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Family of 3 (with a 9 year child)newbie Europe trip on asomewhat budget

I have bought the tix traveling 3/29-4/9 to Munich. What would be the most economical way to travel, air or train, hoping to get on the night train traveling from one city to the other? My tentative itinerary is: 2 days in Germany, from Berlin to see London in one day, then 2 days in Paris, a day in Switzerland, 2 days in Italy, 1 day in Austria and back to Munich for the flight home next day? Will this be too much of a trip? We'll be meeting up with friends(they'll be in Europe for a month) from Paris and travel with them from then on.

Help!
Lerida

Posted by
671 posts

That's 11 days. You are not doing any of those locations justice by your short amount of time there.

Posted by
9140 posts

It would be better if you posted the names of the cities you were going to and not the countries. It would be like me telling you I want to go to California, Oregon, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona and Washington and spending 1 maybe 2 days in each state. You would have no idea where I was going L.A. or San Francisco, Reno or Las Vegas, and so you could not answer the questions - Will this be too much of a trip? Will this cost a lot? Answer - Yes & Yes.

You are jumping all over the continent and it doesn't make much sense. If you are in Munich, why would you first go to Berlin then London for a day, then to Paris, then down to Switzerland, then to Italy and then to Austria? You have left no time for travel. You do not get to another country in an hours time unless you are staying in the Benelux area. If I understand you right, you fly on the 29th which means you land on the 30th. This gives you 11 days to go to 6 countries, with a child dragging behind you. This truly does not sound like a fun trip at all for anyone. Please read some of the other posts on here to get a bit more of an idea of what I am talking about. Especially if you are on a budget! If you fly, it is usually more expensive. If you take a train, say from Munich to Berlin, this is close to 7 hours. London to Paris on the train is 6 hours. If you fly, you have to figure in your travel time to the airport, check-in times, flight, and getting to the city center of your next stop. Airports are usually far out and the trains cost money coming into the city. Train stations are usually in the city centers.

So, get your map out, plug in some travel times, read some more of this website and then come back.

Posted by
3 posts

Thank you for the insight - I wanted to see if my itinerary made sense without regard to travel times..In your opinion, what would be the best places to concentrate on for that short amount of time, (Paris, Italy, Germany)? Best way by train?

Lerida

Posted by
9140 posts

If you are flying into Munich, that sounds like a good base city to go into Austria, and the area around there. Bavaria is chock full of places to go to and you can use the train quite economically. I think I would stay in that area til it is time to go to Paris and meet your friends, unless you want to find a stop in between Munich and Paris to visit.

Posted by
386 posts

My 8 year old grandson spent this past summer with me here in Austria (his first European trip), and I traveled quite a bit with him. While the little guy is as uncomplicated and adaptable as they come, I had to slow down here and there, change plans and simplify. At times it was simply too much for him.
It was easy for me: we just skipped a trip and relaxed at home for a day or two.

I would definitely design your trip with the little person in mind, make sure you have a 'headquarters' of sorts, a place to relax in between!!

For a 9 year old child your current plans are way to stressful and ambitious in my opinion! The distances alone mean endless hours in trains. Simplify a little bit! Decide on an area and make day-trips from there, take your bigger trips involving longer travel time in the beginning and at the end of your trip.

Posted by
3 posts

Thank you once again for your suggestions - that is the reason why I registered to get ideas and how to simplify our trip. I will want to consider that a lot!!! In fact I am printing this page so I could refer to it once again and show my friends and husband how to go about it once we're there....

Lerida