Giving thanks away from home can be easier than you think
According to American advertisers, Thanksgiving is traditionally a time to spend bustling around the kitchen with family and friends while football games either blare from a nearby television or are played in a leaf-strewn backyard.
But many don’t realize that Thanksgiving is a great time to jet over to Europe.
We took our first Thanksgiving in Europe trip when our oldest was just eight months old. Our families on both sides thought we were crazy for taking a baby overseas, but we found that in late November you’ll have smaller crowds, cheaper flights/hotels, and more diverse options for last-minute plans.
Since that first trip in 2006, our Thanksgiving in Europe travels have taken us to a number of European countries – France, Italy, Austria, and Germany. While traveling to these regions is amazing during the summer, there is a more relaxed charm to be found in the late fall and early winter months.
Fall colors still can be seen in the more southern regions, and the weather is mild enough to enjoy time spent outside without full-on winter clothes and coats.
Plus, Christmas markets sprout up in small towns and large cities alike, which the kids love because honestly most young ones would gladly skip Turkey Day and move right into Santa Time.
So, perhaps this is the year you take a small break from the tradition of turkey and political arguments with in-laws for crepes in Paris or pasta in Rome on that fourth Thursday in November. Here are our top tips for spending Thanksgiving in Europe with kids.
Setting Up Your Game Plan
The key to a European Thanksgiving getaway is creating a solid plan to minimize travel (both flights and on-the-ground transport) while maximizing the type of experience that you want to have. Here is a five-point-list of key decisions to make in a rough order of priority:
School - If you have school-aged children, a trip to Europe is very doable over Thanksgiving, but you need to decide how comfortable you are having them miss a few days of class. Our district takes off the entire week of Thanksgiving so our next trip will be ten days with the kids only missing one day. If your kids have school Thanksgiving week, ask yourself if they will learn more in a few days of pre-holiday time or a week walking through thousands of years of history.
Work – For many organizations, the week of Thanksgiving is a pretty slow time so it can be easy to take off time. With the four-day holiday, you can easily take a 9-day vacation yet only take 2-3 days PTO.
Flight Costs – November is considered “shoulder season” meaning that you can get relatively inexpensive flights, although flight prices this year have seemed insanely high…but you may get lucky. Plus, many airline points programs may require significantly fewer miles to get a ticket to Europe at this time of year.
Flight Connections – This is the time to focus exclusively on non-stop flights. You will avoid missing precious time at your destination, plus you'll skip domestic Thanksgiving travel headaches if your connection is in the U.S. Although, we do recognize that post Covid, finding convenient and affordable non-stops has become harder to come by. If you must connect, try to fly carry-on as to minimize lost luggage issues and breeze through your final airport stop without waiting at baggage claim. For packing tips, check out our post to make your carry-on goals a reality.
Type of Trip Experience – A five to seven to ten-day trip to Europe will require some serious consideration to the type of experience that you want to have. Grand cities of Europe? Charming countryside? Quaint villages? You’ll want to “do it all” but given a shorter time frame, focus on 2 locations (3 max) so that you aren’t hotel hopping and burning full days traveling from place to place.
Thanksgiving Itineraries
With those tips in mind, here are a few sample itineraries that have delighted our young children and can be doable in a five, seven or ten-day trip. Each focuses on visiting 2-3 places originating from European hubs with minimal on-the-ground travel.
Roman Holiday with a Venetian Twist
Synopsis: Fly into Rome. Two or three nights in the Eternal City with a 3.5 hour train ride to Venice for a few nights before heading back to Rome and then back home.
Christmas Market Crawl: Paris-Colmar-Salzburg-Munich
Synopsis: This is our most ambitious recommendation (based on the amount of ground to cover) but is a doable itinerary to visit four distinct and amazing places and get three different countries stamped in the kids’ passports. Fly into Paris. Two or three nights in Paris. Three-hour train to Colmar (outside of Strasbourg in the Alsace region) for two nights. Four-hour train to Salzburg. Two or three nights in Austria -- Salzburg hosts the Krampus Run (see photo below on right) that may scare the pants off you and the kiddos. There are also seven different markets to choose from. Ninety-minute train to Munich for a day and fly back home.
Tuscan Retreat: Florence-Tuscan Hill Towns-Rome
Synopsis: Yes, you can go there, Jerry. Fly into Rome. Two nights in Rome. Rent a car for a short (less than three hour) drive up to Tuscany and stay at one of the numerous amazing agriturismo in the heart of Tuscan wine country. The kids will have miles of hills to run and you can hit (not exaggerating) a dozen different beautiful Italian hill towns. Plus you can pop into Florence as a day trip. Or just sit on your veranda and gaze at the bucolic beauty of Tuscany over the course of three to four days. Drive back to Rome and back home.
Romantic Turkey Trot: Munich and the Romantic Road to Nuremburg and back
Synopsis: Germany is the epicenter of Christmas cuteness. This trip lets you experience its most picturesque examples. Fly into Munich. Rent a car and tour the Romantic Road either as a long day trip or stopping over for a night or two in Rothenburg Ober Tauber or Dinkelsbuhl on the way to Nuremburg. Three nights in Nuremburg before heading back to Munich for two nights and then flying home.
Paris and just about anywhere…
Synopsis: Paris has a significant amount of non-stop flights from the US -- more than just about anywhere else in Europe except for London. Why not fly to London? We avoid London as a layover because of the costs and headaches. Heathrow is a huge airport, so it can be challenging with kiddos. There's also a significant risk of lost luggage if you do not carry on. If you plan to cash in miles to fly, taxes and fees associated with flights into the UK are wildly more costly than other European gateways.
That said, you can fly to Paris and make it a home base for anywhere from three to seven days. If three days, you can then jaunt to anywhere from the Loire Valley to Normandy in about three to four hours. If you are jonesin’ to see Jolly Old England, you can make a day trip on the Chunnel, which is a pretty cool experience for the kids.
Helpful Resources for Trip Planning
There are countless sites and blogs to help you plan the Thanksgiving jaunt of your dreams, but here are a few resources we’ve found useful:
Treniitalia - The National Rail system of Italy offers 2-for-1 and kids ride free offers Chunnel/Eurostar - Info and tickets for traveling between Paris and London
Trainline -- Quick and easy way to search itineraries, compare prices and book rail and coach travel in Europe Christmas Market sites – Nuremburg, Munich, Paris, Salzburg
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