5 day Pre-Cruise trip (London > Paris > Barcelona) itinerary planning help

How many nights is five days? You need six nights for London, five nights for Paris and three nights for Barcelona.

This will be quite rushed as you could easily spend a week in each of those places. However, if you are just looking to get a taste of each, I think this is doable. Personally I wouldn't expect to do a whole lot on your first day in London as you'll be quite tired/jetlagged. In terms of historic sites, my personal favourite for London is the Tower of London- there is just so much history there and loads to see.

I can tell you haven't been to Europe before.

I suggest NOT trying to visit three cities prior to your cruise.
FLY into Barcelona and enjoy that wonderful city then take the cruise.
You can do a day trip to Monserrat and/or Girona.

Do some research on TripAdvisor.com using things to do in Barcelona. Plan your visit there, there is plenty to see and enjoy.

Welcome to the forums.

I am sure you realise that your time in each city is very short. That is likely why your question wasn't is this the right itinerary, but rather how to maximise such short stays.

Is your cruise RT Barcelona or a one way cruise to somewhere else, maybe even a transatlantic repositioning cruise? If it is RT Barcelona maybe add on a self planned post cruise extension to Barcelona

Two practicalities for you-
if you fly into London as you currently plan to be sure to get your UK ETA organised- https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-an-electronic-travel-authorisation-eta
also, if you are flying back from somewhere else than London do get an open jaw or multi-city (as most airlines now call it)- a return fare where you fly into city a and back from city b. In almost all cases that will work out cheaper than two single fares.

Apologies if you have already covered both those points in your planning.

If you hit London, Paris and Barcelona in five days, you will need a cruise to relax.

Can it be done? Yes. And you can get a rough feel for the three cities and some idea as to how badly you want to return and how long you might need to stay on a future trip.

My suggestion is to hire a private guide for at least six hours, if not an entire day, in London and Paris with the instruction that you have only one day and want to get a feel for the city you are in. Yes, it will be expensive. But people do take the Eurostar from Paris to London or vice versa for the day and try to see as much of the city they are going to as they can.

In fact, something you may want to consider is flying first to London or Paris and spending four nights there, but one day taking the Eurostar for the day to the other city, and then flying to Barcelona from the city you first fly into. It gives you a chance to spend much more time in London or Paris, but also to get a rough feel for the other city.

I also do not recommend you undertake this itinerary for a first trip. A few things to think about. First, do you know how you handle jet lag? If this is your first trip, I can tell you that on my first trip I arrived in London at 6 a.m. and I've never felt so awful trying to get through a full day feeling like I was walking through jello. I remember nothing of that day other than the desire to sleep - thankfully I had four more days to make up for it, but you wouldn't. Second, that schedule doesn't allow any room for potential travel drama, which can and does happen. Third, every time you move between cities you lose about a half day to travel (because you have to get to airport or train station, go through security, actually fly/travel, get from airport/train station to hotel at new destination). This cuts into your sightseeing time significantly and given how little time you have, you won't have time to see much.

You'll have to go back to see London/Paris, and I'd recommend a separate trip when you can devote more time. Unclear where you're coming from, but you might instead fly to Madrid (plenty of great museums), spend 3 nights, take the high speed train to Barcelona and spend two nights ahead of your cruise. If you have already purchased your plane tickets to London, skip Paris and go straight to Barcelona at least two nights before the cruise (to allow flexibility if there is travel drama, you shouldn't travel the same day you need to be on the cruise ship).

Congratulations on your first trip to Europe. I agree with CatVH's response in all respects. If you want to do it this way, go for it. Having spent 13 nights in London and 18 nights in Paris so far, I still haven't begun to exhaust those two cities. For a taste, you can download some Rick Steves audio tours from this website (under the Watch, Read, Listen tab); I would especially recommend the historical Paris walking tour and the Westminster walking tour for London. Do heed the advice that you have to download these onto your phone before you go; I have tried to disregard that good advice and never got them to download fully in Europe. I also suggest printing out the map that he has for each tour. Do those early in your stay in each.

For London, besides the Tower (where I recommend being in line before they open the second day you are there), you can go to the British Library, which isn't very crowded, to see some historic documents, and you could just duck into the British Museum, giving yourself a strict time limit, and head to some area that doesn't seem to have very many people. Both are free or for donations, so you can afford to spend little time with these. Take advantage of your time there to learn to ride the Tube (Underground) so that on a return trip, you feel somewhat comfortable.

Paris lends itself to just sitting in a cafe and people-watching. And of course have some classic French dishes at a cafe, bistro or restaurant, and ogle the beautiful pastries in the shop windows. Walk along the Seine, or take a boat tour, which doesn't take up a lot of time or money, and lets you see a lot. Take a ride on the Metro, again so you have a feel for it, because that will get you around Paris on subsequent trips.

There are many travel tips on this website; take advantage of them.

You're going to have a great time.

Please be patient with me as my comments ARE NOT meant to be snarky...........
"Explore London, Paris, Barcelona"
Essentially your itinerary creates memories of travel, but not of places you visited.
Truly we of the forum understand the impulse and speak from the experience of having attempted to do the same thing.
Please consider giving yourself the opportunity to explore one major destination and taste another.
Arrive in London on Day 1 and depart to Barcelona on Day 4 by taking a late afternoon flight.
London's menu of opportunities is HUGE and recommend use of RS videos and books to help define the itinerary. I offer the following "don't miss" tips:

1. Thames is the ancient mode of travel and worthy of visiting with a walk starting on the south side of Tower Bridge along Shad Thames where you have ez access to walk along the shore. Then cross the bridge and enter the grounds of Tower of London.
2. London museums are free and our favorite is the Victoria and Albert Museum with the Natural History museum across the street. Great place to keep in mind, especially if it raining.
3. London is the Underground, Buses and Walking. We use the Underground to travel longer distances and then walk, walk, walk. So much of a great variety of perspectives to be gained via walking.
4. Evenings are for theater and London offers the best at rates far cheaper than USA. Sounds like you are traveling solo and obtaining same day tickets is often available the morning of by going to their box office at the theater.

Barcelona, another huge menu of opportunities. Suggest arriving in the early evening and then go on a tapas tour via a group tour. There are many to choose from and suggest your query of the Spain forum to learn recommendations. Participating in a tapas tour places you with a group of like minded folks with a tour guide who will help indoctrinate you to Barcelona. Tapas are a wonderful experience and a taste sensation. You will have one full day to experience Barcelona and recommend you place the burden of gathering how to utilize your time on. the Spain forum. Note: Barcelona is the number one tourist destination of Europe and crowds are heavy. Be wise in purchasing advance skip the line tickets in order to avoid wasting time in line. Consider attending a concert at the https://www.palaumusica.cat/en. An excellent experience even as just a tour of the facility (the place is air conditioned so a way to get out of the heat).

We have learned there is not an advantage for arriving early for boarding a cruise WHEN you are at a port, like Barcelona, where so many places can be visited. Suggest planning to be at embarkation by 2:00 with cruise departure at 3:00. You can always explore the ship while at sea.

Enjoy your initial journey to Europe!

I agree, go for it! Of course 2 days isn’t enough to see all of London or Parts, even 2 years might not be enough. But if you’ve never been to Europe before you can certainly get a taste of them and see what you can in the time you have. Look at guidebooks for both cities and plan to visit the historic centers where you can see a lot without having to wait in long lines.

Yes, jet lag could be an issue, though I’ve found that on the outbound leg adrenaline kicks in when I arrive and helps offset it. Just be sure to set an alarm when you go to bed so you don’t accidentally sleep all morning!

Good luck with the trip!