European Tours-Family with older teens

[rooster222]

We're talking about London/Paris (or maybe another city combo) for spring break. My dd is a senior so this would kind of be a celebratory trip. I've been to Europe but the rest of my family has not. I'm not great at navigating in general so I don't want the responsibility of getting us around. I'm sure dh could but I want to investigate tour options to take away that stress.

Ideally, I think we'd like something that has optional add-ons as none of will enjoy just hurrying from one sight to the next. A tour that includes transportation and accomodations with free time at each stop would be ideal.

Any suggestions or reviews?

[bee20]

A family member enjoyed a similar thing with G Adventures, Intrepid is another company that does very similar trips. She called ahead and got the ages of the other kids on some of the itineraries they were interested in and found one with other kids in the same age range (middle school) so they had other kids to hang out with.

I've taken these trips as a single but don't have kids myself, usually they have a range of tours from basic (hotel and transport) to deluxe (fully scheduled).

[mrsukyankee]

Honestly, London and Paris are so easy that you shouldn't need a tour. In London and Paris, you can get the hop-on-off bus tours to get around and see stuff. And the metro & tube are reasonably easy to navigate. Getting between them is a doddle. If you want a day tour, then I'd do that (for example, you can do a tour that takes you to Bath or Oxford or the like from London). London Walks have great mini-tours in London (2 hours). Viator are fabulous for day trips or sightseeing/2 to 3 hour tours.
p.s. I live in London, so I'm happy to help out in any way.

[erbear]

Oct 23, 2022 16:02:42 GMT -5 mrsukyankee said:

Honestly, London and Paris are so easy that you shouldn't need a tour. In London and Paris, you can get the hop-on-off bus tours to get around and see stuff. And the metro & tube are reasonably easy to navigate. Getting between them is a doddle. If you want a day tour, then I'd do that (for example, you can do a tour that takes you to Bath or Oxford or the like from London). London Walks have great mini-tours in London (2 hours). Viator are fabulous for day trips or sightseeing/2 to 3 hour tours.
p.s. I live in London, so I'm happy to help out in any way.

I was going to say this. London and Paris are really easy to navigate on your own. We just did this trip with much younger kids (11 and 13) and it was no sweat. Happy to help if you want suggestions.

[jg183]

Oct 18, 2022 14:08:06 GMT -5 bee20 said:

A family member enjoyed a similar thing with G Adventures, Intrepid is another company that does very similar trips. She called ahead and got the ages of the other kids on some of the itineraries they were interested in and found one with other kids in the same age range (middle school) so they had other kids to hang out with.

I've taken these trips as a single but don't have kids myself, usually they have a range of tours from basic (hotel and transport) to deluxe (fully scheduled).

we have used G adventures in other countries (china, ecuador) and had a great experience with them. I'm sure their europe trips would be great if you are set on using a company and not planning it yourself. 

[mrsukyankee]

rooster222, what have you decided upon? I'm always happy to help with ideas/how to plan for both London and Paris.

[rooster222]

Nov 19, 2022 3:53:00 GMT -5 mrsukyankee said:

rooster222, what have you decided upon? I'm always happy to help with ideas/how to plan for both London and Paris.

Thank you so much for checking in! We're undecided right now. Our youngest dd got invited to travel with a friend, so we aren't sure that we want to go without her. I will definitely take you up on help with planning when we get it figured out.