Designed for a Victoria, BC family of four — two parents and 13-year-old twins. Almost entirely by rail.
The family came to me with a classic Spring Break problem: two weeks, twins in Grade 8, and a wish list that read "London, Paris, and Italy" — which on a map is three trips, not one.
Most people would either cut a country or spend the holiday in airports. Instead, I connected everything by rail and turned the travel days themselves into highlights. No airport security lines between cities. No checked-bag roulette. Just station to station, city centre to city centre — with one of the world's most spectacular train journeys stitched right into the middle.
Every leg by train, every seat reserved before leaving home.
A two-bedroom serviced apartment in Westminster, walking distance to Big Ben. With teenagers, the apartment is the move: everyone gets space, the kitchen handles breakfasts, the laundry means packing half as much. One pre-booked anchor — the Warner Bros. Studio Tour, The Making of Harry Potter, reserved months ahead. The rest of London left wide open.
A family room with breakfast in the 16th arrondissement — a quiet residential street, ten minutes' walk from the Eiffel Tower. The anchor here: a day at Disneyland Paris. Everything else — the tower, the Seine, the crêpe stands — free roaming.
An easy landing steps from the Hauptbahnhof — dinner by the river, early night.
The secret setup. This looks like a detail; it's the move that makes the whole trip work. The Bernina Express leaves Chur at 8:17 am — so instead of a pre-dawn scramble from Zurich, the family woke up five minutes from the platform and boarded rested, coffee in hand.
Four reserved seats, floor-to-ceiling glass, four and a half hours over the Bernina Pass: glaciers, the famous Brusio spiral viaduct, frozen lakes at 2,253 metres — and then, in a single afternoon, palm trees in Tirano, Italy. A UNESCO World Heritage railway, under $600 total for the family. Onward rail via Milan to Venice.
A family-run hotel in Cannaregio, two minutes from the station, breakfast included — the real, lived-in Venice north of the tourist crush, ten minutes' walk from the Rialto.
A classic family room near Santa Maria Novella. One perfect evening and morning: the Duomo at sunset, gelato, the Ponte Vecchio before the crowds.
The finale: a two-bedroom apartment with a balcony in Monti, Rome's coolest old neighbourhood — Colosseum on foot in ten minutes, espresso bars downstairs, space for the family to spread out and exhale.
A route like this looks simple. Here's the invisible work underneath it.
Two-bedroom apartments for the long stays (London, Rome) where space and a kitchen save money and sanity; well-located quad rooms with breakfast for the fast-moving middle so nobody wastes a morning hunting for food.
Four countries' worth of trains, every seat reserved in advance, the family seated together on every leg — including the Club Four table on the TGV and four panorama seats together on the Bernina Express, both of which sell out months ahead in March.
Only two activities were pre-booked: the Harry Potter Studio Tour and Disneyland Paris — the two that genuinely sell out for Spring Break. With teenagers and 15–20,000 steps a day, the freedom to wander is the itinerary.
The single cheapest hotel night of the trip — and the one that protected the single best experience of the trip.
Zurich, Chur and Florence work as one-nighters because every hotel was chosen minutes from the station.
The route never doubles back. Air Canada from Victoria via Toronto into Heathrow; home from Rome via Toronto — landing in Victoria at 10:30 pm the same day they left Rome.
CAD · peak Spring Break · the fee covered the routing design, every booking, every seat reservation, and support throughout the trip. Rail detail: Eurostar $598, TGV Lyria first class $612, Bernina Express with panorama reservations ≈ $575, Italian legs ≈ $600.
It was a lot to do in two weeks, but each city we visited, each activity we participated in has left a lasting positive memory.From the family's post-trip email · Victoria, BC
Every trip I design starts from scratch — yours won't look like this one, it'll look like yours.
Ask Max about a family trip