Europe in 10 days!

Not a good idea as most have said.

We had 10 days in England recently and found it to be a most pleasant trip staying 4 nights in York, 2 in Canterbury and 4 in Brighton.

Initially, we thought of going to London, Paris, Strassbourg and then coming back for the meeting in Brighton. The thought of rushing around with just 10 full days did not appeal to me.

Figure out where you are flying into, and try to stay close so you actually see a lot and can enjoy yourself. When we did four countries in 2006, we were in Europe for a month and I still thought it was too much wasted time in airports.

Well it's actually Europe in 9 days assuming you have a morning flight on the 10th.

Your itinerary is literally all over the map, so you will have to fly which takes at least a half day, assuming you land a early or late flight, which is 5 half days (counting your flight back to Paris) so you're basically down to 6.5 days to see 4 cities, which is less than 2 days in each city.

You will likely be tired, cranky and have spent most of your times in airports.

Take a breath, and consider less traveling. Perhaps Paris and London with maybe a day trip or two in either Paris or London, or perhaps Paris and Madrid and Barcelona.

Wow, I agree it is too much/all you need is one flight delay and you could spend hours at an airport. Decide what you like/history/cathedrals/countryside and narrow down to two places that are fairly close so you can really enjoy.

Why are you flying into Paris if you don't want to see much there? And apparently you got a round trip ticket to Paris, so you have to start and end there? I'm not sure what you mean about it being a starting point of a stop over flight. Maybe you can explain that.

So, you want to go to 4 countries in 9 days, including the day you arrive? I think your plan is totally unworkable. With the time you have you could do Paris and London, or maybe you could fly from Paris to Madrid or Barcelona. I don't see how you can possibly see Paris, London, Athens and Madrid or Barcelona in a 9 day trip.

As long as it's not Madrid AND Barcelona, that's three (or two and a half) days in each place. Not my idea of fun, but you could get a flavor for each place. I don't think too much of Athens, but could give anybody a whirlweind tour of either London or Madrid in two days -- you just have to have a plan of some kind and not lurk in museums forever. Opinions vary, but I'd pick Madrid over Barcelona.

I am flying in and out of Paris because it is an air France flight from Tel Aviv to Toronto via Paris and I extended my stop over. I am 23 and travelling alone and do not know the next time I will get back to Europe. I want to see as much as I can!

Yes, you want to see as much as you can. But do you want to be able to remember it? Do you want to enjoy it? I'd choose either Athens, OR London (my personal favorite) or Spain.

If you want to see as much as you can, stick to one or two places, otherwise all you'll be "seeing" is airports, which look the same everywhere. To see more you can always do day trips, which saves the time of having to pack up and move to a different hostel or hotel.

However if you are set on your plan, look at skyscanner.net and starting working out your flight itinerary, figuring out the order of how you want to go about it. Look for flights either early in the morning or late at night to maxamize the actual time you have in the city. Also pay attention to how much time it takes to get to and from your cities, and how early you have to be at the airport as this will impact your travel time.

thanks guys for your comments. I guess I might have been a little ambitious in my thinking. So I am going to try and narrow it down to Paris (my starting point), London (because I have friends there), and either Athens, Barcelona, or Madrid. Is that more doable or am I still being overly ambitious? I can save airport time by taking the eurostar from Paris to London and that way I only need the airport from London to somewhere and then back to Paris.

Athens, Greece and all of Spain are too far from Paris - you'll need to take a flight, which doesn't really seem logical, since you are on a layover already.

Would you fly into New York City and then say to yourself, I want to see Boston and DC while I'm here? And, maybe Atlanta too? That's about the equivalent of trying to see Spain and Greece while in Paris.

Belgium and the Netherlands are very close by to Paris. Go there. Also, there's much more in France to see.

I think London is doable, as you are planning.

the only problem is I don't really have the desire to see the Netherlands or Belgium. They are not things on the top of my list. I just finished my degree in Ancient History (the near east and the classical world) and thats where my passion is. I have already spent a month in Rome, so I am looking to see more of that kind of stuff.

if your interest is near east and classical, why Spain of all places?

Let's see. From Paris to London by Eurostar. 6 hours from hotel to hotel. That's probably going to be your shortest travel time. From London, an hour to the airport, 3 hours before the flight, then 3.5 hours to Athens, at least an hour to hotel. That's a day gone. And you still have to get back to Paris and who knows how long in the airport for your next flight, so that's another day gone. 2 days in Paris, almost 3 days travelling, leaves you 2 days in London and 2 days in Athens, and a big hole in your bank account for the plane fares.

Belgium and Holland were suggested because you can get there in a couple of hours by train from Paris. London is the same. There are no shortcuts to flying. Airports, unlike train stations, arent in the center of town. Security takes a long time, you have to check your luggage and wait to collect it, etc. etc.

If you are looking to see more things like Ancient Rome, see some more of ancient Rome by visiting Provence. It's got plenty of ancient sights and is a quick TGV train ride from Paris.

Best of luck with your trip. Happy travels.

If your a fan of the Romans, consider a day trip from London to Bath.

Dori, With your interests, I'd go stratight from Paris to Greece or Turkey. Spend your whole time there. Lots to related to your studies. Then, if you can, fly home from there rather than backtracking to Paris.

If you have that much of an interest in ancient sites, a couple days in Athens isn't going to cut it. Wouldn't just want to go back to see everything you didn't? Stay closer to Paris this trip--do London and a Spanish city, or just do Spain--and plan a trip to Greece where you actually get to see everything you want to see.

I think the "I don't know when I'll be able to come back" attitude makes for a lot of miserable trips--it's a pretty common sentiment, and people plan crazy itineraries because of it. Unless you're terminally ill, or pregnant with sextuplets and thus pretty busy for the next 18 years, why do you think you won't make it back to take a proper trip to Greece?

When I plan my trips my magic word is "focus." The magic question I ask myself is "What in my heart do I REALLY want to see?" This helps with the "focus."

I'd really love to see EVERYTHING in Britain, but I don't want to drive myself completely mad trying to do it. I know that feeling though. I felt that way on my first trip but trying to juggle too many places - just in one country! - was making me feel ill, so that's when I learned to focus. What did I REALLY want (even NEED) to see? Then planned my trip around those things. I returned home thinking that was it, but I was happy. I'm currently planning my third trip.

If I were you, I'd figure out how many days I'd want to spend with my friends in London, then choose between Athens and Madrid/Barcelona.

Ruth, what a lovely post. What you said there would be very helpful for first time travellers to Europe or even those with more experience.

We did what you mentioned and came away thinking that by staying closer to "home", we actually saw more of England than if we had gone to France and the Netherlands in such a short trip.

Very wise you are :-) Where is your next trip?

Why not Scotland? You could take the train up from London. I think with the time you have you should stick closer to your starting point or you'll spend most of your time traveling.

I know that it feels right now, like you won't get back again, but you will. ; ) I'm inclined to agree with the person who suggested spending all your time in Greece. If however, you want to see your friends in London, then you could also, see the Roman sites in Bath and then go up to borders to see Hadrian's wall and the various forts. If you really want to hit some ancient history go to Orkney and see Scara Brae, Maes Howe and the Ring of Brogdar.

Pam

I agree with the previous posters. Trying to see too much in 9 days you will spend too much time traveling and not enough time seeing. I wouldn't venture very far from either Paris or London. Greece & Spain are just too far away.

Barcelona is a 10 hour train ride from Paris. I guess you could land in Paris, take eurostar to London, maybe fly on easyjet or whatever cheap euro airliner you can find to Barcelona from London, and then maybe take overnight train back to Paris. Paris-Madrid is a 13 hour train ride. If you did not take a plane from London to Barcelona, it would be a 15 hour train ride. So Paris, London, Barcelona could happen but it does seem like there will be lots of travel time.

Dori,

We had a month in Europe when we did our London, Paris, Barcelona, Belgium trip. This is a much shorter time, but you could pull it off if it is your heart's desire, but flying as the other poster said would be quicker. We used Vueling from Barcelona to Paris.

Thanks for your kind words Eli. I thought it might help some first time travelers. I had been reading a lot of posts from people asking things like "how many days do I need to see (fill in country/region/city)."

So far I'm considering breaking the UK mold a bit and start in Paris for a few days - then go to the UK. :)

Here's another lesson I should post. I have never in my life ever desired to go anywhere in Europe except the UK. I had my doubts about Paris until I really started investigating what was there. Now my whole time in Paris is centered around a small, lesser-known museum that's only open one afternoon a week and is going to cost me all of 3 euros to enter. I have a list of other things I'd like to see, a map of central Paris burned into my brain, and I can just guess from there about how many days I "need" or better, how many days I would just like to be there. I don't understand why people seem to believe there is a magic checklist of things that you "must see" in order to "officially" say you've seen wherever. This is incomprehensible to me. I say read all you can about a place and follow your heart, not some mythical checklist.

Seriously, at this point, I don't care whether or not I get to the top of the Eiffel Tower. I learned there are a number of places from which you can get good views of the city, and I'll probably get a much better picture of the Tower from the top of Notre-Dame, n'est-ce pas? ;)

Inconcievable trip planning to me,. but to each his own.
I find your statement " I have been to Paris before so I don't need to see much more there" rather telling. I mean,, do you just check things off a list?

There are over 200 musuems in Paris, have you really seen everything in Paris already,, amazing.

Athens is so out of the way,, and really the Greek islands are so much more tempting,, I would not bother trying to squeeze in 2 days in Athens.

London makes most sense,, as it is only 2.5 hours from city center to city center, and you only need to be at terminal 45min. - 1 hr ahead of time,, with flights you have to account for time getting to airports ( 35mins to 1.5 hours depending on which airport you fly out for other destinations, there are three )and be there 2-3 hours ahead,,so basically at least 3/4 day of travelling.

ps At 23 you have years and years of traveling ahead of you,, you really don't need to rush about .

Pat, I have done my research and I felt that for my interests I had covered all my must sees. There is of course much more in Paris that I have not seen, but I would rather spend my time seeing other things higher on my list.

Also the comment about me being young and therefore having lots of time to travel in the future is not good enough for me. My mother passed away at 54 and never made to Europe or half the other places she really wanted to see. We never know what life will bring us and therefore I can't see myself wasting an opportunity. I don't want the regret that I could have done it, and didn't.

Dori, I am sorry for your loss and completely understand where you are coming from. My sister was 42 and passed away in December, 2008. One of her regrets was that she did not take the opportunity to travel more, or to study French. She seriously thought she still had a lifetime ahead of her.

We never know...do what your heart tells you.

Eli