does anyone have experience going to europe with young kids for a vacation? what is the best mode of transportation with young children? what about doing a road trip to 2-3 countires and spending a few days in each? you can DM me for advice also. Thank You!
It was not that bad - Starbucks and McD almost everywhere
My younger kids loved it. Took the trains. You don’t need a car if you’re visiting large cities. A car becomes more of a burden. You need a car if you want to venture out of the cities and into the country and explore the sites. Just get a 2-3 country Euro train pass. Drops you off at the heart of each city. Best way to travel hands down in Europe.
Doing this in a month. My advice would be to stick to a few cities (maybe even just 1 country) and spend at least 4-7 days in each. That way, you minimize travel time, checkin/checkout from hotels - things that are much more difficult with young kids. And trains and public transport will be much more convenient since you don’t need car seats and can be free to move around and enjoy with the kids. You’ll have many Europe trips over the next few decades. Don’t try to cover too many countries/cities in this one.
I would look at whether you can afford it if you think trains are expensive. I just paid $8 for a train from Pisa to Florence. Paris->London can be expensive if you buy at the last minute but generally trains are cheap and much less stress than planes.
Renting a car will be slightly cheaper than trains, even after accounting for parking expenses, and immeasurably more convenient and flexible when traveling around. Especially with kids. Some cities like Amsterdam have crazy parking rates in the city center (eur55/day), but they usually have great public transportation, so the solution is to leave the car in a cheap parking lot on the outskirts of town until you want to move on to the next one.
Or take the train and come out of the train station already downtown without the hassle of parking.
If you take the train, you miss out on all the small stops you can make between big destinations, which is half the charm of Europe. With trains/buses it's a lot of hassle to stop somewhere without staying the night because you have to deal with luggage. Much worse when you have kids.
Hitchhike for free! Use kids to gain people's compassion and it works like charm.
If you think trains are expensive, don’t go.
^this