European trip planning for families
We live here, we travel it constantly, and we’ve done a lot of it with a toddler.
See the packagesDay-by-day plans from $189. First four families get 25% off.
Forty tabs open and none of them agree
You have two weeks, maybe three. You’ve got kids who will not stand in line for the Uffizi. You’ve read thirty blog posts and they contradict each other, partly because half of them were written by people who never went.
That’s the whole reason this service exists. Not to hand you a prettier list of attractions — to tell you how many cities you can realistically fit in, which day to put the long train journey on, and where the nearest playground is when the museum has run its course.
Who’s actually planning this
We’re Nik and Neva. We’ve been traveling Europe for fifteen years, and for the last few, with a toddler. Some numbers, because “we’ve traveled a lot” means nothing:
- Italy
- Every year for the past decade, often four times a year. Six months there in total, give or take.
- Lapland
- Three visits, nearly a month. Rovaniemi in deep winter with a toddler, including a guided hike at -11°C (12°F) and one trip that bottomed out at -32°C (-26°F), where the toddler coped noticeably better than we did.
- Germany
- Based in Bavaria since 2011. Southern Germany is the backyard — the castles, the alpine lakes, and every drive between them.
- Bulgaria
- We both grew up there. Family still in Burgas. We’re back several times a year.
- Everywhere else
- Denmark, Austria, the Basque coast and most of the rest of it — repeatedly, on student budgets and now as a family.
That’s the short version. The full list — nineteen countries, with the cities under each — is on our about page.
We live in Europe, which mostly means our information is current. We were in Italy three months ago, not in 2019. Things close, routes change, prices move, and we’re usually back before the year is out.
What you actually get
A day-by-day plan, built around your family, delivered as a PDF with a linked map.
- Days paced for childrenBuilt around naps and meals, with rest days where you need them, and no afternoon with three museums in it.
- Places we’ve been toNot aggregated reviews. Cafés we’ve sat in, trails we’ve walked with a stroller, restaurants that didn’t mind a two-year-old.
- The logistics you can’t check from a websiteWhich trains need reserving and which don’t. Whether the rental car is worth it or a liability. How long the airport transfer actually takes, as opposed to what the booking page claims.
- Accommodation suggestions with reasoningNot just a name — why that neighborhood, what’s walkable from it, what the trade-off is.
- A free revisionTwo on the larger packages.
What we don’t do: we don’t book anything for you. You get the plan and the reasoning behind every choice, and you make the reservations yourself — which keeps you in control of your dates, your cancellation terms and what you spend.
Everything we put in a plan is somewhere we’d take our own kid.
Where we plan
We’ll plan anywhere in Europe — fifteen years of it is a lot of ground.
But we’re straight with you about depth. Italy, Germany, Finland and Bulgaria are the ones we know properly, with Denmark, Austria and northern Spain close behind. If you ask us for somewhere we’ve only passed through, we’ll say so before you pay, and you can decide whether our planning is still worth it to you. Some people want the logistics handled regardless. Some don’t. Either answer is fine — we’d just rather you knew.
How it works
Tell us about the trip
A short form — who’s coming, when, where, how long, and what would ruin it for you. Two minutes, and nothing is charged.
We come back to you
Usually the same day, with what we’d suggest and how to book. If it’s somewhere we don’t know well enough to be useful, we’ll say so here rather than later.
You pay, then tell us the detail
Once you’ve paid, a longer questionnaire — how fast you like to travel, what you want to eat, where you want to stay. About five minutes, and it’s what makes the plan yours rather than generic.
We build it
Five to seven business days, usually sooner.
You read it and push back
Something not right, we fix it. That’s included. Then you make the bookings yourself, at your own pace.
See a full itinerary first
Three days in Rovaniemi with a four-year-old, in December, exactly as you’d receive it. No email required.
Founding families
We’re new at this and we don’t have reviews yet, which we’d rather admit than dress up.
So: the first four families to book get 25% off, in exchange for an honest review afterwards. Good or bad. If the itinerary doesn’t work for you, we want that written down more than we want the compliment.
Packages
Priced by trip, not by the day. Pick the one that matches the shape of your trip.
The Short Stay
One city or area
$142 for the first four families
- Day-by-day plan
- 2 accommodation suggestions
- Food spots and local tips
- Map overview
- 1 free revision
The Family Week
One country or region
$262 for the first four families
- Day-by-day plan, paced for kids
- Accommodation suggestions
- Food spots and local tips
- Transport between stops
- Map overview
- Rest days built in
- 2 free revisions
The Grand Tour
More than one country, or one country in real depth
from $412 for the first four families
- Everything in the Family Week
- A call with us before we start
- Full transport logistics — trains, flights, cars, transfers
- Scenic drives and rail journeys worth a day of their own
- 3 free revisions
Something else in mind? Multigenerational, a special occasion, three weeks, one region in enormous depth — email us at [email protected] and we’ll quote it.
Questions
How many places can we realistically fit in two weeks with kids?
Fewer than you’re hoping. Most families arrive with a list of five cities and leave happiest having done three properly. Working out which three is a large part of what you’re paying us for.
How should we plan the arrival day?
Depends entirely on how you got there, which is why we ask on the form. Two hours from London leaves you most of a day. An overnight flight where everyone slept is a different proposition from a daytime one where nobody did. The mistake we see most often is treating arrival day as a full day when it isn’t one — so we build it around your actual flight rather than a rule.
Trains or flights between countries?
Depends on the route, the ages, and how much luggage a family your size is really carrying. We’ll tell you which legs are worth the train and which aren’t.
Do you book anything for us?
No. We give you the plan and the reasoning behind every choice, and you make the reservations yourself. That way you keep control of your dates, your cancellation terms and what you spend.
How far ahead should we come to you?
Three months or more is comfortable. Less is possible — say so on the form and we’ll tell you honestly whether we can still make it good.
What if we don’t like it?
Tell us and we’ll rework it. That’s what the revisions are for.
Do we need ETIAS?
Depends on your passport. We’ll flag it in your plan along with anything else you need to sort before you fly.
Tell us about your trip
No obligation, and no charge until we’ve agreed what you need.
Start the form