 20 minutes from the airport. Much appreciated, this will put this part of the trip to rest now and I can move on with the fun stuff!! LOL. It is great how all the little pieces are coming together. Thanks again!

Tania - one thing to think about is to reconsider the multi-country aspect of your trip. It can be more than worthwhile to confine yourself to a smaller section geographically and culturally. Especially if you are looking to do some outdoor activities, see small "out of the way places". We traveled for several years in a row with our kids, beginning when they were 9 & 11. and mostly stuck to 1 country at a time. Whether you take that suggestion or not, here are some of places that we really enjoyed: Ireland - spent 2 weeks, only in the South. Really enjoyed hiking the Burren, several days in Dingle, climbing St. Patrick's Mountain. France - spent 3 1/2 weeks, with 1 full week in the Dordogne. This would be right up your alley. It is FULL of wonderful ruins to hike around. Loved canoeing down the river, seeing pre-historic cave art. Loads of families from Europe seem to vacation here. Another highlight was Normandy- think of it as an outdoor museum. My son especially enjoyed going in and out of the remains of bunkers. Italy - spent 2 1/2 weeks - our favorite country though be aware that it will be HOT. We rented an agriturismo for a week in Tuscany, using this as our base to drive to Siena, Assisi & Florence. Loved returning to "home" for a swim. We only spent a night in the Dolomite region, but again for big hikers this would be a wonderful place. England/Wales - spent 3 1/2 weeks - LOVED driving to Cornwall, staying several nights along the way in Devon, Lyme Regis (fossil hunting). Also Edward's castles in North Wales are not to be missed. They are like giant outdoor playgrounds for the kids. We often were only 1 of a few other groups of people, often the only Americans.