Planning a European Family Vacation

Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands

Our family of five, along with my daughter’s boyfriend, embarked on a whirlwind journey through six countries in just nine days. Along the way, we explored remarkable historical sites and took part in a variety of exciting activities. This guide details our step-by-step planning process, offering travel tips and useful website links to help you plan your own European family adventure. Stay tuned for our next article: A European Family Vacation.

Planning a European Family Vacation

Planning a European family vacation requires significant advance preparation—perhaps even more than other trips. There are many factors to consider, including destinations, sightseeing stops, travel schedules, accommodations, transportation, and activities. For this particular trip, we started planning nearly a year in advance, beginning with selecting our primary destinations. Our itinerary included Munich and Füssen in Germany, Lucerne in Switzerland, Austria, the Black Forest region of Germany, Paris, and Amsterdam. Some of these choices were based on specific activities and landmarks we wanted to experience, while others were selected as general points of interest.

European Destinations

We began by discussing the locations and activities we had previously experienced, along with new places we wanted to explore. This gave us a rough outline of our ideal itinerary. To refine our plans, we used Google Maps to map out our destinations, checking distances and travel times. This step was crucial in determining whether our chosen locations were practical and manageable within our timeline.

Germany

We considered several cities in Germany, including Berlin and Cologne, as well as a visit to Auschwitz concentration camp. However, given our limited timeframe, we ultimately chose Munich as our primary destination. Its proximity—just two hours from our next stop, Neuschwanstein Castle—made it a practical choice. This led us to select a hotel in Füssen, Germany, only a five-minute drive from the castle. Additionally, we discovered an Alpine slide nearby, which made Füssen an even more appealing location for our stay.

Switzerland and other countries

We then looked into Lucerne Switzerland which is a gorgeous city surrounded by majestic mountains and the beautiful Lake Lucerne. The commute from Füssen Germany was about 3 hours, so it worked really well in our timetable. The commute also took us through Austria and possibly Litchenstein, so we planned on stopping along the way. From there we wanted to drive through the Black Forest in Germany with a stop for lunch…and Black Forest Cake.

France

Our next destination was Paris, but we needed to stop somewhere in between because the drive was too long. My husband suggested Nancy France after reviewing some articles about the historic town. The drive was approximately 2.5 hours from the Black Forest and another 4 hours to Paris, so it fit right into our plan.

Because of our timetable we were only able to book 4 nights/3 days in Paris. Later when adding activties, we could have used another day or two to see everything and allow some downtime.

Belgium and the Netherlands

Our final destination was Amsterdam which was 5.5 hours from Paris. The drive took us through Belgium, so we planned on stopping somewhere along the way. In Amsterdam, we planned for only 2 nights/1.5 days, but like Paris we could have used an additional day.

Vacation Spreadsheet & Itinerary

Once we had our destinations determined we started to create google docs so we could keep organized and share the European family vacation planning. Two Google Docs were made, a spreadsheet with our bookings and another was our itinerary.

Flights

We started by booking all our flights. For us, this was extra complicated because we are currently residing in Stockholm Sweden and our adult children were still in the U.S. To further complicate things our oldest daughter was doing an internship in another state than our son. The internship was a huge factor with the timing of the vacation, but we made it work. The overseas travel flights were added to the spreadsheet with dates, airlines, flight numbers, etc. while the date, basic info, and links were added to the itinerary.

Transportation

Our second step was to arrange transportation. Since we were going to several locations throughout Europe we decided that a car would be best. Flying or taking a train was not an option. Both were too expensive for our needs and neither would get to all our selected destinations. Once booked, we added the details to our Google Docs.

Accommodations

Our next step was booking our accommodations. We signed up for Booking.com so that we could read reviews and earn rewards. Airbnb was discussed, but since our stays were short at each location it was ultimately less expensive to book a hotel. The process of selecting our hotels took several days. Pricing, the number of people in our family, and hotel ratings were all factors in our decision. When we selected and booked our hotels we added the details to our Google Docs.

Activities

The last thing we booked was our activities and tours. We went through each destination and decided what we would like to do. For most of the activities, we were able to go directly to a website and book tickets in advance. Timing was a bit tricky though. Some activities could not be booked until the day we got there (the Alpine Slide), while other activities could not be booked until two months in advance. The Eiffel tower and Versailles would not allow us to book way in advance, but at the same time tickets would sell out quickly. We also booked packages through Viator which was a nice option for our Canal Tour and Bus Tour in Amsterdam. It was also really useful when we missed our sign up window for the Eiffel tower. Needless to say, this process took a couple of months to accomplish.

Last Minute Activities

Throughout the planning process we asked our adult children if they had any special activities they would like to do. We wanted to make this a trip for all and not just about our preferences. Initially they did not express any desires, but my daughter asked about the Stranger Things Pop-Up in Paris. It easily fit into our Paris plans so we had her book the time slot for the six of us.

My son, on the other hand, requested to add a trip to Normandy. He is a huge WWII history buff, so we had to work a bit and combine some activities on the same day in Paris. This made our plans really tight, but we were able to open up a day for the side trip to Normandy. Like our daughter, we had him plan the stops for the day and schedule the museum tickets.

Tip: Whether your children are young or old ask them for their input during the planning process making them feel more included. Older children and young adults can do some of the research, as well, and even make reservations. This will help ease up some of the planning process for you.

Conclusion

All in all the trip for the 6 of us going through 6 countries in 9 days was a huge success. Everyone had a fantastic time seeing the beautiful sites, learning the history, and experiencing the different cultures of the European countries. Organized planning well in advance was essential to this trip, especially with our limited time.

Find out more tips and see more pictures in our next article The European Family Vacation.