Euro Trip Before Grad School?

Based on the many places you have already visited, I suggest a three week swing through the Nordic countries, across Northern Germany and into Central Europe. Spend the last week in Western Spain and Portugal to work on your wedding tans.

I hate having to take a mid-trip flight, but it really doesn't bother some folks, so the two-extra-flights (probably) aspect of your itinerary may be OK for your travel group. It's not what I would do.

One thing to keep in mind is that there are very few ground connections between Spain and Portugal. It would be worthwhile to figure out how you're going to deal with that situation. You can cross the border from Galicia to northern Portugal without much difficulty. There are buses from Seville to Faro in southern Portugal. Neither of those solutions involves a fast train. The Deutsche Bahn website, which is often helpful for researching international rail trips, gives a 9-1/2 hour routing between Madrid and Lisbon. It requires two changes, one of them with a 4-minute transfer time. What could go wrong?

Many people trying to see Spain and Portugal on the same trip end up deciding to fly.

The places you propose to go are great. So are the places you haven't mentioned; it's hard to go wrong as long as you don't end up with too high a ratio of transportation time to sightseeing time or plan to spend a lot of time in places you maybe can't afford at this stage of your life unless you are willing to stay in hostels, etc. I'd be cautious about places like Switzerland, Norway, probably also Sweden and Finland, and some individual high-cost cities; I've been struggling with lodging costs in London for a trip in May myself.

All I can say is have a wonderful time! Best of luck in med school and I think this is a terrific time to decompress before the hard work ahead of you!

I miss interests for relevant suggestions.

Just coming to my mind:

• Event / celebration: Port anniversary Hamburg, May 9-11 evtl. plus day trip to Lübeck
• Stop at Schwerin between Hamburg and Berlin for wonderful castle ensemble
• Weekend markets in Hamburg and Berlin
• Berlin Design Week
• Taste Berliner Weisse beer (red or green) before starting into a club night
• Several museums of medicine history, e. g. Berlin Museum of medical history or Museum of medical history in Ingolstadt (Bavaria)
• Factory outlets of Adidas, Nike, Puma and others in Herzogenaurach; plus tax refund for non-domestic travelers
• Some more inspirations in the top 100 of Germany

"medical school": Berlin, Hamburg and Schwerin have med schools as well.

You propose to visit three countries in 3-4 weeks. You can't see all of Spain or Germany in 3/4 weeks.

If you plan to return to Europe in you life, cut down on travel within Europe and eliminate Germany and Croatia.
Stick to Spain and Portugal. Germany is more expensive than the Iberian countries.

Do research and plan your trip including lodging, transport and key sites to see. For Spain do not miss Toledo or Seville.

It really depends on the details, as you could hop among the cities by plane or do something more confined geographically where you could not do that.
Were you looking for any beach time in Croatia? Not that it’s a must, but it’s common for the country of 1000 islands—if so, I’d go closer to memorial day, for warmer seas.

Thank you all for your advice. We made a bit of a 180 and are changing plans completely! Thailand 2025! It'll be cool to see a country none of us have ever been to and with our tight budgets hopefully it will be easier to afford activities while we are there. If anyone has Thailand recommendations let me know!