Europe Family Travel Guide

Seven to ten days. One country. Two bases. Rome and Florence. Paris and the Loire. Lisbon and the Algarve. You will actually remember it.

Two weeks. Two countries, maybe three if they touch. Switzerland and Italy. Germany and Austria. Denmark and Sweden. Neighbors, short hops, one border crossing that is basically a road sign.

Three weeks or more. Three to four countries. Now a rail pass or a camper starts to pay for itself, and you can afford to lose a day to weather without it wrecking the plan.

Minimum three nights anywhere. Two nights is one real day. You arrive tired, you leave early, and the middle is laundry. Three nights is where a place stops being a photo stop.

Build in one empty day per week. No museum, no train, no plan. Kids need it and so do you. Every trip I have ever booked that skipped this came home frayed.

Check every passport date. Yours need to be valid at least three months past the day you leave Europe, and a lot of airlines want six. Check the kids’ too. A child’s passport is only good for five years and it expires quietly.

The first arrival takes longer now. Since October 2025 the EU takes fingerprints and a photo the first time you enter, under the new Entry/Exit System. No fee and no form. It can make that first passport line slow, so leave a real cushion on any connection.

ETIAS isn’t running yet. That’s the paid online authorization you may have read about. The EU has said it will give several months’ notice before it starts, and when it does I’ll tell every family I’m working with well before they fly.

Most borders are just a sign. Take the train from Paris to Amsterdam or drive from Germany into Austria and nobody checks a passport. Keep them on you anyway. Hotels ask for them and spot checks happen.

The UK runs its own entry. US visitors need an ETA, a quick online authorization, before they go. Apply before you book the Eurostar. Ireland doesn’t need one.

One parent traveling alone with the kids? Carry a signed consent letter from the other parent. Most of the time nobody asks. When they do, you’ll be glad you have it.

The euro covers most of it. France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Croatia and more. One currency, no exchanging, and prices you can compare across borders.

Norway and Denmark both use a krone and they are different kroner. Sweden has a krona. None of them are interchangeable, and none of them are cheap. Norway in particular will shock you on groceries and alcohol.

Switzerland uses the franc and it is the most expensive country on this page by a wide margin. Shops near the border will take euros and give you a terrible rate back in francs. Pay in francs.

Cards work almost everywhere. Tap works even more. The Nordics are close to cashless. Germany and rural Italy still surprise people with cash only bakeries, market stalls and small restaurants, so keep some notes.

Always decline the offer to pay in dollars. That prompt on the card machine is dynamic currency conversion and it is a hidden markup of several percent. Choose the local currency every single time.

Tipping is not American tipping. Service is included. Round up, or leave five to ten percent for something good. Twenty percent is not generous here, it is confusing.

Nordic. Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Iceland. Expensive, safe, spotless, and set up for children better than anywhere else on earth. Summer days that never end and winters that barely get light. Go for nature and for how easy daily life is, not for nightlife or food scenes.

Western. France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, the UK. The version of Europe most first timers picture. Big famous cities, excellent trains, high prices in the capitals and much lower ones an hour outside them.

Central and Alpine. Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Czechia, Poland, Slovenia, Hungary. Mountains, castles, punctual trains and the widest price range on the continent. Switzerland will empty your account and Poland will refill it.

Mediterranean. Italy, Spain, Portugal, Croatia, Greece. Late dinners, warm sea, loud streets and the friendliest countries in Europe for traveling with small children. Slower, hotter and less punctual, and that is the point.

Eastern. Romania, Bulgaria, the Baltics, the rest of the Balkans. The best value left in Europe and the least crowded. Fewer direct flights, more driving, a bigger jump in language and alphabet. Not a first trip. Exactly the right fourth one.

Apartments beat hotels once you are more than four. European hotel rooms are built for two, sometimes three. A family of five usually means two rooms, which is two of everything. An apartment gives you a kitchen, a washing machine and a door you can close after bedtime, and it is normally cheaper.

Car seat rules vary and rental seats are grim. Most countries require a seat or booster to around twelve years old or a set height. Rental company seats are expensive, filthy and sometimes not there when you arrive. Bring a lightweight travel booster if your child is at that stage. Taxis are often exempt, which does not make it safe.

Plan laundry, do not react to it. Book one apartment a week with a machine, or find a laundromat and treat it as an afternoon off. Dryers are rare, so everything hangs. Pack for eight days and wash, not for three weeks.

Dinner is late and that is fine. Spain does not really start eating until nine. Italy from around eight. Order early elsewhere and you will be the only table in the room. Feed the kids a real afternoon snack and shift the whole day back a couple of hours.

School age travel is more doable than it sounds. We did a year of worldschooling in Arendal, Norway. Most US districts will work with you if you ask properly and early. Museums, cathedrals and border crossings do more for a nine year old than a worksheet, and the kids come back different.

The dog is possible and it is paperwork. Poppy came with us. Europe is far more dog friendly than the US once you are there. Getting there is vet visits, microchips, rabies timing and an airline that will take her. Start that four months out, not four weeks.

Public toilets cost money. Half a euro to a euro, often a turnstile, sometimes an attendant. Keep coins. Train stations and department stores are your friends.

Air conditioning is not standard and neither is ice. You will get three cubes if you ask nicely. There are no free refills. Water is served bottled and you pay for it, though the tap water is fine nearly everywhere.

Rooms are small and beds are two singles. A European double is often two mattresses pushed together with separate duvets. Elevators fit one person and a bag. Ground floor is zero, so the first floor is up a flight.

Wine costs less than water in Italy. A perfectly good bottle at a supermarket is three euros. Nobody is precious about it and nobody gets drunk in front of their kids either.

Everything is closer and slower than the map says. Two hundred miles is not two hours if half of it is a mountain pass, a ferry line, or a town center you are not allowed to drive into.

The language barrier is smaller than you fear. In the Nordics and the Netherlands English is close to universal. In rural France, Spain and Italy it is not, and learning ten words changes how people treat you completely.

Amsterdam. Schiphol has direct flights from all over the US, and the train station is right under the airport. Belgium is about two hours away by train, Paris a little over three, and Germany is right next door.

Paris. Direct flights from most big US airports and fast trains out in every direction. London is two and a quarter hours through the Channel Tunnel. The Loire, Normandy and even Switzerland are an easy day of travel.

Germany. Frankfurt and Munich are two of the easiest airports in Europe to fly into. It’s the country I’ve sold more than any other. The trains work and the castles sell themselves. From Munich, Salzburg is under two hours and the Alps are right there.