Summer 2020 Europe with teenagers - help with planning!

I use Google Flights to research transatlantic fares and schedules. The cheapest destinations vary by origin and sometimes by time of year, so it's best if you do your own research. For me, Munich would be cheaper than Prague. I'm not sure where Vienna would fall. With the multi-city flights (into City A, out of City B), it's sometimes worth reversing your itinerary to save some money. Fiddling with dates can also produce savings; even $50 is worth avoiding when there are four of you.

Berlin is a large city with many time-consuming, widely-scattered sights. Don't try to include it this time; it is fascinating, especially for folks with an interest in 20th-century history, but it would chew up too many days. I think you'll need all the time you have to get a good look at the other places you've mentioned. Most of the trip can easily be handled by train (possibly a bus or two for the Romantic Road) if you prefer to travel that way. I don't know about the Eagle's Nest; haven't been there. Just don't plan to pick up and drop off the car in different countries ($$$).

The (gorgeous) historic area of Prague is extraordinarily heavily visited these days. If you can manage to be there in June rather than in July or August, it may be a bit less crowded (though when you see it, you won't believe it could be worse). Your teenagers might find the Museum of Communism interesting. I thought it gave a good sense of what life was like in Czechoslovakia during that era. The museum isn't large, but it takes a good bit of time to see; not a place to show up just 60 minutes before closing time.

I can't help with rural hiking, but there should be good options in Bavaria (lakes not too far from Munich) or near Salzburg.

suzanne. You don't have a lot of time, even with 12 days. Are you counting arrival and departure days? Dont forget to take into account jet lag, which can make the first couple of days a blur.

It helps to plan by nights. Consider that it will take you most to all of a day to travel between each location. That takes up a lot of your vacation time, leaving you too exhausted to do much bike touring, hiking, etc. Do you have a guidebook? Look at the planning information under the Explore Europe link on the menu on the left of this page.

If it were me on my first trip, I'd stick to Munich, Salzburg, and one location in the Bavarian Alps.

Kids do not want to see a concentration camp, but all other history is great.

If any of you have an interest in WWII, check out a site called thirdreichruins.com. It has many photos taken during or shortly after the war and photos of the same places taken much more recently.

Thank you! We are not set on the 12 day plan yet. I'd like a little longer, or 12 days there with a day on each end for travel - just need to work with everyone's schedules. I agree to cut Berlin out, I think it will come down to what cities we fly in and out of. We would be flying from Orlando so I am looking at cities that we can fly either non-stop or have the best prices.

As general advice, I hope you include these young men in the planning process, with specific topics to research and joint decision-making. It may be hard to resist, but don't play tour guide. More specifically, flying into one city and out of another will be efficient but you (or the teens) must use a multi-destination search function. These itineraries are not a set of one-way tickets.

With the timeframe and ages of the teens, I think Munich, Bavarian Alps with Salzburg, and Prague make a good, if busy, time. Keep in mind that Prague is awesome, although crowded, and may not be the cheapest play to fly in or out of, and while open-jaw tickets make more sense if you're covering huge distances, it may not have a great time/money ratio if you're basing your trip entirely on SE Germany and Prague, which is what I would recommend for your timeframe. I think Berlin is very much out, as it's too huge, there's too much to see, and it's too much of a geographical outlier to make sense unless you happened to find killer tickets flying say, into Prague and out Berlin or vice-versa.

Given your flexibility and narrow time, I'd start pricing tickets open jaw and return between Munich, Prague, and nearby airports (who knows what the Nuremberg airport offers these days in terms of deals?)

If you can manage 10 nights on the ground, I would split it up like this: Fly-in city (presumably Munich or Prague) - 3 nights, train or drive to Bavarian Alps - 4 nights - train/bus or drive to fly-out city, 3 nights OR if you end up doing return flights (probably cheaper), probably hotel at the airport before your flight out. We're assuming a busy schedule and you will be tired. I think with teen boys the Alps have a lot to do/see, between Eagle's Nest, various castles/palaces, outdoorsy things like summer luges, salt mines, places like Salzburg and Berchtesgaden. This is the area that would be most served by renting a car, but it's not necessary if you're willing to be a little less spontaneous and a little more roped into a specific schedule.

Thank you for the replies, I have taken a lot of notes! I took a break from this over the holidays and family travel, but now I am back to planning this trip. I'm sure I will be posting again soon!