How do we take our elderly parents to Europe properly?

Group tour or private

Large group tours suit some parents: company, Indian meals, no decisions. They are hard on parents who tire easily, because the coach leaves at the set hour whatever the knees say. A private journey costs more and gives back the one thing parents need most, the right to slow down.

Slow routes with two bases

Unpack twice, not five times. Old European hotels can have small lifts or none, and cobbles everywhere, so we confirm a lift, a walk-in shower and step-free entry for every room before booking.

• Lucerne and Lake Como: lake steamers, Mount Rigi by cogwheel train, a slow boat to Bellagio, very few stairs if planned well.
• Vienna and Salzburg: concert evenings, coffee houses, gardens by car, a first-class train between the two.
• Florence and a Tuscan villa: art in the early morning with a private guide, then a pool, the vines and a cook in the afternoons.
• A Rhine or Danube river cruise of seven nights, with a city night at either end: unpack once and let the scenery come to you. Check lifts on board, and note that ships sometimes moor side by side, so you may cross another vessel to reach shore.

Flights, airports and wheelchairs

Business class is the single biggest comfort upgrade for parents on an eight to ten hour flight: a flat bed, a lounge, and priority through security. It adds roughly ₹2.5L to ₹4L per person. Choose a nonstop over a cheaper connection.

At airports in the European Union, assistance for travellers with reduced mobility is free; request it through the airline at least 48 hours before the flight. Book it at the Indian end too, and ask for a buggy at large hubs where gates are far apart.

Insurance, altitude and pickpockets

• Schengen visas need travel medical insurance of at least €30,000. For parents, buy far more than the minimum.
• Declare every pre-existing condition in writing. Many policies exclude undeclared conditions, and premiums and limits change with age, often sharply after 70. Read the exclusions before paying.
• Altitude: Jungfraujoch sits at 3,454 metres. Parents with heart or breathing concerns should ask their doctor first; Rigi or a lake steamer gives the views lower down.
• Pickpockets work the metros, queues and busy squares of Paris, Rome and Barcelona. Passports stay in the hotel safe, a cross-body bag by day, and a driver means fewer metro rides.
• Carry medicines in hand luggage, in original packs, with the doctor's prescription.

What it costs.

Bands assume three rooms, parents together and each adult child in their own room, land only. A seven-night river cruise in a suite with city nights at each end usually lands in the Elevated band. Business class adds roughly ₹2.5L to ₹4L per person.