2 week itinerary help

With two weeks, I would spend 10 days in Rome (with, maybe, 1 or 2 day trips outside the city) and 4 days in Florence, with a day trip to Pisa. You will not be bored at all or run out of things to do and sights to see.

Or 1 week in Munich (with 1 or 2 day trips and 1 week in Vienna (with day trips. Prague and Venice, IMO don't need even a full week, but there are others who will disagree. Mr. E will recommend Budapest, of course.

Rome will be hotter than Munich in June, but not miserably so (like July and August).
If you think you might be interested in my suggestions, I am happy to list some of the many things in Rome, Florence, Munich and Vienna, plus day trips from them. The forum has lots of discussions on this as well.
Happy dilemma for you!

You have 2 weeks, which might only be 12 nights if that includes transatlantic flights. So I hope the 7 separate places you listed are just possible choices, not that you want to try to do all of them in one trip of such short duration. An argument could be made to split these choices into 2 trips, with one north of the Alps and one south. You can very easily spend 2 weeks in Italy, and if you have a short interest span, you could add Naples to the usual VFR trilogy.

Not knowing what sites or activities appeal to you, I won't suggest the number of days to spend in any given place. But I would recommend that you browse the info on each city in the Explore Europe section of this site. In particular, check the At a Glance page, which lists the major attractions in and around each place. See what interests you. This will help inform the number of days you will need there.

I would choose Munich, Vienna and Budapest if it was me for a June time period. You could throw Salzberg in as well on the way. Very easy by train. I was in Venice, Florence and Rome at the beginning of June 2023 with 100+ temps. Very rough in the afternoon to tour. Rome was super crowded with no air down in the metro system.

Sounds like you have some fun planning ahead.

I'd happily spend two weeks visiting Budapest, Prague and Vienna. All three have plenty to keep you busy, fantastic food, great public transportation and an efficient train system to get from one place to the other. I'd actually build a trip like that around something I really wanted to see or do. (ex: We started a trip a couple of years ago in May in Prague with the World Hockey Championships and went from there.). So depending on your interests, maybe there's a concert tour or art exhibition or sporting event that coincides with your vacation dates.

You stand a good chance of hot weather in any of the places on your list in June. One thing we always do before a summer trip is figure out where local people go swimming/bathing outside in the summer, pin those spots on our Google Map and pack our swimsuits + microfibre towels from Decathlon. We've visited terrific outdoor pools all over Europe in really scenic spots.

Enjoy!

For logistical reasons and with only two weeks— you really should choose either Italy ( Venice, Florence, Rome + daytrips to nearby towns such as Padua, Siena, and Orvieto —but there are many others). OR choose Munich, Vienna and Prague. ( I personally would choose Vienna over Budapest as the cities are similar— twin cities of the Habsburg and Austro-Hungarian Empires).

It seems limiting yourself to only large cities and not seeing what is right in their backyard is missing out on a lot.

I have been to all of the listed cities and they all have great attractions.

So, you need to ask yourselves what do you most want this trip to be about?

And look into the calendar for hotel rates during specific June dates you have in mind, because there are many special events in June in most of those cities that will impact hotel rates.

My vote is for Venice, Florence and Rome…the big 3 in Italy. Fly in to Venice and out of Rome or vice versa. There are numerous day trips out of Florence as it is in Tuscany. Sounds like you travel quickly so two full days in Venice is enough. Split the remaining days between Florence and Rome. Travel times are quick and easy on the train.

I really like the other three cities you mentioned but would go there on the next trip.

Bruges was so beautiful but after walking around for the day and
taking a little boat ride there wasn't anything else to see the second
day. So I am hoping for advice like that about Munich, Prague, Rome,
Florence, Budapest, Vienna, and Venice. Thanks!

I am thinking much like Kenko here.

Like you, I'm not a big fan of Paris, on the whole - very gritty for those who enjoy exploring a city on foot. Bruges is indeed lovely and walkable - we did fine with 2 days in town there including a nice half-day bike ride. Gent - about twice the size of Bruges and only 22 minutes from Bruges; we enjoyed our day trip there very much. We also made a point of putting Antwerp - 90 minutes from Bruges - on our itinerary as well while we were in the area. None of these places were a disappointment.

If Bruges is your kind of place, maybe you would do well to target fewer big/huge destinations and instead include some smaller, more charming destinations - either as places to stay or to travel to on day trips.

I've been to all the destinations you named, but I'm a Germany-focused guy. So...

Prague is roughly 5.75 hours from Munich by train. Closer yet is Bavaria's next-largest city, NUREMBERG - 4.75 train hours from Prague for most trips. However, once in Nuremberg, you may be surprised at how small and charming Nuremberg seems. The old-town zone is relatively compact, charming, and home to most of the sights and points of interest...

Imperial Castle and half-timbered buildings

Old town map with sights

All kinds of Nuremberg Museums

Craftsmen's Courtyard

Nuremberg pubs

If you tend to see things quickly... Nuremberg is near-perfect since it's surrounded by good day trip options, including these:

BAMBERG (One of Germany's best preserved medieval towns, a UNESCO World Heritage site, 45 minutes from Nuremberg)

IPHOFEN (An old walled town, very small. Think WINE, not beer - visit the town's Vinothek for tasting... Art... good food. 60 minutes from Nuremberg: https://tramino.s3.amazonaws.com/s/iphofen/752858/160927-iphofen-ortsprospekt-eng-web.pdf

ROTHENBURG (Too touristy for me - but hugely cutesy and very popular)

MUNICH (About 1 hour on the ICE train from Nuremberg; make a list of things you want to see/do there and do them on a day trip... or make a stop there on your way to Budapest, Vienna, or Italy.

You don't mention what "sights" interest you. Given your experience in a number big cities so far I would second the suggestion of several smaller cities for three nights each. For example, Fly into Munich then go the hour north to Nuremberg

https://museums.nuernberg.de/nuremberg-municipal-museums/

There are lots of day trips from Nuremberg as mentioned. Days 1-2-3-4.

Then go to Salzburg for 3 nights both for the town itself and the great neighborhood Alpine areas including Berchtesgaden and Hallstadt. Days 5-6-7.

Then go on to Vienna which has music, palaces, museums, Heuriga, food, etc and fly home from there. Days 8-9-10-11. Fly home on day 12.

2027 Go to Italy.

We love traveling from Munich to Innsbruck to Salzburg to Vienna to Bratislava and down to Budapest.

All are very lively cities to which we have returned to a number of times over the last 53 years. We were in Budapest this past February.

I have two great places to stay in Vienna and Budapest if you decide to go there.

In my travel world, two weeks is 16 days. You once ran into the same trap that I suspect we have all run into. What do you do if you don’t like your destination? Well, you can stay flexible as heck and change plans. That doesn’t always sit well with many. Or you can do enough different places where one doesn’t ruin the trip. First, will all those that think Vienna and Budapest are twin cities raise a hand. As I suspected, no hands. Here is one comparison, there are plenty of others (note 5 out of the 7 photos are Budapest … its just prettier LOL) https://www.enjoytravel.com/en/travel-news/places-to-visit/budapest-vs-vienna-how-to-choose

• Saturday: Depart US
• Sunday: Arrive Prague (usually around 2pm) Look at Hotel Ventana
• Monday: Prague
• Tuesday: Prague. Day trip to Kunta Hora – train (1.2 hours each way) or plenty of group trips to choose from.
• Wednesday: Prague

Of the three Prague has the smallest area of greatest tourist interest. About the size of Disney Land. It also is going to be the most crowded because its small and beautiful and as such attracts quite a few. The day trip to Hora will be interesting and get you to see something different while there. There are several other options like Terezin if that subject interests you.

• Thursday: Morning Shuttle to Český Krumlov (about 2 hours) Look at Hotel Dvořák (not the best hotel of your life, but good enough and the views are amazing at night).
• Friday: Morning Shuttle to Vienna (about 3 hours) Whatever hotel within the Ringstrasse is within your budget.

The mornings in Cesky K are a bit crowded in the high season, but a lot are day trippers and by spending the night you get to be there after they have gone. Beautiful fairytale city and it breaks up what is otherwise a rather long trip from Prague to Vienna.

• Saturday: Vienna
• Sunday: Vienna
• Monday: Vienna

Vienna: You took the morning shuttle out of Cesky Krumlov because you will need every minute in Vienna. The tourist area is only slightly larger than Cesky Krumlov, but if you are into museums, you can get lost forever. The history and the architecture of the Empire are always in your face. Post in the Austria forum then trust everything Emily tells you to do.

• Tuesday: Morning train to Győr (1.25 hours). Lunch in the old town, then taxi or bus to the Archabbey at Pannonhalma. Return to Győr for a late train on to Budapest (1.25 hours).

Győr is a small-town stop and a good break after the cities. It is on the rail line from Vienna to Budapest so it’s not a detour. The archabbey with 1000 year old roots is the high holly place of Hungary and worth the time to visit.

• Wednesday Budapest: Consider Hotel https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/rs-forum-favorite-hotels-and-their-cost Because this is my favorite to the bunch: Favorite Tourism Video of Budapest https://youtu.be/1nd5AtZIrTk?feature=shared and Anthony Bourdain describing how visually pleasurable Budapest is https://youtu.be/0nd9DuDGCz0?si=aa0c19KaJHEtabkX
• Thursday: Budapest
• Friday: Budapest. Day trip to Szentendre on local commuter train (45 minutes), return on boat down the Danube (45 minutes).
• Saturday: Budapest
  

Budapest with the Danube running through the middle, the castle on the hill and the majesty of the Parliament … there is no more beautiful capital city in Europe. Of the three cities it has the largest area of tourist interest which is why the extra half day (half In Szentendre).

• Sunday: Fly Home.
  

This is a Classic tour because it hits 3 distinct cultures with little travel time. Munich > Vienna > Prague could also be good if you made some stops along the way as those are pretty long hauls between cities. Travel time will only be a few hours more. Italy, also excellent. So many choices.