Europe Road trip

[JJ200]

Hi,

I’m after some thoughts from people who have done multi-day road trips with kids. We’re thinking of driving from the Algarve in Portugal back to the UK taking about 10 days and venturing into Switzerland. It would probably involve 4 days of 5+ hour journeys. Our kids will be 4 and 6 and I’m not sure if it will be too much for them. Anyone with experience of something similar would be appreciated.

thank you!

Awful holiday for your kids 🙄

I have to agree that this will be a really tiring and boring holiday for a 4 and 6 year old.

Not quite the same but I drove to South of France and Italy plus did lots of three hour away day trips with my DS when he was 5, 6 and 7 and and had really good holidays. He was really good and we did lots of stops.

Is the holiday flying to the Algarve and then driving back to the UK? Or are you and/or your car already going to somehow be in the Algarve and you need to return to the UK? I think if the holiday is the driving part, I wouldn't do it, it's too much time in the car. We have driven round bits of France when our kids that age, flew into Nantes and went to Brittany/Normandy for 3 nights and then another 3/4 nights in the Loire to see some chateau, maybe 1000km of driving over a week. However the longer drives of 2/3+ hours were on Day 1, Day 4 and Day 7, so interspersed with days of doing sightseeing and not being in the car much, and also usually happened mid-afternoon after doing an activity in the morning. Google says 21+ hours to drive just from Faro to Switzerland, and 3,500km to get back to the UK, that's an entirely different prospect. If you have to bring a car from Faro to the UK because you need move it then I would leisurely road trip through Portugal or Spain and then get on the ferry at Santander and return to the UK by boat, that would be around 1/3 of the amount of driving and much more manageable.

Ours have done some major drives. Not a problem. Set up movie in car. Watch movie whilst having breakfast (2 hours) then go somewhere for day. Do activity for 6 hours or so then drive remainder of 2 hours (another film)

That said, sounds like you are doing too much. Why the need to go into Switzerland? I'd do Portugal, Spain and then Bilbao ferry to Portsmouth.

why would you be doing such a trip? It’s not as if Switzerland is enroute to the UK.
We did a few long-ish trips (South of France) when DC were small but found it easier and quicker to take the train or fly/train to our destination.
And if kids are carsick screens are no help.

If I am honest, I cannot think of anything worse for young children, and that is even if they are not carsick. It is a massive haul, even in 10 days to go from the very bottom of Europe to the top and back into the UK, and the long diversion to Switzerland makes no sense at all. Unless you are travelling at night when they are sleeping, I cannot see how this is a holiday. Sorry ! x

People who don’t do driving holidays don’t get the appeal and immediately assume the worst. I grew up on them and am bringing my son up on them, for me they’re fantastic when planned correctly.
~our general rule of thumb is to intersperse a couple of two night stops. If you’re driving every day it’s too much, but if you have a couple of solid non driving days it helps to break it up and feel you’ve seen an area.
~plan for bad traffic and delays I.e don’t push yourselves too hard in the plans because real life will probably make it even longer! We try to aim for 4.5-5 hours driving per day so you can set off at 9am, stop for lunch at midday and spend a few hours somewhere, back on the road for 3pm and check in by 5pm but with plenty of buffer room and flexibility for toilet stops.
~make your stops intentional. Be picky with your accommodation. Try and find interesting places or types of accommodation. Stunning views etc. if you just pick a cheap motorway hotel you’ll make it feel like a slog rather than building excitement
~get the kids excited about the places you’re going and seeing, let them explore the hotels and and apartments etc
~stop at playgrounds to burn off steam - France is excellent for this on the motorways
~get them I spy books. We used to have European road signs etc and get really involved in spotting stuff
~buy little trinkets/memories from each place you stop. This gives the kids the mentality that each place is special and exciting and worth remembering. And worth the journey!
~if time allows do a decent stop somewhere. We try to do a journey to a location where we spend a week and then travel home but it obviously does make it more time consuming. We spent three weeks going to Puglia (2 weeks travelling there and back, 1 week in Puglia) and two weeks to near Alicante (3/4days each way and a week staying in a villa)
~if you’re staying out in the sticks pay for breakfast at the accommodation. If you’re staying in a town/city don’t as you can pick up something easily from a local cafe!

your route from the algarve to uk via Switzerland is a little odd, any reason you’re squeezing Switzerland in?

That sounds insane.

Some years ago we drove from Northern England to the Costa Brava and part of me would like to recreate the trip going down through France via the Millau bridge which wasn't built last time we went and coming back across the pyrenees to get the ferry back from the Northern Spanish coast but obviously its a huge trek in the days of low cost airlines when you can get there in a couple of hours for next to nothing.

But if you do have a car that you need to move from the Algarve to the UK you could make it into a nice road trip holiday by just sticking to Portugal and Spain, which has plenty of big mountains, narrow twisty roads and picturesque mountain villages if that's what appeals about Switzerland. No need to divert so far out of your way. Or drive through France to Dover if you want the longer drive but the shorter and cheaper ferry crossing.

You need to have a complete rethink re this amount of driving from Portugal to the U.K. via Switzerland. And all this in 10 days!.

All your kids will see is the interior of the car and the back of their parents heads. Awful for them and no fun for you either. Let alone the sheer cost of petrol and toll roads. It would be cheaper to fly to Switzerland from Portugal.

I'd give yourself a bit longer than 10days and have stops at theme/forest parks, beaches etc etc.

We ve done long drives with young kids (Roscoff to Malaga and back) and its not a problem with audio books and something to look forward too or they can remember but just stuck on an autoroute for hours... maybe not.

Its not a huge detour into Switzerland if you re gong back via Calais.

We’ve done several French holidays involving long drives with young children but 3 days is the max, with hotels in interesting places to break up the journey. Switzerland is a huge detour from the Algarve!

We drove from Manchester to Malta once ( my dad continued to do it annually)
we flew back and never did it again!
I can see the appeal for the driver, but honestly it’s just shite for the passengers

How about a Switzerland and somewhere else combo?

@Bjorkdidit

Not wanting to be the party pooper but you can’t see anything as you cross the Milau bridge, you’re moving at motorway speed and the plastic ‘blinds’ they have on the side will likely be dirty. I mean they don’t want people looking sideways of course. It’s worth stopping at the viewing spot on the Northern side though.

What is it about the holiday you have in mind that appeals to you?
We've been on quite a few driving holidays staying at different locations, France, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. We choose a location for a week that is central to places we want to visit from there and then do day trips up to around 90 minutes away. We stay in Eurocamp type sites so it keeps the costs down but we can ensure a certain level of accommodation and facilities. The kids are happy being able to explore different sites and knowing that we're not constantly moving on. We then move onto a different country after a week.
The holiday you describe wouldn't work for me or my family. We like having the time to explore different places and having down time too.
But everyone is different. Good luck with your planning.

We have done trips like this with small children but we don’t do 5 hours a day driving. We did UK to Italy but managed it in a long day (10 hours) then stopped for two nights then another day of 7 days. For the long day we just accepted it would be shit but worth it in the end.

Also as much as I am all for children having fun - it’s also about the adults too!

Road trips for little kids are so boring for them. Save them for when they’re teens. Better to go for a week to Haven or centre parcs at that age!

interestingly I put this in Google maps - driving Faro to my house is 26 hours; adding a stop in Geneva only adds one hour.

Do you live in the Algarve or in the UK? I just wondered how this ends up being a one-way trip. Perhaps you’re taking a car-ferry to Portugal for a week’s holiday then contemplating driving home?

I have done numerous road trips but aways starting in the UK. DS aged 4+ copes fine with longer drives - but this is child specific. You know your kids best.

My tips are:

I always had an adult in the back seat and I consider this essential for a long trip (my oldest dd sits in the front and handles tolls + she is independent getting snacks and entertains herself). You won’t have that luxury. I personally wouldn’t want two young kids in a back seat alone for five+ hours … the squabbling!

If one day involves a 5 to 7 hour drive, the next day better be no driving or a short drive (an hour or two) to somewhere fabulous eg a theme park. On the homeward leg we will drive up to 8 hours but there have to be several stops to move and wee.

You have to accept there will be VAST amounts of screen time.

You need a comfortable roomy car and nothing much in the back seat except a few cushions and a bag of snacks and entertainment.

We have done total driving of 24 hours on holiday before (to and from UK). We always stop overnight somewhere nice, rarely just a roadside hotel - we pick local towns which I research carefully. Once we are in locations for several days, we don’t use the car at all, or minimally (supermarket run for self catered accommodation).

All our road trips are planned meticulously - I don’t leave anything to chance in the short stops. I know what hotel, what restaurant, even what play park we can visit so there is no faffing around. This makes all our stops very easy to manage and the kids aren’t restless and bored.

All our road trips are entirely child-centric. We looks for things to do on the way we know they will love.

Oh and I meant to add - I always put a long stop of at 5 nights in the middle or towards the end of the holiday. Having a proper rest from the travel is so important.

We regularly did holidays in France which required a 4-5 hour journey in the UK and similar in France, then the same in reverse coming back. That equates to the 4 days of travel you’re talking about. that was enough with children - and that was with 10 days holiday, short car journeys to visit places of interest and lots of time back at base in the pool and playing with other kids. So doable if that is really what it is. But I’m confused as to why you are ‘venturing into Switzerland’ on the way back from the Algarve to the UK? It’s hardly on the way and the journey between the Algarve and Switzerland plus then journey back to UK would take way longer than you’re estimating. Maybe I’ve misunderstood something , apologies if so, I have reread the OP and still can’t get my head around it!

We did long drives, Hull to Cornwall and back, several times, trips to France and Spain.. singing along, listening to stories, playing i-spy and What have i Got in my Pocket? Roadside picnics, stopping off at Plan D'eau's for swimming

Kids seemed to enjoy it, lots of stops, ice creams, French M/W services are like mini adventure parks compared to uk ones and they have Aires for loo stops.

All down with between 1 and 3 kids aged 2 to 9.

We did long driving holidays with the kids when they were small - one route was 4200 miles over 3 weeks, and another about 4,500miles over 5 weeks, and another 2,000 miles over the christmas and new year holidays so about 2 weeks. This was before screens as the kids are now in their late 20s but looking back it was key that they could see clearly out of the windows, and we spent some of the time camping so they got to have a good leg stretch as we weren't stuck in a hotel room. Other than that - lots of eye spy, singing, story tapes, etc etc and we were a bit more flexible with bedtimes so they could spend some of the driving time asleep.

They can't really remember that much as they were between 6 and 8, and 4 and 6 but what they remember they have good memories and they enjoyed it at the time. However, prior to these mega drives we had regularly travelled from the north of scotland to SE England so they grew up (we learnt to parent them) with long journeys by car/train and in the plane.

Drive to santander or bilbao and get the ferry