traveling in europe with a child

[rjmaria]

Hi i am in early stages of planing to travel in europe. I have never traveled before. I am planing to start in may and make my way to northern cyprus were i have family.
I will be travelling with my 8yr old daughter,money will be tight.
basically will hostels be suitable?
Do they allow children?
Would she be charge at full rate pp?
can you sugget where i can find out info if not personnaly able to offer advice.
Thanks in advance for your time

[WillTravel]

I would look carefully at hostel reviews and determine good ones for you and your daughter. You might want to get a private room - in fact some hostels will insist that you do so with a child. Some hostels have age limits and exclude children, but many do not. The policies about charging children also differ.

Since you want to be sure of secure arrangements for you and your daughter, and may need private rooms, I would suggest first determining where you want to go, and then intensively researching hostels in those areas.

YHA hostels may be your best bet in some cases: www.iyhf.org

Also, in some cases cheap hotels can be close or equal to hostel prices for two people. Post where you are going and we can try to offer suggestions.

One good site for hotels: www.hrs.de

You can also email the hostels and ask (maybe the best way). One example of a response I got from a hostel when I asked about taking my daughter was something like this:
"There is lots of smoking and drinking and I'm sure you don't want your daughter exposed to that."
(I'm sure we could have avoided that, had we gone there, but I took this as a clear sign they did not want kids.)

[Jordo]

Im not 100% sure but i think most hostels are only 18ish up because they just dont want to deal with kids though. You can check by Emailing the hostels and see if they accept kids.and if they do accept them im perdy sure they will charge a full price for a kid.

[WillTravel]

It depends - some YHA hostels in particular charge 1/2 price for kids. And these rarely exclude kids. But sometimes their prices are higher than other places.

[rjmaria]

Thank you for your advice already given, this site is a god send, i dont feeel i will be travelling so blind now.

I am still researching countries to visit, will post deatails a.s.a.p

Thanks

[Cil]

When we traveled with our boys when they were under 12, we hardly ever had to pay full price. We mostly stayed at a bed and breakfast, pensione or budget hotel. Seems like the proprietor was always willing to negotiate.

[rjmaria]

Hi thanks for advice given.I have looked at hostels and i have decideed on following countries.

Leaving england on the 10th may

France, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Hungary, romainia and italy all covered by the eurolines pass(60days)

Then on to greece, bulgaria, turkey then ferry to kyerina in northern cyprus on the 9th august.

Is this route viable am i trying to see to much can you forsee any probs

any hostel recommendations

[WillTravel]

The advantage of the bus is that it's cheap. The disadvantage is how *long* some of those journeys are likely to be. I'm thinking a kid might get very unhappy with frequent 8-24 hour bus rides.

My suggestion would be to set up a sample itinerary (not one you're necessarily going to follow, but just to get an idea). How long does it take to get from place to place, and can you comfortably get to all of the places you want to go, considering the bus schedules?

Maybe you could consider including some cheap budget carrier flights in your itinerary. That would help avoid some of the longest journeys.

It really depends how much of each country you want to see, and what cities/towns/countryside you have in mind for each. But seeing all of those countries will involve a *lot* of time spent on the bus.

[rjmaria]

Hi

I am moving to northern cyprus in august from england. I am a single mum and as i have finnally taken the decision to move i felt it was an ideal oppurtunity to see some of the rest of the world on the way. I am leaving england on the 10th of may and i have decided on the following route.

Fly to Netherlands then through belguim to france( 1 zone interrail pass 22days Total cost £354)

then onto

spain
Italy
greece
bulgaria
turkey

Then ferry to northern cyprus (kyerina) on 9th August to stay with family

Is this the most cost effective route/way of going?
Will there be any prob in greece as i have TRNC stamps on my passport?

Thanks for any help given, I have never really travelled before.