u/Ketoandkitties84

Not looking for a full itinerary- just a basic split of time. If you had to split your time in Lake Garda north and south for 9 full nights in July (arriving around July 13, +/- a day or two), how would you split it? If it’s important for consideration, we have an 8 year old and we will also have a car. I’m thinking Riva del Garda in the north (probably at a hotel) and maybe either Desenzano del Garda, Peschiera del Garda, or Bardolino (probably a rental unit) for the south. We plan on doing a day at Gardaland and either the water park or zoo while we’re in the Southern area. Riva will be for relaxing m time, checking out Limone, riding bikes, full lake/beach/pool days, maybe a day trip to Bolzano or Alpe de Suissi, etc. Also, are there any logistics on why it might be better to start at one end of the lake over the other?

Thank you for any insight!

Wasn’t sure if this leaned more to being an Italy question, but considering that our destination is ultimately Switzerland and I think would involve more logistics in Switzerland, I hope this is allowed.

First time abroad as a family (have an 8 year old). Found great reward flights this summer into Milan from NYC and out of Zurich. We would like to do Lake Garda for about a week (we will have a car), then take a travel day to get into Switzerland, and then do Bernese Oberland area for about 4 days before heading home from Zurich (would stay longer but husband and I have been before and just have to consider costs; plan on stationing in Wengen and visiting Mannlichen, Lauterbrunnen, and either Luzern or First); We would obviously not have a car for our stay in Switzerland.

I’m trying to figure out the best way to navigate the travel day (balancing cost-effectiveness with convenience as a family traveling). It seems that driving is so much more direct (if we leave from Riva del Garda, it’s 6 hours vs 9 hours of buses and trains), but the cross-border drop-off cost is (obviously) incredibly high. Is there an easier work-around that I’m not considering? I’d have to imagine it’s a pretty common occurrence, so I wasn’t sure what most people do. Thank you for any/all suggestions!

Might be looking for a unicorn trip lol:

Flying from NYC with an 8 year old. What are your favorite and more affordable international places to go when you can only travel high season (during July/Aug and April spring break)? My husband and I are teachers and can never travel during shoulder seasons.

We are trying to travel primarily using points and would love to do a trip to Europe (premium Econ if we’re doing mainland; ok with economy to UK). Also, I know Europe is made up of many countries, regions within those countries, and cultural nuances within those regions- I’m not trying lump it together as one area (I promise lol).

Basically, We are open to many different countries if the price is right and it fits our interests:

- no more than approx 8 hour flight (my son’s first flight)

-some time in cities but mostly smaller town/nature based; access to lake or ocean (son has ADHD and needs built-in time to decompress)

-kid friendly and even though my son doesn’t need like a “picky eater” kid diet, areas that have some “slightly” Americanized options (like whatever their version of a breaded chicken cutlet is, rice or pasta and cooked veggies) is all good

- kid-centered nature activities (as much as I would love to go hiking everyday on a trip, I can maybe do two hikes/guided walks with my son over the course of a week unless there’s something

More than just walking for him).

-Kid-centered cultural experiences.

If it helps at all, my dream vacation for us this summer (if we could swing it) would be 4 full days in London to get his feet wet, and then hopping over to Lake Garda; spend 3/4 days in the north, 4-5 days in the south, and fly back from Italy. Switzerland would also be lovely, but just out of budget right now (both points/ cashwise).

Ideas on something that would fit the bill?

Considering a 10-12 day trip in early July with my husband and son. Figure we’d be leaving sometime between July 2nd and 10th from NYC.

Option 1- “open jaw” road trip:

-Fly into QC; 2-3 days in QC.

-Rent car and drive to Montreal

-3-4 days in Montreal

-drive to Niagara- (maybe staying in a relaxing lake town or more laid-back nature area for 3 nights en-route to Niagara?;

-Niagara/Niagara on the lake- 3 days

-Drop off car in Niagara; shuttle/uber across border and fly home from Buffalo (if cross border drop-off isn’t too, pricey, we’ll drive to Buffalo ourselves)

Option 2- Calgary/Banff (Canmore)

-Fly into Calgary

-Calgary 2-3 full days

-7 days stationed in Canmore (Airbnb/rental); lake Louise, and some other kid friendly activities- (Or maybe add another town to stay in for a 2-3 days? Maybe jasper or something completely different?)

Considerations:

- my son enjoys the outdoors a lot, but definitely needs more than just hiking. If we did Banff, we’d definitely need other activities than just hiking to different spots. Figure 2 other dedicated hikes/nature walks with like a major view point would be max besides what we do at Lake Louise,etc.- (he would be miserable if we were just hiking the whole time - I could do it all day though lol). Definitely would need to include some stuff like kids museums, nature museums, interactive activities/excursions, plus simple fun kids stuff like Penny Arcades, mini golf,etc.

- I feel like there would be more to do on option 1, but feel like the pacing of option 2, and the ability to just “station” in a place for a week (figure 1-2 activities a day and then relax time by a pool or whatever) would be better for my son (he has adhd and can get really excited but it can also be overload for him and he needs that decompressing time majorly).

Thoughts? Thank you for any and all input! :)

Driving in from the island and wanted to get there around 10:30/11. I know gates open at 12:30, but wanted to do some of the stuff beforehand. The official city parking site that offers the River Ave and Ruppert Plaza Garages just lists the start time of the game (3-6), so I have no idea if they’ll be open as early as 10:30 or so. Would anyone know or have better advice? (Public transportation isn’t an option).