No matter how young your children are, there are ways to bring them along on a family vacation and still have a wonderful experience. Here are 10 tips that can work with all ages to make your next vacation the best ever!
Even more than five years after we took our 4 1/2 month around the world trip with our girls in 2003 to 2004, we still get questions about what the circumstances were leading up to that journey and why we decided to do it. We received our initial inspiration from several sources.
We took a three-week trip to five countries in Europe, using the train and bus as our primary modes of transportation. Our children were six and nine during this trip, which was their first taste of extended international travel in a hostel setting.
Munich was our first stop on our Europe trip. We stayed with a family friend and spent time in the city center as well as a church and beer garden just out of town. We then began our time in Switzerland by visiting Lucerne.
We spent four days in the heart of Switzerland taking several different hikes. These ranged from day hikes to overnighting at two different huts nestled in the Swiss Alps.
Zermatt is a classic Swiss town in a fairy tale setting with views of the Matterhorn mountain in clear weather. We were fortunate to see the mountain from the town center as well as during day hikes.
After spending time in the German speaking portion of Switzerland, we made a short stop in the Italian section of the country, in Lugano, before continuing to Milan, Italy.
Luxembourg, although a small country, provided enough sights to keep us entertained for four days. We visited several castles, military and abbey museums and took day hikes through the beautiful Little Switzerland region.
