Europe road trip with young kids - are we mad??

[StickyToffeeFingers]

My SIL is planning to get married in Italy next year and we are thinking of making an adventure of it by driving from England to France, across to Germany then Switzerland and northern Italy. We would be aiming for 4/5 days travel each way, with a break of about 4 days for the wedding. Our two DC, who will by then be 2 and 5, would be coming with us.

Although I love the idea of it, I'm rather less optimistic about the reality of all the driving with the kids than my OH is, and can just picture it being a stressful nightmare of bored children, constant toilet trips, getting lost, bickering and playing endless games of I Spy/singing Wheels on the Bus. So, are we bonkers to even be considering this? And does anyone have any experience/advice to offer?

Go for it! We did 2-3,000 mile road trips from babyhood. The trick is segmenting the journey, knowing where the parks are when you stop for lunch and a complete map of all McDonald's with complimentary soft play areas! I highly recommend driving via Strasbourg, Black Forest, Bavaria and Austria (avoiding Switzerland) we took 6 days one way, 3 days the other to Venice, staying a week in Italy

I can't offer any advice as a parent but my parents did more-or-less the same trip with us back in the mid 1960s. We had a great time, although I do remember being travel sick a lot in Switzerland.

It couldn't have been that bad for my parents because we did at least three European road trips that I can remember.

If Neuschwanstein is the fairytale castle Beechview means do not go there during school holidays! It's best visited in November or January IMO, otherwise the crowds and queues are horrendous. It looks best in snow too