My Way: 21 days best of Europe

Hi Belle and welcome to the forum!
Rick Steves doesn't offer this tour as a My Way option so I think you're looking to duplicate the escorted tour on your own? I think that would be really difficult. It's a fast-paced tour to begin with, has the benefit of experienced guides to shepherd tour-takers around each new location, providing tickets for included activities, and transport to many of the attractions listed. There is time saved in having all of that done for you; that's why they can cover as much ground in the time that they do.

As well, there are some other pluses such as sightseeing along the way where luggage can just be left in the tour bus. On your own, you'd have to make use of luggage-storage facilities.

You can definitely explore Europe on your own but if you've not traveled abroad before, I'd start smaller with one or maybe two countries or cities so as not to become completely overwhelmed. It'll take a fair amount of research and planning to coordinate all the pieces but many, many posters on these forums do it and enjoy putting trips together this way!

Then again, tours work well for the time-stressed, people who enjoy others who enjoy traveling, and anxious first-timers needing a little extra support. There's no wrong answer if it works for you.

Hello Kathy,
Thank you for your reply, I appreciate it.
We love to travel. We plan all our own trips all the time, and Rick Steves has always been such an inspiration to us. I figured that the 21 days tour did not have a My Way as well, so no surprise there, just a little sad about it, but no harm in asking, right? We love this trip and we do want to mimic it with our likes in the mix. If you have any tips aside from the forum, that would be great and very appreciated.. Wish us luck!! Belle

Have your kids traveled in Europe?

I took each of mine at age 11 on a trip that covered quite a few of the "big" destinations as their first trip to Europe. We flew into London, stayed around 4-5 nights, took the Eurostar to Paris for another 4-5 nights, then we took the TGV to Switzerland and spent 3-4 nights in Lauterbrunnen, then one child chose Salzburg and the other Vienna, before a finish in Munich. The youngest chose to skip London and Austria and spend the first week or so in Scandinavia, whereupon we flew to Paris and continued, still ending in Munich. Each of these trips were between 2-3 weeks long, which was all I could take off of work at the time, but with a full 21 days, you could add a bit more.

I just share this to show that you can do a pretty comprehensive trip on your own that isn't just all travel from place to place, but some of the travel was pretty exciting to my kids who had never taken a train before. A big key to this plan was that we each just took a backpack so we didn't have any big bags to worry about when we, for example, toured Chateau de Chillon near Montreux en route from Paris to Lauterbrunnen.

Happy Planning! For me, making the plan with your kids is half of the fun!

I have done the 21 Day Best of Europe and it is excellent. As Kathy indicates, one of the reasons this works well for Rick is that he has experienced guides AND bus drivers and has the ability to drop tour members directly at their hotels. Each transit, including making your way from the train station to the hotel with bags can knock a hole in a day.

IF you are going to do this I suggest no one-night stays and I'd increase most of the stays to 3 nights instead of 2. I'd probably divide it into 2 trips.

Are you wedded to all the stops on the tour? If not, I'd probably do this:

Trip 1: Amsterdam->Ghent or Bruges->Paris->Strasbourg or Colmar->Lauterbrunnen Valley

Trip 2: Italy for 2 weeks, lol.

These suggestions skip the stops in Germany and Austria so your idea of what you want to see might be different from mine.

These are all such brilliant ideas.

Yes, I see now. I agree that the tour is fast and easier with buses, and I also agree with staying at places for 3 days at least. You’re absolutely right.

I like the idea of 3 to 4 days stay. 2 weeks in Italy would be lively, for sure.

What I want to see are the Alps, Paris, and Rome.
Hubby, castles and the cinque terre
Girls-Paris and Italy.

What itinerary do you suggest?

In that case, fly into Paris and stay about 5 nights. While you are there, you can do a day trip to a palace (Versailles) or a chateau like Chantilly for your husband. Then take the train to Switzerland - easy and scenic. You can do what we did and visit Chateau de Chillon, out in the lake, en route, or stay in Montreux or Lausanne for 2 nights, then head to the Berner Oberland for 3 -4 nights to do some high mountain lifts and hiking. Then it's off to Italy to finish the trip. I have been to Italy staying 3 nights each in Venice, Rome and Naples which was pretty good, but with teens and adding Cinque Terre, you may change that up or omit something. We did a gondola lesson in Venice which took half a day and then spent a day going to other islands. In Rome, we had basically one day for the Vatican and one day for the Coliseum and walking about, plus we did a wine tasting dinner - lots of fun. I would have like one more day. In Naples, that was good for one day at Pompeii and one day at Paestum, plus the archeological museum on arrival day. Here again, one more day would have been good for me there.

Just a few ideas.

Trip 2: Italy for 2 weeks, lol.

Yep, LOL for sure, Pam!!! :O)
Love the darn country so much that it's tough to think about the next trip being anywhere else!
Horrible problem to have, eh?

IMHO? I'd focus on Paris and Italy, being different locations in The Boot are on all 3 lists, and Paris on two (we enjoyed this city as well). Alps and castles might have to wait for a different trip although maybe someone has a good idea for fitting in the Italian alps?

Tigerfan, ooh, yes! i like your ideas indeed. I check with everyone else, and they all seem to like your proposed itinerary very much. There are some ideas floating at home about other areas as well. But overall, a great plan.

My 14 year old is obsessed with Germany and today we watched the video about Munich. There is SO.MUCH.TO.SEE there.
3 days, 4 days? Should we move there? LOL

I love planning the trip so far. The research alone is a lot of fun. I never knew that the forum was so full of good ideas and advice.

Today I am really happy that my kids are old enough to appreciate architectural features and enjoy trying new foods. Castles are a must now and everyone wants to eat their way through Europe. LOL