30-40 days in Europe, DIY

My initial advice is not to go in the summer with the heat and crowds. Can you travel in the spring or fall?

I can only suggest that you get several guidebooks from your library, and do a LOT of online research over the next year to narrow down your choices of places to visit. Assuming those 40 days do not count the one week each way for your transatlantic cruises, that only gives you 5 days in each country. And that does not include the travel time required to get from place to place, which by train could be 1/2 to 1 full day. So read, read, read, and watch videos (either Rick's or on You Tube) to decide which places YOU are most interested in, and then proceed with developing an itinerary.

And I agree that summer is not a great time to be doing this.

OP here…I think fall is an option, so good advice there. And yes, the time over and back is apart from the 30-40 days.

Ronald,
I concur with Pat. If possible, go from late April to mid-June for the weather and for fewer crowds. Of course, I am aware that it depends on the transatlantic sailings that are available. Whenever you do go, please opt for the 40 days in Europe (and longer if possible). You have listed 8 countries. At 40 days, that gives you five days per country, not counting the time traveling between them. Figure it could take a day to check out of lodgings, get to the train station, train time, get to new lodgings and check in, and you will have probably a few hours in the late afternoon or evening at your new location. Now you are down to 4 full days per country on average.

I suggest you take the time to figure out what you want to do and/or see in each country and prioritize your plans based on that. You may find that you will trim your list of countries to visit, or trim what you see and do within them. In your time frame I would expect you to mostly stay in one city per country (in general). Also, try to see what options you will have for train travel. If going from major cities and towns (e.g. Paris to Amsterdam) your options would be quick and many. In other cases, a lot of the day will be spent on the train. It just depends on your route.

Over 50 years ago hubby and I visited the same 8 countries (plus Vatican City and a toe put into Scotland) over 4 months. We picked up our VW there and drove it all over for 3 months, then shipped it back to the states. That took a month, so our last month in Europe was carless. With that trip in mind, I have a lot of understanding of your plans to see as much as possible in your time frame. We were much younger and fitter, could get about quickly, and had the time available, so we got to know many countries. We also did it on the cheap, sometimes sleeping in our VW bug, or in a farmer's field in the super cheap sleeping bags we bought in Marseille. We used Frommer's "Europe on Five and Ten Dollars a Day". We even had one room for $3.00 for the night! We stretched about $3000.00 over 4 months for everything (food, lodgings, gas, entrance fees, tolls) and had a ball, but today, with 40 days, I personally would opt for no more than 4 countries, maybe 5. As I said above, take a look at what you want to get from each country and see if it is possible in your time frame.

I wish you all the best for a fabulous trip! And who knows, maybe it won't be the only one!

Congratulations on your retirement! Are you counting the days yet? And what a wonderful trip! I've often wondered how I would structure long-term travel like this, as I've only ever been away for 2-week stints. I think you may need to plan for one day each week of complete downtime, as in staying in the neighborhood of your hotel/apartment, not doing too much sightseeing. Let your bodies recover. And train travel days don't count as downtime.

I'm looking forward to how your trip planning evolves!

Ronald,
I see fall is an option. Great. One hint is to try to time it before daylight savings ends, if you can. Days will be getting shorter, so with DST it won't be as dark as 6:00 p.m. as in Standard time. This, of course, only really matters about the open hours of various sights to see.
(I do realize the days aren't longer, but open/closing hours will reflect the daylight.)
And for September, that is the most expensive month for hotels in Paris, so try to avoid it then.

OP again…for us it’s more about seeing the various cities vs. trying to see all the sights in them if that makes sense. We are fine seeing the top 2 or 3 things in each city and then just walking around taking everything in.

Glad to see you are planning to do autumn rather than summer. As you check the cruise sites you may be able to find a relatively low cost repositioning cruise traveling from the Med back to the US.

Some thoughts...
If you can, plan your travels to flow from West to East and North to South as you cross Europe, avoid backtracking as it often burns travel days
Spend a couple of days in Southampton and the south coast of England before heading to London
In France, see Normandy and Mont St Michel
In every city, take full advantage of busses and metros to cut down on your daily steps
Pack light, layer, do laundry

Have a great trip

OP again…for us it’s more about seing the various cities vs. trying to see all the sights in them if that makes sense. We are fine seeing the top 2 or 3 things in each city and then just walking around taking everything in.

You should look for towns that are compact and WALKABLE and of course attractive/interesting.

London is not walkable. In London and other big cities you will sometimes walk harsh distances just to get to the Tube/subway and to access the platforms. So you can wander a neighborhood or two, but look into bus tours to see the sights.

Walkable city ideas: Many options... Bruges, Delft, Nuremberg, Salzburg, and Zug come to mind.

I think you should give serious thought to whether or not Belgium is a priority. I have been to every one of the countries you listed and Italy alone deserves a minimum of 10 days to even see the "Big 3" cities. You may want to consider the difficulty involved in navigating all those steps in Venice.

Welcome to the forum! It is wonderful that you are planning ahead for your trip. This is a good time to go to the library and get some books on the various countries you would like to visit. At this stage of the game, keep an open mind and just gather information. Then you can start making a list of places you want to visit, 30-40 days seems like a lot, but even if you spend 2-3 nights in each location, it is a maximum of about 15 stops, ideally less. I highly recommend the DK Eyewitness books for the lovely pictures (photos and illustrations) and see what appeals. What makes you take this trip? Are you interested in castles, museums, mountains, history, food? Please feel free to ask more questions as your planning advances.

If you are taking Cunard, you are probably packing formal wear for dining. That will expand the volume of your luggage.
How do you plan to travel within Europe?
Renting a car and visiting large cities like Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Vienna and Munich will be problematic for parking. If you can find parking in those cities, it will be expensive. Rail travel choice was a wise one.

Yes, you have 30-40 days, but you list 8 countries. If you only did two weeks in Italy, you will only cover 3 or 4 cities.

Planning such a trip always includes lodging, travel between cities and what to see in each.
TripAdvisor.com is great using "things to do in ----".

What I have found is that visiting smaller cities or towns is a great choice as well as large cities like Paris and Rome.
Consider visiting places in Italy like Siena, Lucca and Orvieto. Don't miss Munich, Salzburg, Berchtesgaden, Vienna and Garmish/Fussen.

London is not walkable. In London and other big cities you will sometimes walk harsh distances just to get to the Tube/subway and to access the platforms.

With all due respect to Russ, I disagree with this. London is very walkable, and I have the trodden shoes to prove it. :-) Seriously, London has great public transportation, but it's such a pleasure to walk the various neighborhoods. And even if you're just walking to a Tube station, your right might take you past Kensington, with its beautiful gardens, or through neighborhoods with beautiful and unique architecture, fun cafes, historic sites and much more.

London is a marvel, although I expect you know that since you have been there before, and I'm assuming your wife has as well. :-)

Walking in London is enjoyable, no question there.... you and I have the same tired London shoes, mardee. But a city this spread out poses a disproportionate challenge to any disabled person with walking issues, I think.

I think you should give serious thought to whether or not Belgium is a
priority

It's funny you say that because I think Belgium has a lot more to offer than people realize. I've only been three times - to Bastogne, Bruges, and Ghent - but I really enjoyed each of those cities, they are among the highlights of my travels in Europe.

Sounds like a great trip!

Let's say you have five weeks in Europe and you are planning to see eight countries. That is not out of the question by any means, but if you're in an older age group with some medical issues, you might want to consider pumping the brakes just a bit.

Of all the countries you listed, I'd maybe leave Italy for another trip if you think there is ANY chance you might come back. Maybe from Switzerland or southern France you could make a short visit to Italy to say you've been there, but to really see Italy you need a dedicated trip. (There are cruises that go from Florida to Spain and from there you can cruise the Mediterranean with stops in Italy.)

Someone said April, May, June ... sort of the wet season in a lot of places. And you said Fall was the option. Fall would also be my favorite time in the parts of Europe I most enjoy. Checke the weather internet sites for where you want to go. But I bet you will find September and October work out pretty well.

London is very walkable

Agree. And, for some reason, everyone looks to the Tube first, busses second. I prefer taking the bus over the tube for two reasons. First, many busses stop at the major sights while the Tube may be a bit of a walk. Second, I love sitting up top and looking at the scenery. No offense to any Londoners, but the view inside of the Tube is not all that compelling. Yes, traffic can be horrible. But I'm not driving. This also goes for most European cities, especially those with trams.

My wife and I spend at least 4 months in Europe every summer. And we have the approach, also, of traveling to experience the totality of other places rather than to see check-off-the-boxes tourist sites (though I don't criticize the latter approach). Last summer we aimed to spend the warmest summer months in northern Europe, including Belgium, Denmark, Sweden and Poland. It was fantastic. There were plenty of other tourists present, but not to an extreme degree.

I don't mean to dissuade anyone from touring in autumn, but much of Europe is very enjoyable in July and August, and not particularly crowded.

Check out Rick’s Best of Europe itinerary: https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/europe/europe-21-days-2025

These are the destinations that he considers to be the best bang for the buck. Also noticed how he geographically connects them for maximum effect. Just some ideas to get you started, and if you wanted to add London on, it’s an easy train ride from Paris at the end.

Everyone is going to have different opinions, but the places I have most enjoyed in my various trips to Central Europe include London, Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona, the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland, Rome, and southern Germany. In particular the Swiss Alps/Murren area is like heaven on earth. Can’t recommend enough.

The places that I thought were just ok and I don’t care if I go back include Venice, Florence, the south of France (eg Cannes/Eze), Monaco, Brussels, and Edinburgh.

I love that you are traveling over on Cunard. I’ve always wanted to do that. Regarding what someone else said about packing formal wear, I know they have rentals on board for men at least.

I don't mean to dissuade anyone from touring in autumn, but much of
Europe is very enjoyable in July and August, and not particularly
crowded.

jphbucks, exactly. Every time a statement begins with "in Europe .... " its going to be a bit iffy.

Hi Ronald! First, congratulations on your upcoming retirement! It sounds like you will be planning an amazing trip. I think you could hit all of these in 40 days if you plan your route appropriately. If you chose to go in summer, I think starting in the south then heading north is the better idea simply due to weather/heat. Have you considered adding a river cruise or a mediterranean cruise to your European mix (in addition to the Cunard cruise)? Both would give you hotel and transportation to a number of countries, which would enable you to hit some highlights. And can be a really enjoyable way to tour especially if your mobility is a bit limited.

You mention your retired military. Would seeing WWI, WWII sites interest you? If so, you might start your research there.

My best advice is to start jotting down some of your must see/must do during this adventure. Then you can craft your itinerary around what is important to you.

I hope you come back to share what you've decided!

I prefer taking the bus over the tube for two reasons. First, many busses stop at the major sights while the Tube may be a bit of a walk. Second, I love sitting up top and looking at the scenery.

jkh, I do, too. In fact, when I took my two teen/tween grandkids to London this spring, once they got on their first double decker bus, they did not want to leave. They loved being able to look down at the shops and scenery and all the cool places.