Would this be enough days in each place?

Hi Jayna,

How many total days are you planning on this trip and geographically which city are you starting from so traveling from city to city will not be too much of a burden ?

Are you planning to use a combination of planes and trains to get to your destinations?

With so much cities involved, I assumed you are doing an open jaw flight plan. Right ? flying into one city and flying out of another to head home.

Is there a reason you are trying to hit six countries in just a few weeks? There is so much to see in each of these countries if you were willing to venture out of the bigger cities.

My general comment is that the number of days a visitor needs/wants in a city is massively affected by what she wants to do there. Just walking around (part of) the historic area can be accomplished in a few hours. Attractions like the castle in Edinburgh and the Gaudi sites in Barcelona take time--often about 2 hours, though I'd guess the castle takes longer. Museums (art or history) can be all-day affairs in some cases. So without more information about you, I don't know whether your time allocations are right for you--which is the only thing that matters.

I don't find Madrid a terribly exciting/interesting city. To me, 4 days would make sense only if you were into art and wanted to spend a lot of time in the 3 major museums (and even then, 4 days might be one day too long) OR if you wanted to take some of the really good day-trips popular from Madrid; Toledo, Segovia, and Cuenca are the side-trips I consider the best (though I haven't been to El Escorial). If you haven't much interest in art, you might consider spending a couple of nights in Toledo.

Barcelona has lots to see--much of it requiring prepurchased, timed, tickets. It also has day-trip possibilities if you find you want a change of scene. My favorite would be Girona, but it is sight-rich and would benefit from an overnight stay. I haven't been to Montserrat.

There's a lot of flying (or ferrying) in your itinerary for just 2 days in Dublin (which I haven't seen) and Edinburgh. I find dealing with airports a real joy-killer and would certainly not try to hit both Ireland and Scotland within 4 days. Scotland aficionados will tell you that it's a shame to go there and see only Edinburgh, nice city though it is. I expect the same can be said about Dublin, if not moreso.

Few, if any, people on this forum have ever suggested staying in Brussels, which is widely considered a not-very-interesting city. I don't know; I haven't been there.

Brussels was not very inter-sting except for it’s magnificent Grand Place ringed with medieval guild halls.

You're okay on your days in each city. I agree about skipping Brussels. I'm also not big on Dublin (after last year's trip there.)
My only concern is that you're going to be visiting cities that are geographically very far apart. Distances are often much farther than you realize, especially in Spain and France. Budget airlines can be your ally for the cities on the far ends of your travel.

To gage your real time on the ground, you need to count nights, not days and add your mode of transportation between cities. You are using nearly a whole day every time you pack up, check out, travel and check into your next hotel. Once you’ve reframed this in nights with transportation, you’ll see how much time you really have: ex Edinburgh 1+, Dublin 1+, Madrid 3....

If I’m reading your post right, it sounds like you still have extra days for traveling that you didn’t show? It would be helpful to know your total number of days.

I think your hunch about needing more time for Edinburgh and Dublin is right, at least from my travel preference perspective. There’s a lot to see and do in both places. If you have two full days, that still just scratches the surface. And there are some great day trips that you can take from each city. I’d eliminate the extra relocation and pick one as you can better maximize your time and get a better flavor of the location.

If you actually have three full days in Brussels (no travel time) you could make that work. I’d spend one full day in Bruges, one in Ghent, and one in Brussels itself. Though I’d be tempted to stay in Ghent because it’s my favorite ;)

Without knowing the full itinerary it's hard to advise. But overall it doesn't look bad.

Brussels is the least interesting place in Belgium and it's so small you can do day trips. Think about basing in Ghent, Brugge, or Antwerp. If you base in one of them and do day trips to the others (and Brussels) you could do it in 3 full days, but depending on how much of the arrival day (assuming you are not counting that one) 4 might be better.

Are you going anywhere else in Ireland? I would not go to Ireland for just two days in Dublin unless I was going elsewhere as well, or if it made sense in terms of a stop over on a flight from the US to Europe. Dublin itself is not one of my favorite cities.

4 days Barcelona is about right, plenty of good day trip options but easily use the whole 4 days in Barcelona itself.

4 days Madrid would be too long for me for just Madrid but day trips to Toledo and Segovia could make 4 days work. I had two or three days in each of Toledo and Segovia and loved over-nighting there but lots of people are happy with a day trip.

4 days Amsterdam also good, especially given the day trip possibilities if you don't find enough to do in the city itself.

5 for Lisbon is good with a day trip or two

6 days London is good. You could spend 6 months (or years) but 6 days will give you a good intro.

Here's my photos of all these places - https://andiamo.zenfolio.com/

Similar to acraven, my approach to deciding how many days to stay in one place is built around what interests me. I regularly want to spend more time in a small town that interests me than a city where the major sights don't.

1. Start by searching all possible sights and activities you'd like to experience in a destination.

2. Choose the ones that appeal to you. I usually divide them into "must see", "nice if I have time" and "I can skip that". It's completely based on what appeals to you (and your travel companions).

3. Turn that into days you will need at a destination. I generally plan two big sights per day. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. I keep my "nice if I have time" sights in my back pocket in case I find myself with extra time. I'll often see something in the evening but I purposely don't schedule it so I can gauge my energy level at the end of the day. I want the trip to be well paced, not a death march.

4. Remember one full day needs two nights. Three nights gets you two full days. Between destinations you have travel days. You may be able to make a stop between two destinations or get to your new destination in time to take in a sight - but don't force it. Time slips away on vacation, usually to a combination of waiting, being disoriented, missing a connection and various stops for toilets, meals, shopping, etc.

Regarding acraven's comment about Dublin. I'd skip Ireland rather than only visit Dublin. Dublin and Madrid are two of my least favorite European cities. The best of Ireland is in the smaller towns. You would be happier taking the two days to go further north of Edinburgh to Inverness or similar.

I'd also seriously consider dropping Madrid and adding Grenada and/or Seville. Lisbon isn't easily reached from Spain. When I went, I dropped plans to see Portugal until a later trip to concentrate on all the great places to see in Spain.