Help planning Switz/Italy/France with 9 month old and parents in their 60s

Tom I think I have your itinerary correct. You, your wife and baby are going to be traveling with your parents from day 4 - day 12. Is that correct? That is more doable for your family. Not so many destinations but still more than is ideal, IMHO. You are right. CT is not a good place for your Mom. The least charming CT town, in my view, is Monterrosso which you know has the car park and flatter area. Sorry, not familiar with the Italian Riviera. If you make the Itinerary Calendar that I mentioned above, perhaps your parents will understand what you are trying to get across to them. Since you can make the calendar in Word, you can send it to them. Looks better now that I understand. Hope you can find a place in Italy on the coast. Bobbie

Hi Tom Great way to spend a family vacation! Some preliminary questions. Do you already have your international flights? Otherwise, I would suggest an open jaw ticket. Into Zurich and out of Provence (Avignon, Aix de Provence, Marseille, Nice). If you are locked into Zurich roundtrip, consider flying one of the cheap airlines from the closest Provence airport to Zurich. Are you joining them in the car from Day 4? Will need a BIG car. With an infant and your mother and dad, I would spend more days in each location. Traveling to 5 different destinations with an enfant (or anyone) is more challenging. I am sure that you have a reason to go to Geneva but I would drop that from your schedule unless it is for the driving / train travel times. * Research your travel times for train and driving and put them in an online calendar (like WinCalendar, free for basic use). Revise as needed. Add your Flights to/from Oslo. Add your train/driving times between destinations. Also include the hotel to hotel times ie; hotel to train station, wait time at station, travel time, and station to hotel. You have several long distance train/drives which will eat up your trip. Figure out how long you will actually be in your destinations and how much you will be using transportation. IMHO, I think too much transportation time. Suggestions: I would add days to your B& B in Provence. Look at Villefranche on the sea on the southern France coast. If you are going in the summer, the roads are clogged in this area. There are trains connecting the towns along the coast which are easy to use. Consider only one destination on the Italy/France coast. It is too much for everyone to keep changing hotels. Let us know how your tweak your itinerary. Bobbie

Thanks for the quick reply! Yes, my parents have already booked their international flights to Zurich. Zurich was primarily picked because of price and being a non-stop flight. Otherwise, they would have flown to Milan, Nice, or Marseilles. We will need a big car (probably a minivan), but it will also be much cheaper if we rent it round-trip rather than one way. Yes, we will be joining them starting on Day 4. We will have been in Tuscany for a week and a half before they get to Europe (they're flying from the US). The reason Geneva is on the schedule is because of our (me, wife, child) return flight to Oslo. We're flying into Pisa and out of Geneva. Geneva is also on the drive back to Zurich anyway from Provence. I've argued for fewer locations and more time in each. I'm more of a see and experience one location type traveler (I once spent a 10 day vacation and didn't leave the city of Vienna!), but my parents are closer to checklist type people. My parents have been to France before (Paris, Dijon), but have not been to Switzerland or Italy. If it were completely up to me, I would probably book the part I have left in question in Aix, Antibes, or somewhere like that, but I really think my parents would like to at least get some Italy in their trip. As far as time of year, it will be the last few days in August and the first week or two of September. So, after the mass vacation time for most Europeans.

Yep, you've got it now. So, hopefully that's clearer for anyone reading.