Three weeks in Italy and Austria with three kids

Hi we are planning on a three weeks vacation ( july 2011)with my hubby and kids 13,8 and 3 years old
We are planing to spend one week in each city
Any suggestion where to go ??
I am thinking to go to vinace then vienna and Salzburg
What do u think?? Will it be easy if we travel by car??
Will it be fun to kids as well, if not any rout suggestion pls

Thanks
Judy

Austria is a very safe place for families. I'n not sure I would do both Salzberg and Vienna though, especially with so many little ones in tote. I would pick one and do it thoroughly. If you are still set on doing Austria and Italy, it doesn't make sense to do a detour to Salzberg. They are one opposite ends (east/west) of Austria, while Italy is South. My suggestion is to go to Vienna, rent a car and drive south through Slovenia, then in to Italy (venice if you like). This way you get to enjoy 3 very different countries all on the same route. Driving in all of these countries is very easy.

My suggested route would be:
1) Arrive Vienna, rent car (parks, museums, "music" galore, zoo)
2) 4 hr drive to Bled, Slovenia (there are caves, hiking, swimming, biking, canoeing, boat rides on Lake Bled)
3) 3 hr drive to Venice, Italy (don't recommend Sat morning though, long lines at border) - venice itself in it's labyrinth layout is great fun for the older ones

I hope it all works out! If you need any other advice, don't hesitate to email

http://www.minitraveler.ca

We are also a family of 5 with 3 boys, 8, 11, 11 at time of last trip which included 2 weeks of driving around Czech and Hungary, dipped into Austria briefly. We actually wanted to go via rail, but found it was much less expensive for 5 people to rent a car. Turned out dead simple, even landing in Prague with no language and no idea where/what to do (didn't plan!). We never had a problem, just followed our map around the countries, no borders to cross etc (EU). Even getting lost in the small towns was fun (old, cobbled, twisty 1-way streets). It was great being able to visit any little town or village we wanted to; when we got to a big city (eg Budapest, Prague) we crawled through traffic to the hotel, then parked the car for a few days and used transit and feet. Another benefit of having a car is being able to leave stuff in the trunk, and not schlep it around with us all the time. Have a wonderful trip!

I thing you must come in vienna, thean you go in "karnten" http://www.kaerntencard.at/carinthia-holiday/destinations-carinthia/destinations.php?navanchor=2110008, from there you must see citys in julian alps http://www.discoverjulianalps.si/default.asp?mid=en, thean from bovec go to venezia, from there go to portorož http://www.portoroz.si/en/, thean go to ljubljana, ptuj, balton http://www.balatontourism.com and you on plane in vienna....

hope i give you some seguess.

Dear Judy,

Basically your plan to visit Venice, Vienna and Salzbourg doesn't sound bad. All of them are beautifull cities and quite different.
Please also keep in mind that the time you are travelling to those cities is the hottest month, which can result in weeks with temperatures around 30 degrees .... so it is quite hot. When I was kid travelling around South Africa with my parents I definitely always needed a little pool/lake break in between all the sightseeing to cope with the high temperatures and give me a little more holiday feeling.....I don't know your kids but maybe they think likewise !?
So I suggest when travelling by car to besides the cities throw in some breaks (1 or 2 days) at beaches and lakes nearby....
For example:
On your way up from Venice to Austria you can stop at one of the many beach towns of northern Italy like Grado, Jesolo, Lignano, Bibione etc. those beaches are not the most beautiful and secluded in the world, actually they will definitely be packed in summer time, but I guess your kids will still enjoy the nice sand and water.
Further depending on where u want to go after Austria you can either enter it directly from Italian to Carinthia, where there is also a lot of beautifull bigger and smaller lakes (e.g. Woerthersee, Faakersee etc.) with great scenery and go further to Vienna or Salzbourg. Or u could also enter it via Slovenia and maybe stop by the lake Neusiedlersee which is popular for windsurfing and kiting before going to Vienna.
Close to Salzbourg are also some nice lakes (Wolfgangsee and Mondsee) which are worth a little visit.

Kristin

Edited by: kristin_austria