Ideas for a road trip holiday in Europe with teenagers

[Nomoreminecraftplease]

My boys are 15 and 17. It will probably be the last holiday we have together. But they both want a very different type of holiday that we've never had before. They want to visit different countries in Europe. They are both interested in history particularly military history. My 15 year old also loves visiting castles and interestingcities(and loves star wars lol!!) and my 17 year old loves mountains and activities. I don't know where to start or what to do. I feel clueless! Please 🙏 help!

Southern Bavaria- mountains and castles all over the place plus Munich is a fab city. Look for Neuschwanstein, Linderhof, Chiemsee, Zugspitze, Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Lots of water parks as well if they like that kind of thing.

We did the Rhine from sea to source a few years ago. Takes in several countries and lots of history.

Aagh, my long reply just got deleted. Before I redo it, do they have a particular interest in the two world wars?

We did a road trip a few years ago.

We drovew through france stopping over night then went over to switzerland - stayed in geneva and went to the CERN laboratory, then drove over the alps into the Aosta valley - we lived there for a year so we showed the kids around, lots of things to do in summer -hiking, white water rafting etc. then we drove to milan and then onto a site call Pra del torre near venice where we stayed a week - beach and sightseeing and trip to venice etc. We then drove home by going through austria, german, luxembourg and belgium, We stopped at the battle of waterloo and there are other WW sites in normandy etc you can visit.

Yes they do particularly my 15 year old.

in the Alps check out Briancon and Mont Dauphin and the Col de Parpaillon. Lots of military stuff there. How’s about starting in Caen and doing DDay landings then on to the mountains?

For WWI I'd recommend a tour of some of the battlefield sites and cemeteries in the Somme and Ypres Salient areas, such as Thiepval, Vimy Ridge, Tyne Cot and Passchendaele, which has a comprehensive museum. Not to be missed is Ypres itself with the daily Menin Gate ceremony and the In Flanders Fields Museum.

Not that far from Ypres is Ghent which is just beautiful and has a wonderful castle, many churches and much more as well.

For WWII, there's the Normandy beaches, various Atlantic Wall museums, La Coupole and Dunkirk with its D Day Museum.

Some of these could be a good start to your trip.

Gothenburg-Copenhagen-Billund-Hamburg-Camping de Kleine Wolf-Amsterdam

Have they/you been to Scotland?

Id do : ferry to hoek of holland , germany, austria ( alps lakes and castles) the over to italy. I love venice and lots of cool campsites nearby but verona and lake garda would work too. If you had the time and stomach for the driving then down further to tuscany for some poolside relaxing. Then drive back via switzerland and france. Drive over the gotthard pass for the amazing views Lots of battlefield sites and memorials to see near calais before eurotunnel back.
At least 6 countries and lots of driving !

Id start by working out what your "must sees are " and then have a look at deiving routes on the via michelin website

Slovenia! Got everything you want in small space. Beautiful, friendly, relatively inexpensive. It is our favourite! Happy to post our intinerary.

Bellinzona for castles, canyoning and via ferrata. Bavaria or Transylvania for ridiculous pointy fairy castles. Salzburg and Munich for military history. Avignon for mediaeval castles and beaches. Berlin for military history

@mast0650 id like to know your slovenia itinerary. Campsite booked near lake bonhinj this summer but otherwise undecided

Just noticed you want to visit different countries, whereas I was thinking of just one country to explore.

I'd be a little wary of trying to cover very long distances without very good reason. Within much of Europe you can do and see lots of fun, interesting things in a fairly small area so there really isn't any need! I think you'll have a more fun time focusing on a fairly small part and you/they can always come back and cover a different part later.

Black Forrest- Rhine Valley & Vosges (Alsace) lots of WW1&2 history, castles and pretty towns.

The French are good in preserving their battle sites. I visited Mount Donon and Petit Donon during Covid (don't ask how!!), I think Petit Donon is eerie and feels borderline creepy!

You could fly to either Karlsruhe or Basel airport and hire a car

Itinerary, with comments added in italics (maybe not so much use for the first poster, but it was a wonderful road trip without too much driving!)

Driving times given by Google Maps turned out a lot longer in practice, but still short enough. I was glad I hadn’t made them much longer though.
· Tuesday 8th August (evening) – train to Premier Inn, Gatwick North Terminal (leave 19.12, arrive 20.50?)
· Wednesday 9th August – Easyjet flight to Ljubjiana at 7.00am ( 2 hr 15 min flight, time difference 1 hour)
· Wednesday 9th – Saturday 12th Tagrajska Apartment in centre of Ljubjiana (capital city):
o http://www.tagrajska.si/en/
o https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/3879806?guests=4&adults=4&check_in=2017-09-18&check_out=2017-09-20
o https://www.booking.com/hotel/si/apartment-tagrajska.en-gb.html
Apartment great but a little bit of hike up the hill. Benefit is views/quiet. In January we stayed here: https://www.booking.com/hotel/si/apartmaji-tromostovje.en-gb.html^^ - very comfortable and bang in the centre but a little noisier and no outside space. Ljubljana is a lovely, lively, friendly little city – one of my favourites.

· Saturday 12th August – back to airport to collect car – then just over 1 hour drive
· Saturday 12th – Tuesday 15th - Tourist farm Pri Andrejevih (Bed and Breakfast) in Narin, Karst Region (small village - we can visit caves and castle)
o https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g1887828-d1862949-Reviews-Pri_Andrejevih-Pivka_Inner_Carniola_Region.html
o goo.gl/iCJQRy

Visited Predjama castle en route, and Skocjan caves while staying. Both highly recommended but not exactly off tourist track. I wanted to go to Krizna cave but closed.
Nice peaceful walking near B&B.

· Tuesday 15th – Thursday 17th - just over 1 hour drive to campsite near mediaeval coastal town of Piran. We can cycle to Piran and also go to the sea. Could go sea kayaking.
o http://www.adrenaline-check.com/sea/Kaki_event_place.php
o https://www.booking.com/hotel/si/adrenaline-check-kaki-event-place.en-gb.html
o https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g274877-d3953140-Reviews-Adrenaline_Check_Kaki_Event_Place_Portorose-Portoroz_Slovenian_Littoral_Region.html
Quirky stop at Hrastovlje church (frescoes) en route. Staying in Piran itself would have been nice but hard to find – and campsite was a lot of fun esp for kids, though location slightly odd. Bear in mind Slovenia does not have proper beaches, but we liked Mesecev Zaliv Beach. No time for sea kayaking - could have done with one extra night here maybe.
· Thursday 17th – Sunday 20th – 2 hr 15 min drive to house in Zaga, Soca Valley. In village near river and mountains. We can go white water rafting or canyoning.
o http://www.extremeslovenia.com/chalet-julian/
Loved canyoning. Enjoyed interesting walk through Kobarid taking in a lot of WWI and other history. Another time would possibly stay in Kobarid or Bovec rather than inbetween. Views were lovely but some road noise and not much nearby.

· Sunday 20th – Wednesday 23rd – 1 hr 30 min drive over mountains (Vrsic pass) to apartment in Bled. Resort town famous for beautiful Lake Bled. Warm for swimming.
o https://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationRentalReview-g274863-d3613968-Apartment_Bled_Slovenia-Bled_Upper_Carniola_Region.html
Unfortunately can’t seem to find working link to our apartment. Mostly just relaxed here as had done a lot by this point! Enjoyed paddle boarding. Only place where we heard English accents and food relatively expensive. But still very lovely.
· Wednesday 23rd – Friday 25th – 1 hr 45 min drive to Lenar Tourist Farm (Bed and Breakfast) in Logar Valley, a beautiful alpine valley.
o http://www.lenar.si/en/
o https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g319789-d2194985-Reviews-Turisticna_Kmetija_Lenar-Solcava_Styria_Region.html (1 hour 45 mins)
Nice little stop at Radovljica en route. Pretty old centre. Quaint bee keeping museum (Slovenian national sport!). Stunning in Logar valley.
· Friday 25th August – drive to airport (1 hr 30) – flight home at 16.50 hrs.

Hmmm.... up the Rhine sounds like a good idea. Castles galore. On the outside of Cologne Cathedral is a photographic exhibition about the state the city was in after WWII that may help your son understand why Germans don't tend to think of military history as heroic.

But the most startling military sites I know are the Red Army graveyards in Berlin (Treptow and Pankow). Full-on Stalinist iconography that can't be removed because those sarcophages hold the bones of several thousand soldiers.

The region around Berlin has lots of melancholic little towns lost in the sandy plain, and always a few graves near the church that are marked with five-pointed stars instead of crosses: more Red Army soldiers. Helps understand Russian nationalism.

Going south from Berlin, there is the monument to the 'Battle of the nations' (Napoleonic wars) near Leipzig. And Dresden's mixture of rebuilt old and brutalist new architecture is a trace of military history, too. Good cheap opera tickets in both these cities, btw.

The Alsace has a reasonable number of military sites, the Germans and French lines were so close. Basing yourself somewhere like Colmar, easy striking distance of Germany and Switzerland too. Lots of cycling in the area, but it's not as mountainous as other areas.