where do we go? - Family trip in April

Well, this is awfully broad. Frankfurt is in the heart of Europe and you'll have two weeks, so you could go almost anywhere. My advice would be to go to one or at most two countries, staying put for several days at a time to minimize travel. Kids love doing things, not necessarily the trip to do them. So you could easily do Barcelona-Madrid-Cordoba-Seville-Granada or ParisLoireAlsace or some other combination, but I recommend against doing Italy-Spain-France-Greece. With such a large group, do you plan to use rail or to drive? Unless you have a van it would take two cars, and if you are going to cities cars are a hassle. You might be able to get special fares as a group on the railways....Lee or Tim or one of the experts can speak to that. Buy Rick's Best of Europe and skim the chapters of interest, then discuss with your children. What places excite their interest? Perhaps have everyone make up a list of "top places" in order and see how much overlap there is...there might be a family consensus out there, which helps a lot in traveling with children.

You might have discovered it already, but a helpful website for ideas for you might be www.travelforkids.com. It has specific fun things to do & see in all the countries you're considering.

It might be foolish to jet out of Germany quickly if you're already in the heart of it. March and April have lower rainfall totals in this part of Europe than any other months, and temps are pleasant for outdoor stuff. Frankfurt is just south of the historic Middle Rhine Valley; there and along the nearby Mosel River, you'll find 3 exceptional castle visits: Marksburg Castle: www.marksburg.de Burg Eltz (Mosel River): www.burg-eltz.de/e_information_index.html Rheinfels: www.st-goar.de/17-1-.html (Kids can play on the ruins at this last one!) The whole Rhine valley is littered with attractive villages like Bacharach, Boppard, St. Goar and Oberwesel. There are dozens of castles and castle ruins; Rhine cruise boats that take you through this historic area begin running on April 2: www.k-d.com/englisch/index.html You can even stay in a castle if you wish: www.jugendherberge.de/en/hostels/search/portrait/jh.jsp?IDJH=390 www.jugendherberge.de/en/hostels/search/portrait/jh.jsp?IDJH=403 In Cochem (nearby Mosel River town) you and the kids might really enjoy the falconry show on the castle grounds there - I did. www.falknerei-reichsburg-cochem.de/fotobuch.htm Check out the cool waterpark there as well: www.moselbad.de/erlebnisbad.html After a few days in this area, I'd suggest a stop in Trier, Germany's oldest city, then maybe a visit to Belgium's Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge stuff in Bastogne and other areas might be interesting.) You could move on to Paris, (Disneyland-Paris??) and maybe north, if you have time, to check out tulips in Holland, spectacular in April.

Also: you might want to use trains within Germany. Each family of 4 can travel on a daypass (28 Euros per family per day, called the "Rheinland-Pfalz" Ticket) good for the whole area along the Rhine river from Mainz north to Koblenz and along the Mosel through Cochem and Trier and all the way to the Luxembourg and French border near Saarbrücken. You could pick up cars in S'brücken for use in Belgium, France and the Netherlands, then return it in FRA when you fly out.

I'm going to suggest that you go over to Amazon right now and order Cynthia Harriman's "Take Your Kids to Europe." It has LOTS of practical information on travel with kids in Europe. One thing I'm going to suggest is to pick 2-3 places and stay there, making day trips. You'll probably find it cheaper to get 2 apartments than to get two rooms for 4 people. Plus, you'll have access to a kitchen and a washer/dryer and more room to spread out. We love farmhouse apartments. The book will have lists of websites for finding apartments.

One thing to consider, and this might help narrow things down: Easter week is HUGE in certain places, like Rome. If you're traveling over easter, choose places where Easter tourists won't go. I'd suggest choosing someplace that would be mobbed in high season--you can take advantage of the fact that you're there in the off season. For example, Paris--lines and crowds at the big sights will be much more managable than they would be May-Oct. Remember that the weather won't be genuinely warm yet even in places like Greece, and the water certainly won't be, so if you're hoping for a nice beach vacation in Greece/Croatia/Italy, you might be disappointed. That said, if it's not the promise of great weather that's luring you to those places, it could be a good time to visit for the same reasons I gave above--it's off season and crowds will be few.

Hello Kristen. Eight people travelling together can be awkward, causing distress. I recommend : stay in Germany. Read about places that are of interest to children.