2 Weeks in Europe... Where to Go?

We have very much enjoyed London, Paris, and Italy in April. To keep your travel time to a minimum, you might consider limiting it to England and France. Something like London plus one smaller town in the UK (Cotswolds? Salisbury? Bath? York?) and then train to Paris for a few days, with a stop somewhere in southern France as well. fly into London and out of Paris if you can.

Laura, Since this is your friend's first trip to Europe, you might consider somewhat of a "European sampler" for her, covering several different countries. I'd suggest that you get together over coffee (or a glass of wine!), and get some ideas on what her expectations are for this trip? Since it may be the last trip you take for awhile, be sure that it's memorable for you also! Two weeks is NOT a long time, so it will be important to plan transportation CAREFULLY in order to maximize sightseeing time. Using open-jaw flights would absolutely be the best idea. Be sure to allow for the fact that you'll lose a day in travel times at the beginning and end of the trip, so you'll really only have 12 days. Have a look at some Guidebooks to get some ideas on places that might interest both of you. If you have a PBS station in that area, check the listings to see if any episodes of Travels in Europe will be airing in the near future. As this is your friend's first trip to Europe, it would be a good idea for her to read Europe Through The Back Door also, so that she has some idea what to expect. Good luck with your planning!

Lola-
Thanks for the response- that was my initial thinking- perhaps a week in London and a week in Paris, with apartments and day trips.

Ken, Thanks for the response. I think this would be her preference- we are both young and open to adventure :) Getting together isn't really an option, we live about a 20 hr drive away... but a phone call certainly is. We spoke last night and both agreed to go do some research and then chat again next week. I have been to Paris, but I was pretty young and would love to get to France again... so I think London and France should be on the agenda. What else would you add? I would lvoe to see Amsterdam and Barcelona, but they just don't seem to add up from a traveling perspective. Open jaw flights are definitely fine, we haven't even looked at flights yet. I was thinking we could take an overnight flight on the Friday, and fly back the following Saturday, which would give us 12 or 13 full days... adding the extra day to our first location for jet lag.
I've also already been to Germany, relatively recently :)

Some considerations and options for planning: 1. England and Paris: English spoken at the beginning of the trip. As it is her first trip, it would be easier to ease into. 2. Does she speak another language or have family roots in Europe? e.g.--If she speaks Spanish, consider Spain. If her ancestorial roots are Swedish, maybe do 2 weeks in Sweden and Norway. 3. Do you have favorite sites you want to share with your friend? It could be fun going to your favorite spots in Italy with a "newbie."
4. Do you have a particular passion or interest? Love British royal history? Go to England. Foodie? Naples or Paris. Hiking/rock climbing? Maybe the Alps/Austria. Wine? Mosel Valley or a French wine-country tour. Have fun.

Deb- We are in our mid-twenties. Love food, shopping, drinking, exploring, culture.
Not that big into museums, but could definitely hit a few highlights- although definitely not the main purpose of our trip! I am only going to Italy this August/September... and we are hoping to go in March/April 2012... so I think I'd prefer not to re-visit Italy, but who knows! I'd love to see Amsterdam and Barcelona, combined with London and Paris, but I'm not quite sure that is feasible :)

Barcelona is a night train ride away from Paris, so that could work. (Or you could fly.) Then you would fly into London and out of Barcelona, with paris in between. We were just there at the end of April and it was perfect weather. It is very different from the rest of Spain but a vibrant and exciting city. Probably the most "foodie" oriented place we have ever been. the nice hotels (3 and 4-star) are very reasonably priced, compared to London and Paris.

Just from my own personal preference, I'd spend 2 weeks in the UK. You could spend several days in London with a few day trips, then train (or drive) up to Scotland- spend time in Edinburgh, Inverness, maybe up to Orkney. If either of you has English or Scottish ancestors, this could be a very special trip. My second choice would be Austria and Budapest, with maybe a bit of Northen Italy if there is time and inclination. Use trains to get from one place to another- Vienna, Budapest, Salzburg, Innsbruck would all be near the top of my list. Third option would be 2 weeks in Norway, Denmark and maybe Sweden. Oslo is a fantastic city!!!

Laura, I was going to ask about Italy, since it wasn't mentioned too prominently. My initial thought was to visit "the big three" with your friend - London, Paris and Rome. That would provide a good view of three somewhat different cultures for her. Although you're going to be in Italy this fall, it would be "new" for your friend. If you're not partial to Rome, there are LOTS of other possibilities in the areas north of Rome. Tuscany is always a big favourite! I'm watching RAI Uno as I type this, so perhaps I'm "focused" on Italy tonight! Cheers!

I just had 18 days (just a bit more than two weeks) in London, Dublin, and France. We only did 2 days in Dublin, but that was plenty to see the city. I would split it equally between London and Paris- its so easy to get to from London. Someone should have warned me that I would want to go back immideately upon returning.

You have mentioned Paris and London, and also a desire to see Amsterdam. Those cities would work very well together. You could fly into London (4 nights), take the eurostar to Paris (4 nights), then take the train to Amsterdam (4 nights). It would be easy to go to Bruges on your way from Paris to Amsterdam, if you would like a taste of a smaller place. Fly home from Amsterdam. Your transportation times will be relatively short with this itinerary, so you won't have to spend too much time in transit.

Going to the Benelux area, allows you to see quite a bit, with varying countries and cities without needing to spend so much time or money traveling long distances. You could do Belgium, the Netherlands and either France or Germany. The Netherlands in the spring is always beautiful and you can travel around this area to various towns, like Delft, den Haag, etc.. Consider putting Brugge on your travel list, as well as a few other places near-by, like Antwerp or Ghent. This is also close enough to add in Cologne or Aachen if you prefer Germany over France. The spring weather on the continent may be a bit friendlier than in the UK.

Europe is great. In March or April I would think south of the Alps (Italy, Spain, South of France, Greece, Turkey). My rule of thumb is pick the place I most want to see then build an itinerary that doesn't involve much travel from there. Stay in the same region and keep legs on your travel days as short as possible (no more than four hours for me). Try to limit one-night-stands because checking in and out of lodging consumes a lot of your day.

If you have the choice of March or April, choose April. The second half of April would be my choice for France or England. Earlier than that it's more wintery. For Spain, March may be ok. It's farther south. It would be easy to spend the entire time in and around London. Daytrips from there are numerous; train and bus transportation are plentiful. You can buy the LondonPlus (check the railpass section on this webpage) pass and take trains for daytrips in the southern parts of England, as far west as Bath and to Cambridge as well as farther north. If you want to rent a car, a few days in the Cotswalds would be fun and a nice change from big-city London.

Thank you for the feedback everyone! I'm going to start building a few itineraries, then hash out estimated prices/weather and show my friend. I'm thinking of looking into the following: 1- England/Scotland 2-London-Amsterdam-Paris 3- London-Paris-Barcelona 4- London-Amsterdam-Paris-Barcelona 5- London/Paris (apartments)
6- Greece While I want to give my friend choices, I'd like to give her choices of places I would love to go as well :) Please, if you think any of the above are not feasible or have any advice about them, post away!

Hi Laura! I live in Freddy Beach too...and just wanted to suggest looking into Icelandair out of Halifax....it is priced really well, and you can do a day layover there and do the Blue Lagoon, which was a highlight of our Europe 2009 trip. I love Paris, and there is so much to see around that area too.... like a day trip to Versailles. My husband and I are not really into museums and loved just walking the city. The nice thing about Icelandair, is that you can easily fly into London and out of Paris..... If you really want to see Barcelona check out the prices of Easy Jet out of London, they are usually really cheap.

Hi Sandi- Another nice to see another local :) My best friend actually lives near Toronto, so I will probably book a flight through there so I can meet up with her and we can fly together. I'm looking into doing London-Amsterdam-Paris-Barcelona right now, and it looks doable. Two of the legs offer overnight trips. I'm just putting it all together for a tentative plan/budget now!

Hi Laura, I know it's been awhile but I just wanted to see where you and your friend ended up going? I just booked a ticket yesterday and will be traveling with a friend through Europe for two weeks as well. (We're also in our mid-twenties). We're flying into London and out of Amsterdam. We were hoping to travel to Dublin, Paris, Rome and Florence as well. After reading the comments and suggestions I realize this is probably impossible to do in only 11 days (trip is 13 days total, 2 for travel there and back). Does anybody have any recommendations for us? My friend has been to London before so we probably don't need to spend as much time there. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Jason

Try London to Paris on the Eurostar. Then fly to Amsterdam on budget air carrier. That's about all you'll have with your limited time. It's best to do a good job visiting cities than taking on too many places when they might end up being a blur.

The train connection from Paris to Amsterdam is so good I really would advise against flying unless you get an unusual deal and have time to burn.

How was the trip you took last April, 2012?