Europe Visit (rental car, appointed, rental)

[kapildev]

I am planning a 2 week visit of Europe around Thanks Giving . Please advise me which places / cities to see with small kids.


Thanks

KD

[ZipZap]

Does small kids mean you fancy something like Disneyland Paris? You may have to be more specific and tell us what you have in mind.... Europe may be small compared to US standards, but it is pretty diverse and two weeks is not enough to see everything.

Anyway, here is a list of what I'd do. November is not the best time of year for a visit, so I added some suggestions on the best month also:

* Travel Icelands ringroad, see glaciers and geysiers (best in August, it is freaking cold there)
* Bloomsday Festival in Dublin, Ireland (June)
* Semana Santa and Feria de Abril in Sevilla, Spain (April)
* Wine tasting in Bordeaux, France (Young wines at spring-time), then take a tour in a TGV high speed train to Paris for a city break. Make sure to get a train designed by Lacroix
* Medieval flair with cobblestones and historic buildings in Quedlinburg, Germany (comparable to Rothenburg o.d.T., but with less tourists)
* Nature adventures, forests, fishing and canoeing at Masuren lake plateau, Poland
* Roundtrip in Basilicata, Italy to enjoy people, landscape and food. Beautiful and romantic small villages in the hills.
* Fun and party (how old are your kids?) along Istilal Cadessi and Beyoglu area of Istanbul, Turkey
* Wandering the Atalante path on Tróodos mountains, including visiting one of the so called "barn-roof-churches" of Cyprus, Greece


... to be continued ...

[kapildev]

I have 2 kids - 8 and 5 yrs old. They have seen Disneyland in US so they are not interested in Euro Disney land.
I was planning Amesterdam,Paris,Brussels,Italy (Rome and Venice) and if time permits Zurich. Now , when you say Nov is not the best time to visit, how different will these places be (in terms of cold) than what we see here in Chicago area around the same time.

Thanks

[ZipZap]

You are leaning towards city-trips then..? which is fine of course and will suit your two weeks better than my list of course. And since you don't plan any beaches or festivals, the month is not as important then.

Here my comments on your choices:

* Amsterdam - Great vibrant little city with many young party people. I doubt its a good destination with small kids though, as the redlight district and the cannabis bars are the major attraction.
* Paris - must be, so many things to see. Opt in for the TGV idea
* Brussels - I'd skip that one, except if you are french fries lover... yummie sauces they offer with them here.
* Zurich - I'd replace that with Vienna potentially, but again... personal taste
* Rome - same as Paris, go for it
* Venice - Agreed. I guess it is something that should not be missed on a Europe-trip.

You may google Valencia, Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon, Porto, Berlin (walk along the previous line of the wall) to add something for your list.

Way too many nice places to list them all-

[kapildev]

Thankd for your suggestions. Let me do some research and I will follow your advice

[Sudcaro]

Because of the poor weather I would advise you to spend at least half of your trip by the Mediterranean, which includes several places in Spain, France and Italy.
And if you don't mind the rain: Paris and London.

[irman]

AH..... forget all the other cities with only two weeks plus two rather young kids.
Stay in Holland, which, in my book, has the most fun things, geared to young children.
If you put them first, you will not be sorry for taking them !!!

Do not pay attention to the above note about the *red light* district in Amsterdam.
It is not that, that area is all there is.
Like saying ... all Dutch wear wooden shoes .... Germans eat nothing but sauerkraut ....

If you like camping, there is a place near The Hague that is just an amazing place for kids.
It is called *Duinrell*.

A fun park AND a fantastic swimming pool connected to the camping place.
You may not need your own camping gear, since they might have small cottages or small trailers available.
There are special places, just for young people, and it is ALL
*please touch everything* !!!!
And ALL within a days travel back and forth.

Canal trips, the cities of Edam, Volendam and Marken, Giethoorn.
The cheese markets a bit south of Amsterdam.
Plenty of small zoos and animal parks.
Beaches all along the west coast.
The *polders* all have exhibits, that are easy to understand for young kids.

If your kids are into fast foods,
.... heaven help them ...
but you will not feel lost there.

Need to know more, DM me or contact the VVV in any city in Holland.
Welcome to Holland - The Official Website of The Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions
Get on that website and check out everything (all in English!)
Get with them, and go on from there.
There are many websites about being in Hollnad with small kids, but most of them are in Dutch.

The last thing you want to do with two young kids is travel for umpteen hours .....

If you decide to do this, see if you can rent a camper in addition to your rental car as the complete deal for your travel.

[ZipZap]

irman... you work for the Dutch Tourism Office, right? ... You are doing a good job I have to say

Just kidding... Holland sure is a great place.

[sayulita]

I posted this before after a similar query. Thought it might be helpful to you.

I'm casting back 50 years in my mind to when I was an eight year old traveling through Europe with my parents and three siblings (ages 10, 6 and 3). We went to Italy, France, Switzerland and Austria. Here's what my little eight year old mind absorbed and remembered (with pleasure, no bad memories):

Pizza
Hot Chocolate
Pictures and sculptures of naked people with all their stuff showing (tee-hee)
Pizza
Huge churches where I had to be quiet
Pigeons, thousands of them and buying stuff to feed them
Spaghetti
Cuckoo clocks and leiderhosen
Ice Cream
The beautiful snowy Alps
Pizza
Gondolas in Venice
Salami sandwiches bought out the window of a train.
Trains
Ladies with little lace things on their heads in Catholic churches and my Mom putting a kleenex on our heads.
Pizza
Hotels and jumping on beds
Room service with above mentioned Hot chocolate and baguettes.
Oranges with above breakfast.
More naked pictures
Snow
Trams on mountains
Skiers on the trams
Roasted chestnuts from street vendors
Pizza
Throwing coins in fountains
Palaces with tons of mirrors that reflected to infinity
Chandeliers in said palaces
Pizza with capers and anchovies, my first food awakening
Yodelers in Austria
Having mom and dad all day, everyday

What I'm trying to say here is that your child will be happy and content to be with you as you see all the new places. And these will be the kinds of things he will remember. My parents tried, god knows they tried, to instill in us an appreciation of the art and culture. They didn't really succeed at the time but it took root and I've been back to Europe several times based on those memories and have never been disappointed. Especially with the pizza.
Have a fabulous trip!

[irman]

Originally Posted by ZipZap

irman... you work for the Dutch Tourism Office, right? ... You are doing a good job I have to say Just kidding... Holland sure is a great place.

Hehehehe,
Nope, but we lived and worked in Germany and Switzerland for umpteen years.
Each year, for that many years, we always ended up in Holland with the kids when they were at that young age.
Geesj, working in Europe earns you 6 weeks of vacation each year !!!!
Then when they got older we explored other countries,
since they started to appreciate and understand more cultural things.
When you go there for that many years,
you begin to know almost every nook and cranny they have there.

The interesting thing is that even after so many years,
(we lived there from 1980 - 1989 and from 1991 - 1996),
the only places they talk about is Holland.
They can go on for hours recalling the fun things they did there.

Come to think of it, I wonder if the Dutch Tourism Office might be interested for me to be a guide of some sorts ?????
Hmmm ... going there and get paid for it .... ?

LBNL, we have grand children now and we are planning to take them there soon.

All seriousness aside, when you only have two weeks,
AND you have two small children in tow,
you will loose at least two days, for them to acclimatise.
Just the time difference is a killer.
I really doubt if you can do much the first two days .....
If you decide to go Bruxelles and Paris and Rome in just two weeks .... ,
how many days does that leave for them to *see AND do* things.
You do NOT want to just *see* things with young kids.
You MUST *do* things with them to keep them occupied.

Been there, done that with 5 kids in tow .....

I think the best thing to do for kids is to let them experience a foreign culture, the fun way first.
Then when they get older, send them on school sponsored trips to Europe.
Funny thing is that our oldest daughter,
when she went on one of these school sponsored trips to Switzerland,
she knew more about the country then the guide ...
Not really fair when you take into account that she lived in that area for so long huh ????