Europe family holiday next year?

Hello, Smile..la..,

I'm going to give you a completely different answer!

We did exactly the same trip as you're proposing, in January 2011 - yep, just this year to exactly the same countries.

We left Sydney on 31 Dec and arrived in Frankfurt. We drove through Switzerland to Italy and explored Venice, Rome, Pompeii and even stayed 3 nights in a Tuscan Castle.

We then had 2 weeks skiing in Chamonix France and headed home via London, spending 5 days in Kensington.

We're very used to travelling to the Northern Hemisphere in our long summer holidays as the cold does not bother us and we're all keen skiers.

Italy was cool but not cold - much like our Autumn weather with sunny days.

Even London was not that cold.

We had the best time touring and exploring. We make a point of staying put so for example, we had 5 days in Rome, 3 days in Venice, 2 weeks in Chamonix, 2 days in Montreux, Switzerland and from our base in Chamonix, we did day trips to Annecy, France,(the medieval city also known as the little Venice of France), CERN Switzerland (the amazing Large Hadron Collider) and of course, it is so close to Montreux and Geneva.

We booked apartments at each location so the trip for our family of 4 was not unreasonable. Our children were then, 18 and 15.

Of course, we were travelling in the low season - it was not yet the European mid-term holidays, so pricing was also much better for us.

All the best,

Family Holidays

www.ski-chamonix.net

September will probably be the best time. You've got three weeks then, the weather is still pretty good and warm, cost wise it doesn't make much difference as it's still high season.

Regarding your daughter and schooling, I really don't believe that taking an extra 4 days from school will make a big difference to her. In fact, it may well enhance her studies as she will have an a complete break. If she was in Year 12 would be a completely different issue.

I do think trying to see four countries is a bit to much in the time you have available. Working on 21 days, you will need to allow at least three days to travel to and from Europe, then one full day to travel between countries - and there's goes one week of your holidays. You're left with 14 days to see 4 countries - that's 3 1/2 days per country so all you're going to see is perhaps a bit of London, Paris, Rome or other Italian city, and a Swiss city, barely scratching the surface of the main cities and seeing nothing of the countryside.

I really suggest you concentrate on two countries and see as much as you can. Get guidebooks from your local library and work out itineraries based on what interests your family.

As an Australian I do understand the difficulties in travelling to Europe, I really dread that 24 hour plane trip! The first time I visited Europe, seven years ago now, I took six weeks to travel around four countries and still didn't see everything I wanted to see. Last year I spend another six weeks just in France, and there are still many more places I want to visit in that country alone. So you really need to sort out your priorities. It's better to visit fewer countries and really enjoy what you're seeing and have some great memories to look back on, than to rush and get stressed with all that travelling and little sightseeing.

The castles, museums and hotels open for the season the last 2 weeks of May and start shutting down the latter part of September. That is especially true of Italy. Europeans have their last school break during Whitsun (Corpus Christi), later part of May, and that is the best deals on hotels and the best weather. June can be a month of rain, rain, rain.

18 days to see four countries is a stretch in my estimation. I could spend 10 days solely in Rome, and then the rest of that in Pompeii.

It sounds like your kids are on a round year school. Yeah, September or October would be the best time. It kind of sucks, 'cause 3 weeks isn't gonna be enough.

im guessing september it is much nicer in europe also 3 weeks is plenty of time to get ready for her exams also she can study when inside while in europe.

i think July to September because in june etc you do lots of summer stuff depending on where you live

i think september because in june etc you do lots of summer stuff depending on where you live