Please Help Us Decide - Europe

How are you going to do all that in 6 days and get back to London? Given the two choices, I will vote for Spain. We spent a week in Barcelona two years ago and loved it.

Great ideas...Thanks. Yeah we will be flying back to London on the back end.

That's a short trip, and with all the cities you are wanting to do, you'd be burning nearly 3 days with travel alone (think about how many hours it takes to packup/checkout of accommodations/get to airports/go thru security/leave airport/get into the city/check-in). You'd be stretching yourself very thin, and not be able to enjoy things. Kids will be annoyed and tired of having to do it nearly every day.

That being said, I like doing radically different places. So London vs Spain is fun and both very different. Spain will also save you a HUGE amount of money.

Once you've decided on which cities you'll hit up (seriously don't do more than 3, 2 preferred) come back and let us know and I'll start throwing out some recommendations

Been to Europe multiple times and I get the desire to "see it all while your there". Particularly with kids in tow, I'd recommend you just try to pick one or two locations and concentrate on that area vs. hitting multiple spots. We've always had the goal of getting back again. Makes it fun in life to think you might go again!

June will be a crowded time of year as the Europeans will start being on their "holidays" plus other tourists from around the world. Plan way ahead. With your group size, and time, trains would burn a lot of your days, so I'd fly if you can afford it. Regional airfare (like Ryan, Alitalia etc.) isn't that expensive. My theme would be to "go where they ain't" and try to avoid the largest tourist areas like Rome that time of year. Plenty of other choices (Italy would be amazing BTW).

Have you considered Prague? Cheap to get a regional jet from the UK and it's our favorite city (did I say it's the beer capital of the world?? ) And it 's got a great outdoor vibe that time of year. Lots to eat drink and see. Your kids that age would LOVE it!

I'm a BIG fan of traveling to some of the Eastern European countries like now. Been to Hungary twice now and the Czech Republic. Going to Slovenia this fall. Just something special about these emerging countries. And it's fairly cheap.

Bruge is gorgeous. "The Venice of the North". But, with kids that age, maybe boring?

Spain. My daughter lived there and we visited two years ago. We traveled mainly from Barcelona to the Northern Communities and mountain regions (Picos/Asturias). Gorgeous. Lots of outdoor activities that time of year. Her favorite places of all were Bilbao (easy flight from London) and San Sebastian. Great coast line and beaches that time of year. Amazing food. There's always the islands like Mallorca. I haven't been, but it's one of the world's great party scenes in the summer! (just Google it ) I liked Barcelona, but again, it's a big city. Watch out for pick pockets along LaRambla.

LINK

Been to Germany 3 times. It's a huge country, so with that time, hard to see much. Munich's fun, but a large city. We liked Heidelberg.

LINK

How about Austria? Was there last year and Vienna is an amazing city too.

Good luck!

I'd look into changing your tickets out of either Barcelona or Amsterdam. Doesn't make any sense to fly back to London, you can likely get tickets for almost the same price out of amsterdam as London. Any price difference up to $200 will be worth your time and money most likely.

The easiest thing easily, will be to explore Belgium and the Netherlands.

I disagree and think that 4 nights in one place is plenty. Staying longer is nice, but after 4 nights I get fidgety and ready to move on.

Northern Europe you could also look into a nice house in the country that is centrally located to explore Germany, Belgium, France, and the Netherlands.

You could fly into Zurich and make your way by train to Vienna. Stop in st Anton, Innsbruck, maybe, Salzburg and then Vienna. Summer mountain lakes, hiking, beer, etc. The border of Switzerland and Austria is pretty sweet and one way flights will be cheap to those places.

That short u should probably really avoid any extra travel by plane or that’s not pretty in itself (scenic driving/trains)

I love the entire country of Belgium, they have so much history, so much to see, the food, the beer, etc... Ghent, Antwerp, Leige, Rochefort, Dinant, Brugge, etc...

quote:

---

I went to Brugge as a 23 year old college grad. It's a great city, but your kids will get bored as hell after 1 night, especially with parents.

---

What I disagree, they have hiking areas, canoe areas, walking tours, biking tours, etc... they have plenty to do if you are with seeing the sights and staying. The issue is most people want to say they say some historical area and then move on, they don't really get to know the city and surrounding areas.