We love a family road trip and have done several in Europe, particularly in France and Spain.
Road trips give you so many opportunities for adventure; heading off on lesser travelled paths, and seeing parts of a country you’d miss if you flew. Don’t get me wrong there are things to weigh up – the fuel costs, hotel stays, ferry or euro tunnel costs, the time it takes, and whether you can all cope with being in a car or van for that long together! But we have found they really work for us – we love being able to be spontaneous where we can, we absolutely love stopping at multiple places and exploring new areas, and it has allowed us to experience amazing locations in France and Spain that we otherwise would have missed. Europe is totally family friendly when it comes to travel and there are so many brilliant stops along the way, with fab service stations for those all important leg stretches!
Just don’t do what we did on our last road trip, and leave one of the bags full of clothes for the travel days at home…….
So, here are our top tips for family road trips in Europe:
- Involve the kids in planning the route
Our boys love being involved in planning holidays and road trips are a huge favourite. Naturally we have ideas as to where our main stops are going to be, but it is really nice to involve them too. We might spend an evening with maps and travel guides looking at the options and getting them to pick their ‘must do’ places and attractions. They could even have a list of all the places we are heading to and tick them off as we go, or take a photo for each one listed etc. We can’t necessarialy do everything on their lists, but it does feel like more of a family trip when everyone has something on the plan that was ‘theirs’.
- Endless snacks and supplies
I think this probably goes without saying. I mean we can’t go to the supermarket without having to take a snack in the car!!! But huge supplies of snacks and drinks are a really important part of the planning and packing. Making them accessible in the car is also crucial I have found! Having to stop and empty half the car to find the crisps is just not the one. We have all been there… right?? I have found setting the kids up in the back with everything they need really helpful as it saves all the faffing and the moaning! They have their water bottles, snack packs, books, screens etc all ready to go so we can focus on the driving and navigating. And I always find, no matter how many snacks I pack, we always need more?!
- Travel Logs/Diaries
This is a nice idea for when you are having a mini stop, or perhaps sitting a restaurant, or having down time in a hotel on your travels. A simple travel log they can stick things in, draw pictures, or write a diary is a really nice way of them remembering fun things they did on the trip, and are lovely mementos for them as they grow older. Even collecting leaflets from places we go, and sticking them in, is a firm favourite here. They don’t always want to do it and I am not going to make them, but it is nice to have up your sleeve.
- Stop offs
France, in particular, is brilliantly set up for this. There are great road side services and park areas to picnic at along pretty much any route. Many have small play parks, or at least some outdoor space to enjoy. There is always some kind of cafe and bakery, and although you will pay more at these, as you would in the UK, they are very handy when you need them. We find it works really well to break a long stint of driving up at one or two of these along the way. Even if it is 15 minutes of letting them run wild! Which, for us, it generally is…
- Breaking up the journey – overnight stays
In addition to the lunch and road side stop offs, we really like breaking up any journey in Europe with over night stays along the way. It means stints of time in the car for the kids rather than really mammoth never ending trips, and allows us to see parts of the country that we otherwise wouldn’t.
So, for example, in the Summer of 2023 we were heading all the way down to Murcia in Spain for a 12 night stay. We decided to drive and turn the experience in to road trip, making it almost 3 weeks in total. We headed over on the Euro Tunnel and had overnight stays at Rouen, Bordeaux and Zaragoza on the way down. Then on the way back we stopped at Jaca and La Rochelle. It allowed us so much opportunity for exploring new parts of France and Spain, and the kids loved it. Getting 24 hours to explore somewhere completely new is really exciting, and means you get to pack in the highlights, have a good sleep and feel ready to move on. We love it and find it works brilliantly with the children; they absolutely love the ‘backpack travel’ side of it and cannot wait to rate the hotel, find some food, explore the city, and get some much needed fresh air after the car journey that day. We find it really helps the whole mood of the trip breaking it up in this way.
I would really recommend Ibis/Ibis Budget and Novotel hotels for these kind of stays – they are often really fairly priced, offer great buffet styles breakfasts, can be very central and most have parking. They are often very quirky too and are great with kids. Booking in advance always gives you the best prices, and you can pay when you stay. Other cost effective options include Hotel B&B and Formule 1.
- Photos
One thing I did on the last trip which the boys loved was a photo challenge. They had a list of items/places/buildings they had to take photos of during the 3 weeks and we looked at them all at the end and they got to tick them off. They loved this! It might not be for everyone, but it really caught their interest.
- Games
A range of car-friendly games is a good idea (aside from I spy obviously), and there are loads of ‘spot the…’ books you can get from places like Amazon or local book stores. Travel books for kids are often good too – the Usbourne ones, for example, have quizzes and activities in them that are easy to do in the car. We also always pack some small games like Uno, Exploding Kittens, cards etc to have ready for restaurants, cafes and hotel rooms. Ours don’t like to sit still for too long…
- Screens
We ALWAYS take their screens – Nintendo Switch essentially in our case – and I honestly think just have whatever screen time you like on these journeys! Cue Mario Kart on repeat… Long car rides are boring for them; I would much rather they were entertained by a game or a movie than moaning at me. They did so much walking, exploring, learning, eating and playing on that trip when we stopped off along the way, and then in our final destination, that it really did not matter how much they had watched their screens in the car. It is all about balance (and peace, quiet and my own sanity in the car).
- Music Playlists
Before we head off on a road trip we love putting together some playlists. Music is a big thing for us on a trip, so we always try to each make some playlists that we can pop on when we need a lift or a specific mood! Obviously I check their playlists or do them with them… otherwise, lets be honest, they are a bit random?! Disney Hits are fine, but not all the way to Spain.
- Pillows and blankets
This might well just be my children, but they love being snuggly and cosy!! Even in the summer. So I made sure they each had a pillow and light blanket for the back of the car. It meant they could get comfy and were definitely more chilled as a result. It also encouraged a few rare naps here and there, so a big winner for me!
