back to europe after 25 years

Also any information on hotels, in paris, munich area, florence, tuscany
will be greatly appreciated.

If you check rail sites now you can get an idea of fares (I know Italy has some super economy fares beginning a few months out from travel dates that you can purchase online, just plug in a date within the next several weeks to see fares and then check again about 90 days before you want to travel). The new high-speed trains are more expensive than the regular trains used to be, but some routes also have regional trains that are much cheaper - and slower. Flying within Europe has gotten much cheaper, but if you fly, be sure to factor in travel time to/from the airport/city as well as flight time (you mentioned having limited time). There's a nice smallish hotel in Florence called Hotel Medici (it's on Via Roma), just a couple of blocks from the Duomo (the hotel has a rooftop terrace with great views), it's reasonably priced and has an elevator. There's also a new "tax" in Italy that's not included in the quoted room rate (about 2 or 3 euro per night). In Rome, I like Hotel Genio, about 50 meters from the north entrance of Piazza Navona, also with a rooftop terrace.

Rebecca Many of your questions can be answered in Rick Steves Guide books. Check out Europe Through The Back Door or guide books for the countries you want to go to. All your questions will be answered in these helpful books. Flying is not always the most convenient way to go from city to city as they are usually out of the city. Trains arrive in the city center. Are you trying to do too much in the time you have since you are on a limited budget.?
Jana

Thank you all for the information, I went and got all the Rick Stevesbooks.We are a home school family and we will be going for 18 days. And yes we would like to cover as many major places as possible. My husband and I traveled 20+years ago on $25 a day in Europe, things have changed drastically. I think we will fly into Paris, stay there for 3 days, take the train to Munich,see the major sights, take train to Rome, florence, tuscany and fly back from Rome.Thank you so much for all the information, what a great website. Thanks,
Rebecca

Rebecca, while we don't homeschool our kids, we do travel with our kids also, to offer them this wonderful cultural and enriching experience. In 2009, we took our kids to Paris, and after Paris, took them to Normandy (only about 2 hours west of Paris) to learn first hand about World War II (D-Day). Not only was it a great experience from an educational/historical perspective, but the area is absolutely beautiful, charming & delightful. We spent three days in the area (including lovely Mont. St Michel (sp?). You could consider limiting the trip to two countries and doing more within those two countries. We did (Spain/France in 2009) and (Italy/England in 2011). I find two much traveling in between is too exhausting and takes up too much of the trip.

I first traveled all over Europe 35 years ago with a rail pass. And yes, trains have gotten far more expensive. But over the years the trains (at least in France and probably elsewhere) have moved to the airline model of advanced purchase tickets, often nonrefundable, that are far cheaper than regular fares but with limited availability. SO once you have an itinerary set, start looking at rail fares to make reservations. But I think that discount fares are often not available until 90 days before travel, although I'm not sure.

With children and advanced fare purchases, I would mostly recommend trains. Keep in mind that many budget airlines fly in/out of remote airports not well served by transit, and free baggage is severely limited which almost for sure means extra bag fees. The downside to trains will be the long distances you are traveling, which ordinarily I'd say fly. On your itinerary, remember that everything moves slower with kids and their tolerance for cramming in lots of things in a tight schedule is limited. Not only has the costs of travel gone up since you were last there, you method and pace of travel will be very different...