|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Have fun – at some point while you're traveling around
Europe, take the train. European trains take you to destinations in all
shapes and sizes, stopping at great city centers or little towns, winding
along the Alps, zipping through the scenic countryside, even crossing the
great divider, the English Channel. In Europe, there are significant discounts
for people traveling with children under 12 years old. In some cases, you
only get these price reductions if you are traveling with a child, one more
great reason to go with your kids. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Going from London to Paris or vice versa, the Eurostar  is
your best bet. Driving a car or taking the plane is just more work. Get
on at Waterloo Interational station in central London, and get off at the
Gare du Nord in the heart of Paris. It takes less than three hours,
plus the high speed train goes underneath the English Channel, although
kids won't get an underwater view, outside the window it's pretty black
during that part of the trip through the Channel Tunnel. First class tickets
include champagne for parents and real-food meals (not that awful airplane-style
stuff). |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Looking for a scenic train trip? The Swiss Alps are
spectacular. A great trip for kids is the GoldenPass Panoramic train that
goes from Lucerne to Interlaken, up over the Brunig Pass (train has has
a special locomotive to go over this steep pass). For a longer trip, the
Glacier Express is a narrow gauge rail that goes from Zermatt to St. Moritz,
crosses 291 bridges and goes through 91 tunnels. A Swiss
Pass  for
4, 8, 15, 22 travel days (non-consecutive), includes lake steamers and city
transporation, and along with the pass you can ask for the Swiss Family
Card, which allows free travel for kids under 16 traveling with their parents. |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Headed for Provence? If you're flying into Paris, the
best and fastest way to get to Provence is the TGV
high speed train from Paris to Avignon (arrive in less than 3 hours). You can purchase point
to point tickets or if you buy a France Saverpass, for two or more people,
the pass is good for travel on the TGV (you will need to make reservations),
kids 4-11 are half the adult fare, children under 4 are free. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
One of our favorite train trips is London to Inverness. Looking
out from a train, the glens of Scotland never looked more magical.
A BritRail
Consecutive Pass  lets
you travel anywhere in England, Scotland or Wales. With the pass, kids under
5 travel free, one child ages 5-15 travels free with one paying adult, along
with the complimentary BritRail Family Pass (just request it when you purchases
your BritRail Consecutive Pass). So, if there's four people in your family,
two adults, two children, you would only pay for the two adult passes (this
is a big savings over point to point tickets on British Rail). |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Germany is a pretty big country, but the trains are speedy, so
you can easily get from north to south in less than a day. You can take
the train from Berlin to Munich and arrive in under 6 hours, or Berlin
to Frankfurt in 4 hours on the ICE
high speed trains. The German Rail Pass is available for half price
for children under ages 6 -12, children under 6 ride free. The pass is
also good for boat rides on the Rhine, from Cologne to Mainz, and steamers
on Lake Constance. And the rail passes will be cheaper than individual
point to point fares. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
There are several flavors of Eurail
Pass  these
days, including the Eurail Selectpass, EurailDrive Pass, which allow travel
throughout Europe, as well as country-specific passes, and multiple countries
(e.g. the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany). The Eurail Selectpass Saver is
for two or more people traveling together, perfect for families. All these
passes have a 50% price reduction for children ages 4 through 11, children
under 4 are free. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tip: When you're planning your trip, compare point
to point rail tickets  vs.
the rail pass, to see if there are cost savings. Also depending on which
trains you take, even with a pass, some trains, such as the Eurostar or
TGV, require reservations. |
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
 |
|
Nifty pop-up
book of trains, filled with fun facts about steam, diesel, electric
locomotives and passenger cars, record breaking trains (longest freight train, fastest
steam locomotive, , highest railway line),
and a beautiful two-page pull-out train station.
(Pop-up book)
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Big
board book, chock-full of Italian passenger trains, Spanish express
trains, German commuter trains, the high-speed trains, TGV, ICE
and Eurostar, all kinds of trains you'll see in Europe. A super
train book, this is one of our favorites. (Board book)
|
|
|
|
