We just got back from a three week Europe trip with our girls which was so much fun and so special. Check out my daily vlogs if you missed them on IG.
I received a ton of questions asking about our exact itinerary as well as several requests for lodging links. I know I always find posts like this helpful when I am doing my own planning!
In this post, I’m sharing our exact Europe itinerary. In each section, I’ll link to where we stayed as well as to the blog post I wrote about the area. At the bottom of the post, I shared a helpful PDF with the itinerary on it as well.
(If you’re planning a Europe trip with kids, you might also want to bookmark my packing guide and my list of 30 tips for traveling internationally with kids).
Our 3 Week Europe Itinerary With Kids
A quick overview: we did a 4 night stay in Paris and then flew over to Croatia where we rented a car. We spent 6 nights in Croatia then drove up to Slovenia for a 3 night stay in Lake Bled. From there, we drove over to Tuscany in Italy. We ended the trip in Rome where we dropped off the car at the airport before we flew home.
Pro tip: I think a good Europe itinerary should have a little of everything. If you just stick with big cities, you’ll burn out from the crowds and chaotic transportation. We always like to have a mix of cities, beaches, mountains, small towns, etc. This particular itinerary hit basically every type of area which was easy to do with so many days to work with, but you can visit a nice mix of locations with much less time too.
Expanding even further, we always like to think about the weather and season for when we are going somewhere. For example, if we are going when the weather’s warm, I like to add a beach/coastal location because I know I would be craving that if we were inland the whole time.
In today’s post, I’ll talk briefly about why we chose each location, how long we stayed there for, where we stayed, and how we got from one place to another.
Day 1-4: Paris
We booked our flights with points, and options were limited in terms of flight times and destination cities which is why we ended up flying into Paris. This was also fine by us because we LOVE Paris and knew it would be the perfect place to start off the trip.
We stayed in the 6th Arrondissement (St. Germain) for the first time on this trip, and it was by far my favorite area I’ve stayed in. Our apartment was really close to Luxembourg Gardens (less than a 10 minute walk) which was perfect for the girls since they have a great park, merry-go-round, and toy boats on the pond there. And the apartment itself was great: it had 3 bedrooms and one bathroom. Our place was tucked away on a quiet street that had a few adorable restaurants and shops. The apartment was a little cluttered for my tastes, but even that grew on me and lent itself to the charm of the stay. There’s a big bed in one bedroom and twin beds in each of the smaller bedrooms. We used the kitchen every morning to cook the girls eggs before we set out for the day.
Tyler and I found Paris to be extremely kid friendly—in fact, I think it was the most kid friendly place we visited on this trip! And the girls loved it. Charlotte asked to go back at least once a day for the rest of the trip!
Check out our tips for visiting Paris with kids here.
Travel Day: Paris, France —> Korčula, Croatia
We flew via EasyJet from Paris to Split—this was a 2 hour flight out of CDG. We rented a car at the Split airport and then drove south to Orebic which took about 3 hours. From Orebic, we took the car ferry over to Korčula which took about 25 minutes. Our Airbnb in Lumbarda was less than a 10 minute drive from the ferry dock.
Between the flight and the long drive, this was one of the harder travel days. The girls did fine, but I wouldn’t have wanted to do more than one of these types of days when they were these ages. Packing up, getting to the airport, the flight itself, baggage claim, etc….it was a lot, and I was glad it was our only flight between locations.
Day 5-8: Lumbarda, Korčula, Croatia
Croatia has been on our “list” for years, and we really wanted to stay on an island. We went back and forth for months but ended up choosing Korčula because it was more “off the beaten path” and quieter than Hvar. We skipped Dubrovnik (even though we really wanted to go!) because it would require us to drive even further south before we headed north to Slovenia. For this trip, it didn’t make sense but we knew Dubrovnik could be a fairly easy add-on to any other trip since there are a lot of flights going in and out.
Korčula was incredible. We loved the beaches, the crystal blue water, and chill island vibes. Our favorite part was the gorgeous medieval old town area.
We stayed at The Dreamer’s Club in Lumbarda which was amazing. Lumbarda is a sleepy little town that doesn’t have much except a few of the most gorgeous beaches and a couple of solid restaurants. The Dreamer’s Club has this beachy boho vibe and a gorgeous view from every terrace. We stayed in the “Boho” apartment which was a studio layout with a big bed and a pullout couch, and then it also had a separate small room behind a sliding divider with a big bed that the girls slept on. Also, the breakfast was insane.
Check out our full guide to Korčula here.
Travel Day: Korčula, Croatia —> Plitvice Lakes, Croatia
This drive took us about 5 hours, plus a 90 minute detour (30 min roundtrip drive and 60 minute lunch) to check out the Mali Ston area which I recommend if you are into oysters or interested in seeing the longest complete fortress system in Europe (and only second behind the Great Wall of China!).
I wrote about our detour to Mali Ston here.
Day 9-10: Plitvice Lakes, Croatia
We’ve always wanted to visit the Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia, and it definitely made sense to make a stop on our way up to Slovenia. We decided to spend two nights near the park which would allow us to experience the park first thing in the morning (see this reel lol). It was incredible. And then the girls were able to swim and play the rest of the day before we packed up and drove again the next morning.
We stayed in a “glamping” mobile home at Camping Plitvice and had the best experience. It was modern, clean, and exactly what we needed for our 2 night stay. We stayed in one of their premium family mobile homes which had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a patio with a beautiful view. The property also had an awesome pool and playground that girls really appreciated at this point in the trip.
Check out my guide for visiting Plitvice Lakes here.
Travel Day: Plitvice, Croatia —> Lake Bled, Slovenia
This was supposed to be a 3 hour drive, but we broke it up by spending the afternoon in Ljibiana—a really unique city that we absolutely loved. Lake Bled is just about 45 minutes outside of Ljinuina, so it definitely makes sense to pair these two locations.
Read how we spent our day in Ljubljana here.
Day 11-13: Lake Bled, Slovenia
Lake Bled was very, very pretty, but the timing of our stay wasn’t ideal. We had one rainy day, and despite everything we read online telling us otherwise, a lot of the summer activities weren’t yet open when we were there (June 5-8).
I also had kind of a “Pinterest vs. reality” situation with Lake Bled. Don’t get me wrong—the lake itself was gorgeous. There were a few really cute streets and old buildings, but overall I was a little disenchanted by the lakeside town of Bled which also had a huge number of industrial, dated buildings mixed in with the classic Slovenia architecture. The mix of the two was a little strange and surprised me a bit. And although walking around in the stroller was nice, there weren’t many parks for the girls. And since the summer activities were still closed, it didn’t make for the most kid-friendly stay.
Overall I’m glad we went to Slovenia on this trip, but this was probably my least favorite location of them all.
The apartment we rented in Lake Bled was amazing, by far the nicest and most spacious of the trip. We stayed there just over the halfway mark, and it was nice to have some space to spread out, regroup, etc. The apartment was about a 20 minute walk to the lake itself, but I thought it was worth it to stay somewhere with so many amenities (including a sauna!).
Here’s the guide for Lake Bled.
Travel Day: Lake Bled, Slovenia —> Montaione in Tuscany, Italy
At almost 7 hours, this was the longest drive of the trip. The route was really pretty and wound through the Slovenian and Italian Alps before descending through Northern Italy and into Tuscany.
Day 14-18: Tuscany, Italy
Tuscany was beautiful, more picturesque than I even imagined. We stayed on the outskirts of Montaione which is a small town just outside of the Chianti region. It was about an hour from Florence and Siena and 25 minutes to San Gimignano (we took day trips to all three). Montaione itself wasn’t anything spectacular, but it was a nice central location for experiencing the best of Tuscany.
The villa we rented with our friends was stunning and massive–super old with tons of authentic, rustic details. Each family had their own room with an ensuite bathroom (plus extra bedrooms for the girls and my friend’s two-year-old son). It had a full kitchen and a patio with a massive table for group dinners. The pool was beautiful, and the whole place had the most amazing views of the Tuscan countryside.
The inside of the villa was a little dark—especially the common areas downstairs—which I didn’t love. Also, there were lots of hard surfaces and TONS of stairs, making things a little dicey with our “five under five” crew. The pool was gated off though which was great for peace of mind, and they had a little playground and tennis court on the property too.
In terms of Tuscany being kid friendly: I think if you have a kid who can handle a lot of driving then it’s worth it. It was SO fun to explore, but did require a lot of driving around which could be rough on little ones who don’t love being in the car.
Check out my guides to San Gimignano and Florence.
Travel Day: Montaione, Italy —> Rome, Italy
This was a 3.5 hour drive that we broke up by spending most of the day in Siena which was right on the way. I’m so glad we stopped in Siena and it was a nice way to break up the day.
Day 19-20: Rome, Italy
Rome is one of our favorite cities (you might remember when this blog used to be named after it–RIP!). Tyler and I were all too happy to fly home from Rome and spend a day showing the girls all of our favorite spots. Rome is very, very hectic (and hot in the summer), but if you do it right, I think it’s magical. The girls were really blown away by all of the sites which was fun for us.
However, there weren’t any parks to speak of in the areas we explored, and the sidewalks were ROUGH on the stroller. It was well worth it to us to hit Rome on this trip, but compared to Paris it was harder with the girls for sure.
We stayed at this Airbnb that was a five minute walk from the Colosseum. We were able to park the car a 7 minute walk away which was nice. The apartment was awesome: super clean and bright and had a super powerful AC which was a godsend in Rome.
Read my 3 day Rome itinerary here.
Travel Day: Rome—>DC—>San Diego
After a long travel day, we finally made it home.
Below, I’m linking all of the blog posts I wrote for this trip, both the packing tips and planning tricks as well as all of the location guides. At the bottom, you’ll find a handy PDF with an overview. I hope this was helpful, and please reach out if you have any questions!
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Packing and tips from this trip:
30 tips for traveling internationally with small kids
How to pack for a long trip with kids
International travel checklist
Travel guides from this trip:
Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia
