Two weeks.. France, Italy and Spain.. What are the best places to see/do?

Your question is too broad. Does that 2 weeks include your travel time? Three countries in two weeks is a lot. It costs time and money every time you change location. What cities/towns are you wanting to visit?

If I had only two weeks, I'd pick just one counrty - whichever holds the most interest for me - and spend a few days in a major city and the rest of the time in the country. For example, you could spend 4 full days in Paris, rent a car and spend 2 days in Normandy, a day at Mont St. Michel, 2 days in the Loire Valley, a day for Chartres, then back to CDG. Allowing 2 days total travel time between areas, that's 12 days, leaving 2 days for travel between home and Paris. The place to start is getting a good guidebook and detailed maps. Have fun with the planning and assume this will not be your last trip to Europe. Good luck.luck.

Hi, & welcome to the forum!

What are your interests? Museums? Historical places? Non-touristy places?

The more experienced people can give better answers if they know what your interests are.

Thinking frugally, Spain is the least expensive of the 3 and in 2 weeks you can cover a lot of ground there by train. You can save a lot by buying train tickets about 3 months in advance. Another great place that would be less expensive is Sicily. Even with the cost of a car rental for a few days, it will still be cheaper than most of Italy or France (and maybe Spain too).

You have chosen 3 large countries which are among the top 5 tourist destinations in the world. Each has so much to see that it deserves at least 2 weeks just to scratch the surface and visit "some" of the treasures. Also given to the size, distances to visit all three are too great.
If all you have is less than three weeks, choose just one of the 3 countries you mentioned (at most you can add Portugal to Spain), then come back and ask questions for that country in the appropriate Forum.

I know many think you should scale back, but for my first trip to Europe, my wife and I spent 3 nights each in Rome, Cinque Terre (Manarola), Paris, and Amsterdam. We had a great time. If you're committed to visiting three countries, I'd suggest Rome, Paris, and perhaps Barcelona. You could do four nights in each!

You certainly will find plenty to see in two weeks in any one of those countries. See http://www.ricksteves.com/europe for good listings of the top sights to see in many destinations, which are covered in detail in Rick's guidebooks. If you are set on Spain and Italy, then there are plenty of cheap flights between the two, see www.skyscanner.com. If you are intending to take trains from Spain to Italy along the coast of France, then be aware that service is not as fast or frequent as in other parts of France, and you would only do this if you planned a couple of stops in the south of France. Another popular option is to fly into Paris, making that your one stop in France, then fly to either Italy or Spain.

With only two weeks and needing to be on a budget (aren't we all?!), it will help both your time and budget constraints to limit the number of stops. I have been to Italy twice (and can't wait to go back). Paris once, Spain not yet but it's on my list. So, I'm not the most traveled but I'll give you my two cents based off my experiences and travel research.

Check out Paris, Rome, and Seville or Barcelona? You should be able to catch commuter flights between the cities. Go in the order that it makes the most sense. Enjoy yourselves! You can easily hit the highlights of each city. Note that each destination is just a taste of what the rest of the country has to offer. Consider it a small sampler and the start of a wonderful European traveling experience. :)

I adore the town of Orvieto outside of Rome. Depending on how much time you have, you could consider adding it a day-trip to your Italy experience.

Happy traveling!

breethompson19

It is a very broad question. These are the top three in each country.

France - Paris, Nice, Lyon

Spain - Barcelona, Madrid, Seville

Italy - Rome, Florence, Venice

I too would limit my stops,, but you could manage Paris, Barcelona and Rome.. ( We LOVE Spain but prefer the smaller towns , not Barcelona.. but you really would need more time to visit them, so Barcelona will give you a taste)

We use the intereuropeon airlines to get around if the train rides are longer then 5-6 hours, in this case they would be between these top three destinations) .. the flights can be so cheap!!! Check out flights on Vueling , Easyjet etc.. If booked well in advance they offer great prices and a flight between Rome and Paris is only 1.5 hours, even with extra time getting to and from airports you will save lots of time versus train)

I would personally visit just Paris and Rome,, with side trips from each place ( Venice or Florence , and from Paris there are so many side trips , some overnight, some daytrips, ie Loire Valley, Versailles, Chartes, etc) that you could enjoy lots of variety.

Remember each time you move your base it costs.

Also book your airline tickets as multi destination ( also called "open jaw") ... saves time and money not having to back track.

With two weeks, I would limit the trip to two bases -- e.g. Fly into Paris, 6 days or a week-- do a few day trips in the region e.g. Versailles or Chartres or Rouen or Reims or Giverny or Vaux le Vicomte etc etc if you need more variety although Paris alone has plenty for this time and then take Easyjet to Rome or Florence (airport Pisa for Florence). You might fly to Florence, do 3 or 4 nights there and finish in Rome with the final 4 nights. (maybe make Paris 6 night/5 days to get 4 and 4 for Italy.)

With two weeks you don't have time for 3 countries and the big expense in time and money is the long travel. A whole day is gobbled up in the logistics of switching countries -- most of a day when you switch cities. You get more bang for the travel buck by staying in one place longer. Two nights equals one full day in a place and travel days are a dead loss.

Congratulations on your first European trip! I agree with some of the others here who are suggesting you limit yourself to one country. First, you will spend a lot of time and money moving from place to place. Second, these are big, culturally very different countries and I think you might enjoy the trip more if you concentrate on just one country. Imagine trying to experience the cuisine of the three countries in only one meal; it would be a confusing experience. I am also going to suggest that you tell us a bit more about what kinds of things you want to do and how you envision your trip. Restful or physically active? Sightseeing? History, art, music, nightlife? Rental car or public transit? Tell us more.

We went to the same 3 countries years ago & also had 2 weeks.

We arrived in Madrid & spent a couple of nights there & took an afternoon to visit Toledo.
We then took train to Barcelona & spent 2-3 nights there. We took another train & traveled to
Girona & spent one night there. The following morning we took train to Avignon & visited Arles
then another train to Nice (one night) then train to Florence (2 nights) then another train to Rome.( Exhausting, right?!)

It was a very rushed trip & the whole time we were traveling, I kept asking myself, why did we plan to cover
so much??? We spent so much time in transit that we didn't give ourselves enough time in any one place to
really enjoy it.

I agree with the others, limit your trip to one country and enjoy it completely!

So, I learned my lesson & we just returned from northern Italy a couple of months ago where we spent 13 nights & had a wonderful trip!