Planning a Europe trip covering Amsterdam, Germany, Innsbruck and Italy with my family was a lot of work.  Of course, I could have just booked a packaged tour, but it might not cover the places that I wanted to go. Moreover, it worked out to be more expensive than planning the trip on my own. Also, packaged tours usually offer rooms for twin or triple sharing. This meant that I had to book two rooms for my family of 5.

Venice Gondola

I took quite a bit of time planning our 15-day trip to Europe as I wanted to search for the best deals, find accommodations that were family-friendly, and figure out how to get around before even getting there.  It would not be fun wandering around finding our accommodation with heavy suitcases and tired kids.

Here was what I did to plan for this trip.

 

Transportation

TGV Bullet train

After deciding which cities to go (see my 15-day Europe Itinerary), I explored various transportation options for my trip.  e.g. joining tour, taking train and public transport throughout, driving throughout.  I finally decided to drive from Amsterdam, through Germany to Innsbruck and then take trains from Innsbruck to Italy and between Italian cities.

Why you may ask? It worked out to be cheaper and more convenient to drive in Amsterdam and Germany than taking public transportation or join local tours for a family of 5.  However, I could not say the same for Italy for several reasons.  Firstly, you could not drive in Venice and Cinque Terre.  Secondly, it was also not encouraged for tourists to drive in Rome. Thirdly, it would take a much longer time to drive between Florence to Rome than taking a train.

So here is what I did for transportation:

  • Rent a car for 8 days with pickup at Amsterdam and drop-off at Innsbruck.
    I chose Hertz because they supported one-way rentals (Amsterdam to Innsbruck) and the Hertz drop-off point in Innsbruck was conveniently located within walking distance from our hotel. The only problem was that they could not allow car seats to be rented if the car was to be returned to a different location. As such, I decided to buy an inexpensive car seat from home and left the seat with Hertz when we returned our vehicle. You might think that it was a waste of money, but after calculating the cost, buying a car seat worked out to be cheaper than renting one.
  • Buy a train ticket from Innsbruck to Venice from RailEurope
    – My train, EC87, departed at 13:27 and arrived at 18:10.

  • Buy a 3-day non-consecutive Italian pass from Rail Europe
    – 1 day – for a morning train to Venice Mestre to Venice, and an evening train from Venice to Florence (ES9425 at 18:27)
    – 1 day – for Florence – Pisa, Pisa to La Spezia (IC670), Travel between Cinque Terre stops, La Spezia to Florence
    – 1 day – for Florence (at 17:10) to Rome

Tip #1: It is important to note that some trains require compulsory and chargeable reservations. I went to www.eurorailways.com to find out which train required a reservation. I reserved trains prior to my trip for Venice to Florence and Florence to Rome. I reserved train from Pisa to Cinque Terre at the Florence train station.

Tip #2: For non-consecutive day tickets, you must write the date before you board the train. If not, you will get fined like me, even though I had no intention of cheating.

  • Buy shuttle bus tickets to The Mall in Florence (from behind the Waldorf Suite Firenze, 5 minute walk from the Florence train station)
  • Buy a 1 day Hop-on-Hop-Off Bus tour in Rome (www.viator.com, but you could get tickets easily on the bus itself)
  • Take a taxi to the airport in Rome.  (I actually bought a 4-day pass, but did not use the fourth day ticket as the train to the airport was such a long walk from train station entrance)

 

Accommodations

When choosing hotels for five people, I prefer to find a hotel or B&B that can accommodate all 5 of us in a single room, instead of getting 2 rooms.  It is not only cheaper, but more fun for the family.  My criteria for choosing a hotel room depends on the mode of transportation.  When driving, I prefer to choose hotels with free parking. However, when taking trains, I prefer to choose hotels within walking distance from the train station.  This will save me money on taxis from the train station to the hotel. I will also look out for corporate or credit card discounts or mileage. So here are my hotel bookings for this trip.

  • 2N in Amsterdam (I stayed at the Marriott as I had some discounts)
  • 1N in Frankfurt (I stayed at Maritim as I had some discounts)
  • 1N near Legoland in Gunzburg, Germany (I stayed at Hotel Bettina which had 1 king-sized bed and a double-decker bed)
  • 2N near Europapark in Rust,  Germany (I stayed at Hotel Engel which had 2 x 2 single-beds joined together and an additional single-bed)
  • 1N near Neuschwanstein Castle in Fussen, Germany (I stayed at Aktiv Hotel Schweiger which had 2 single-beds joined together, and 2 additional single-beds)
  • 1N in Innsbruck (I stayed at Hotel Zach which had 2 single-beds joined together and 1 double sofa bed)
  • 1N in Venice (I stayed at Hotel Regit at Venice Mestre as it was cheaper than staying in Venice. It has 1 queen and 2 single beds.)
  • 3N in Florence (I stayed at Waldorf Suite Firenze which had 2 single-beds joined together and 1 double sofa bed and a kitchenette)
  • 2N in Rome  (I stayed at Hotel Luciani which had 1 queen and 2 single-beds)

 

Attractions

Buying tickets in advance for some of the attractions proved to be a good choice for me.  It saved my family from the long queues at the ticket counters.  In addition, some tickets were discounted when purchased online.

The above were the websites that I referred to when making bookings.

 

 

The outcome of the planning was a family-oriented itinerary – Europe with Kids in 15 days covering the attractions above.

 

 

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