We are going to be travelling to Europe in early -mid-May 2009. We are still in the early stages of planning the trip. We will be travelling for 4-5 weeks with me, husband %26amp; 2 kids - a 5 year old and a 16 month old
- We definitely want to go to Paris, Prague and preferable Austria and Switzerland too
- Would prefer to hire a car (for at least part of the trip)
- would prefer to stay in apartments or family friendly hotels atleast for a few days at a time
- would prefer to stay as close to the city centre/ %26quot;action / tourist%26quot; part of town as possible
- would like to take it easy and not make the travelling too rushed - will be happy with covering 3-4- countries over 5 weeks.
- would like to mix pure tourist stuff with some relaxing/country sightseeing as well
I would like ideas/suggestions on:
- How do we go about travelling between places? Is it best to fly, drive or train? Or combination? If we do take trains how easy/hard is it to go with 2 kids in tow and some luggage. Esp things such as getting to hotels from train station, etc. Or is it better just to stick to flights and driving?
- If we drive then is there provision for car parking with accommodation? Can we still stay close to the city centre (with respect to parking)? Or would we have to stay outside the city? How much would parking cost?
- We are thinking of spending a week or so driving around the countryside. Is it better to do so in France, Austria or Switzerland? Where would it be easier, more relaxed, things to see/do and generally more enjoyable esp with a family?
- Which region would you recommend to drive around in France?
- How “doable” is Paris with a toddler? Is it a family friendly cities? How many days would ne enough in PAris to cover most touristy spots?
- Any suggestions of web sites for – accommodation, car hire, airfare, etc for these countries?
- Any other suggestions/tips to plan this holiday? I am starting to stress now!
Sorry about posting it in the France section - I couldn%26#39;t find a general Europe post plus most of my questions are related to France.
Thanks
shanno
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Hi Shanno,
Sounds like you are planning a great trip - but lots of questions!
I have been to Austria and Switzerland and live in France but never been to Prague.
First re travelling - train, plane or car? We always go by train or car as my husband is not too keen on flying! I would hire a car only for the French part of the holiday, and only the bit outside Paris. Trains are easy enough with the children, my son is 4 years old and we went by train to Switzerland last year and I often take him on my own by train to the UK. I presume coming from Brisbane you won%26#39;t have loads of luggage. The advantages for me over flying are that there is no waiting around at the airport when he would be bored stiff, although you have to find your way from station to hotel/apartment this is often easier from the train station as the station will be closer - and less costly if you take a taxi. Advantages over driving are it is quicker, no bored toddler in the car, and can be cheaper, as long as you are going somewhere with a good transport system you have no worries and costs regarding parking the car, finding your way around the place etc. If you don%26#39;t mind flying though, it can often be cheaper if you use the low cost airlines. Not necessarily quicker if you add on the time from city to airport, having to be there a couple of hours before etc. I think it really depends on your budget and preferences, but I would use the car as little as possible.
We went to Brunnen in Switzerland by train last summer the cost was about 500 euros return from Paris for the 3 of us. However, we went on one of the most popular days for the French to go on summer holidays so a similar trip in May could be cheaper. We left Paris around 8.30 and arrived at about 3pm. For planning rail trips use the German website reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en… - really the best for European trains.
For Austria/Switzerland part of the trip we have been to Austria without children, had some nice holidays there, stayed in St Wolfgang, Gmunden, Innsbruck and a few other small places. It is a lovely country but I%26#39;m not sure there is that much there to interest a 5 year old (although I could be very wrong about that). Switzerland, however, is great for kids. When we stayed in Brunnen (Lake Lucerne) for 2 weeks last summer and found things everyday that our son loved doing - mountain trains, paddle steamers, lots of things. There was a recent thread on the Switzerland forum for staying in Lucerne with children of your age - tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g188064-i573-k2516… which gives a few of the things you can do. We stayed in the apartment in the Hotel Schmid Alfa which I can recommend, although the town of Brunnen may be a bit small for you. There was no need at all to have a car, the transport links were excellent - which I think would be the same for most of Switzerland. This year we are planning to go to the Montreux/Vevey area which also looks full of things the children would enjoy. If you do go to Austria I think you may need a car there - we have always gone by car and needed it when we were there.
For the French part of the trip you could look at the Loire Valley, and La Rochelle/Ile de Re area. Both easily reachable from Paris, and lots of things there for children and adults. There are a few threads on here which can give you more information. These are two of the best regions we have found for trips with children. Another area that may be of interest is Brittany, I have not been there recently but is a nice area of the country. Annecy in the French Alps is very nice as well, but you may want a change from the mountains after (or before) Austria/Switzerland. Depends what sort of things you want to do when you get there.
Paris - no problems with children, although I would avoid the metro if you have a pushchair for your younger child. Too many stairs. It is very child friendly, lots of parks and things for the children - again have a search on the Paris forum and you will see lots of suggestions. You could spend the whole time in Paris and still not see everything but 5 or 6 days would be enough to see all the main sites, just depends how long you want to city part of the holiday to be. You could even have just 3 or 4 days but that%26#39;s not long with so much to do.
Websites to use for accommodation
France - www.gites-de-france.com/gites/uk/rural_gites
Europe - http://www.homelidays.com/ and http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/
For Switzerland - http://www.bnb.ch/
These are just a few I have used regularly - there are hundreds of them!
Tourist offices almost always have a good list of accommodation and are a good place to start searching once you have decided on the areas you want to go to.
A good website to find things to do with families in France is www.familiscope.fr
This has been a bit of a rambling post so hope it is helpful!! Don%26#39;t get stressed - try and enjoy the planning part. I think you have to decide first where you really want to go, then look at transport options between them all. If you have a list of places you will be visiting you will find lots more help here regarding transport options, accommodation etc.,
Alison
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