This was not one of those perfectly planned trips where every day looks calm on paper. It was a family road trip, which means the actual story is a mix of long drives, hotel check-ins, late dinners, missed reservations, pretty places, tired kids, random food stops, and a few moments that I still think about.
We started at Amsterdam Schiphol on June 6, picked up a rental car, and flew home from Munich on June 18. In between, we drove about 2,693 kilometers through the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Czechia, Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, and back into Germany.
Looking back, it was a lot. At the time, it just felt like the next day was always waiting.
Open the full public itinerary here: 2024 Europe Trip on Platix.
The first day after the flight
We landed at AMS around late morning, picked up the rental car, and went into Amsterdam for a quick walk and lunch. We tried to visit the Van Gogh Museum. I had a ticket from a past year, but we did not make the reservation ahead of time, so no luck. That is travel. Sometimes the plan says museum, and the day says canals and lunch.
That night we stayed near Scheveningen. After dinner at Simonis aan de Haven, we walked by the beach. The sun was still high around 9 PM, which always feels strange in the best way when you are coming from California. For a moment, I remember feeling very peaceful, like I already had everything I ever wanted.
We also stopped by the International Court of Justice later that evening. I had read about it when I was a child, and I never really imagined I would end up standing there with my own family.
Netherlands to Belgium
The next morning started around Mauritshuis because we wanted to see Girl with a Pearl Earring. The area around the museum felt official and beautiful, with government buildings nearby and people already moving through the day.
From there we drove through Rotterdam. Market Hall was an easy lunch stop, and right outside there were the pencil building and the cube houses. It is one of those places where you can spend an hour and still feel like the stop was worth it.
Then Kinderdijk. I had seen windmills in photos and in all kinds of Holland-themed places around the world, but this felt different because it was the real landscape. It was open air, simple, and very memorable.
We slept in Antwerp that night. The Hilton was central, very comfortable, and close to everything we wanted to walk to. We somehow ended up having ramen for dinner in Belgium, which is one of those things you do not expect but absolutely accept. Later we walked to Antwerp Central Station. It is grand, and it is still just a real station doing its job.
Chocolate, Cologne, and old friends
Before leaving Belgium, we did some chocolate shopping and found a bakery with a decent line. Then we drove toward Cologne Cathedral. I had heard about it since childhood, and my children knew it from their own reading too. We parked under a mall, had lunch there, and walked over with gelato. I remember thinking the gelato felt so much more affordable than anything around San Francisco.
That night we stayed with my childhood friend near Frankfurt instead of staying at a hotel. Trips like this can become a chain of reservations if you are not careful. Seeing an old friend broke that rhythm in a good way.
The next day we stopped at the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg, Courtroom 600. I had read about it in World War II books before, and my children also knew what it was from their books. Then we crossed into Czechia and visited the Pilsner Urquell Brewery in Pilsen. We even bought two big glasses to bring back.
Prague and Cesky Krumlov
Prague was one of the places where we slowed down a little. We stayed around the Radisson Blu and had morning walks near the hotel. Not every stop needs to be famous. Sometimes it is just the area around the hotel, breakfast, getting oriented, and realizing the city is starting to feel familiar.
Cesky Krumlov was probably one of the most photogenic parts of the trip. We had a morning walk before breakfast, and the town had that old, layered, storybook feeling. It is easy to overuse words like charming, but there are places where the word is honestly correct.
Vienna, Budapest, and Zagreb
From Cesky Krumlov we moved toward Vienna, then Budapest. Budapest got more time, which helped. We walked around the hotel area, visited Buda Castle, stopped for food, and had enough time to feel like we were not only passing through.
After Budapest we drove toward Zagreb. We stayed at Canopy by Hilton Zagreb City Centre. One small family milestone from that night: it was the first time we put the children in a separate hotel room. Tiny detail, big feeling.
Lake Bled and the way back
Lake Bled was magical. That is all I wrote in the trip notes, and honestly that is still the right summary. I would go back.
The final part of the trip went through Austria's lake region, Salzburg, Munich, and then Ingolstadt for the Audi museum before flying out of Munich. By then we were probably tired, but the ending had a nice mix: lakes, mountains, music history, cars, and one last airport.
Things I would remember for next time
If I were planning this again, I would still keep the broad route. I might add more breathing room in a few places, but I would not remove the messy parts. The messy parts are where the trip feels real.
- Book museum reservations earlier, especially for Amsterdam.
- Do not underestimate hotel room setup for a family of four in Europe.
- Long drives are easier when there is one stop everyone actually cares about.
- Two nights in a city is much better than one when the route is this ambitious.
- Keep small notes. They are more useful later than polished summaries.
Why I like having this in Platix
This trip would be hard to remember from photos alone. It would also be hard to understand from a plain list of places. What makes it useful is the day-by-day shape: where we slept, how far we drove, what we stopped for, what worked, and what we would probably do differently.
That is why I like turning it into a public Platix trip. Someone else can borrow the route if it helps them. I still get to keep the actual story.
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