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Planning a 20-Day European Trip—Need Destination Suggestions!

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Planning a 20-Day European Trip—Need Destination Suggestions!

I’ll be traveling to Europe again in September, starting with a 3-day conference in Copenhagen (where I’ll likely have 2 free days to explore). Since I’ve already visited much of Western and Central Europe—including the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, the UK, and Ireland—I’d love to discover 4-5 new countries this time.

My total trip will be around 20 days, with travel days before and after the conference. My budget is €3,000 (excluding flights from India), and I prefer hostels and public transport (trains, buses, etc.).

Questions for recommendations:

  1. Where should I go? I’m open to new regions—maybe the Balkans, Scandinavia, or Eastern Europe?

  2. Northern Lights in mid-September? Or should I save Nordic countries for winter?

  3. Must-see festivals? Anything like Oktoberfest happening around then?

I’d love suggestions that fit my budget, travel style, and the time of year. Thanks in advance!

Posted by
3185 posts

1 - without knowing what you like to do, it's difficult to offer any specific suggestions. You've listed three areas to explore, maybe dig in under the "explore Europe" section of this website and narrow it down to more specifics you could ask about in the forum. It would also help to specifically say how many nights you have to plan - it sounds like 5-ish days are dedicated to Copenhagen and 2 to travel, so really it's more like 13 nights?

2 - extremely unlikely to see the northern lights unless there is unusual solar activity and you are very far north. There are other things to do in Nordic countries besides see the northern lights, no reason to relegate to winter travel.

3 - Oktoberfest in Germany is Sept. 20-Oct. 5 this year. If you give more specific travel dates and locations people can give you suggestions.

Posted by
22433 posts

I love how we mix descriptions. It used to be easy, there was Western Europe and Eastern Europe. Now to be correct we have added Central Europe which is or is not depending on the speaker most of Eastern Europe and parts of Western Europe, but hey the Balkans are not in Central Europe so that’s a different thing. Just kidding around. Sorry.

Your budget works out to 150 euro a day. Certainly, doable but where you go will sure dictate the style of the trip. In Scandinavia the budget may not leave much room for more than the basics of housing, food and transportation. In Eastern Europe the budget might be good enough to pay for a guide every few days. I always suggest working with a travel planner in most of the area. Small money well spent I think and know good ones in the Balkans and Romania and Bulgaria and Ukraine.

You want mountains or coast, nature or city?

Posted by
5288 posts

You might take a look at Poland. It would be easy to fill your days there with Gdansk, Warsaw, Krakow - depends on what you like and how much you want to move around.

The Baltics could be another idea. Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius could fit with 20 days and are very interesting.

Or take the train to Stockholm to start some time in Sweden since you are so close. From there, ferry to Helsinki, and then to Tallinn.

Montenegro and Bosnia are beautiful, interesting, and less expensive. Or Montenegro and Albania.

Posted by
8894 posts

Your budget is 3,000 Euros for 20 days, you should consider lower cost areas.

Consider Hungary, Romania and Poland.

Posted by
3 posts

My suggestions might not fit your travel style, because I'd rather stay in one country for 20 days than move around so much. But you could combine Portugal and Morocco for a fabulous trip, or Greece and Turkey, or Slovenia and Croatia.

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