Would appreciate some advise on a ten day trip to visit these countries from USA ( Greece ( Athens and Santorini) , France ( Lourdes) Portugal, Italy, ( Milan) Spain ( Barcelona) - what would be the best route? I am thinking 2 days per stop.
We are looking at April 2026.
We are interested in local cultures, foods, shopping, wine tasting, visiting the Lourdes in France.
If you had 10 nights, that's 2 nights per country which equates to 1 full day in country and travel time of at least 1/2 a day between countries. It sounds unrealistic.
I’m going on good faith and treating this is a serious question.
OP, this is a recipe for exhaustion, frustration and wasted money. You haven’t factored in travel time, eating, sleeping and the inevitable snafus (train and flight delays, etc). Pick the country that appeals to you most or at maximum, two of the above. You could spend all 10 days in any one of your choices and not even scratch the surface.
Not to be harsh, but it’s like someone planning 10 days in the US with a goal to see Maine, New York, Florida, Chicago and the Grand Canyon.
In all seriousness, the best route is to choose ONE of the countries listed and enjoy it. Your plan is literally all over Europe, not considering time to travel between these far flung countries, packing, traveling from airport to hotel, checking in, unpacking. Not even organized tours move this fast.
The idea that you can see Athens and Santorini in two nights is insane.
A lot of each 2-day allotment will be spent traveling from place to place, so no stop will be getting 2 full days. Flights between places are pretty quick, but getting to/from/through airports adds a considerable amount of transportation time. Trains, even fast or “bullet” trains, can still require lots of time to cover long distances.
Last year, we passed through Lourdes, on the way from Toulouse, France to the French Pyrenees mountains. We had a rental car, but were traveling predominantly in France. Toulouse does have an airport, and a major train station, plus dining highlights.
Are you considering flying from the U.S. to one destination (like Athens?), then home from another (like Toulouse? Paris?), also known as flying “Open Jaw?”
Greece is a long way from the other four. If you wanted to do two countries, Portugal and Spain would be the best option. In 2008, we went to Athens, Naufplio, Santorini, Florence and Rome and spent 2 weeks doing this
You will be spending around 6 days in or getting to and from airports, or in the air.
Appreciate all the comments. Did worry about exhaustion. .Wondered if anyone had been able to do at least 3 countries in one trip.
I guess 3 days / country would make a bit more sense, and of course dropping one country.
Can you do 3 countries in a 10-day trip? Sure. Is it fun? That depends on you, but it would be way too chaotic for me and, I suspect, many of us here. You still have to factor in the large chunks of time you lose in transit, and that's assuming everything goes according to schedule. You'll hardly have time to experience even a fraction of what makes these countries special.
I guess it would help to understand why you are trying to squeeze this much in. Is it because you don't expect to be able to return to Europe anytime soon? Are there specific things you want to see in your target destinations (Milan wouldn't be at the top of my list for a first trip to Italy - if this is your first trip - but you may have a reason for going)?
We did 3 countries(Rome, Florence, Venice, Lucerne, Paris) in 10 days on our first trip in 1985. However, we were on a group tour, which maximizes your time because someone with a lot of experience handles the logistics. You can sightsee while the bus drops off your luggage at your hotel and you don't have to figure out how to get from one sight to another because a guide with a lot of experience does that. Rome is relatively close to Florence (2 hr by train, I don't remember how long it took on a bus) and Florence is similarly close to Venice, so we had maybe 3/4 of a day in each of those cities.
For such a short trip, I would prioritize one destination. Since you mention Lourdes, here is a list of cities with direct flights to the airport near Lourdes. Note that some of the flights of from secondary airports (e.g., London Stansted, not Heathrow). Access by train is tough.https://www.tlp.aeroport.fr/page-en/destinations-1
April 2026: I would go the first week to Seville for 4 nights for nights for Holy week and 2 nights in Cordoba, and 3 nights in Granada. Most flights will route thru Madrid from the USA. You will get good weather, tons of culture, with minimal travel time wasted moving around. J
I will just share my experience in a Best of Italy tour with no more than 2 nights at any one location, while a great overview of the country, did not end up being as enjoyable as 11 nights in one hotel in Paris. 10 days or nights isn't too long to spend in many cities. And you end up seeing more, really, because you're not spending the travel time.
You could do Prague, Vienna, and Budapest in 10 days. It would be tight and quick but it is doable by train.
”I am thinking 2 days per stop.”
I switch locations more than most on this forum, and I stay two nights at a lot of locations. But, I am very stingy with my travel time between locations. It’s typically 1-2 hours by train max, and I am at the next location. Being very efficient with my packing and hotel location, I’m at the next city with my bag left off around 10:30am and out enjoying the new city. That is not at all what you will experience.
Athens to Santorini is 5 hours.
Portugal to Milan is about 9 hours door-to-door.
Etc.
Essentially this is a plan where you will waste one day of travel between each location, so any 2-night stop is an evening/night and one day. Realistically, this is a “5-days of vacation” trip.
So, to be helpful for your specific itinerary, what are you wanting to see & do? The interests you list could generically be fulfilled in most places in Europe. From your list, how about a Spain/France trip? Maybe Barcelona, plus the Nice, France & Lourdes area.
Or a Greece trip?
If you only care about Milan, I would skip Italy.
Wondered if anyone had been able to do at least 3 countries in one trip
Following up on my earlier post from Aug. 17, last summer we actually included 5 countries in that trip, but it was all of July plus the first week of August. We flew from Denver, connected at the airport in London, then continued to Toulouse, France. The Tour de France bike race was happening, and we saw 3 days of it, live, during our trip, including time in the French Basque Country, the Pyrenees Mountains (passing through Lourdes en route), and Nice, on the French Riviera. We then visited Wine Route villages in Alsace, France.
Finishing France in Strasbourg, we crossed into Germany for several nights in the Black Forest. From there, we stayed for 3 nights in Basel, Switzerland, before flying to London for a week.
So 5 countries, but 5 weeks.
10 days, pick ONE or perhaps TWO countries.
Going with what geovagriffith said just above, I’d suggest visiting Lourdes/southern France, and also Barcelona/northeastern Spain. You could squeeze Portugal in for a brief moment, if that was essential, but save Italy and Greece for a different trip (or trips).
Day 1 Arrive from USA to Lourdes (BOD or TLS) / 2 nights
Day 2 in Lourdes
Day 3 Lurdes (BOD or TLS) to Lisbon 2.0 hour non-stop flight / 2 nights
Day 4 in Lisbon
Day 5 Lisbon to Barcelona 2.0 hour non-stop flight / 2 nights
Day 6 in Barcelona
Day 7 Barcelona to Milan 1.5 hour non-stop flight / 2 nights
Day 8 in Milan
Day 9 Milan to Athens 2.5 hour non-stop flight / 2 nights
Day 10 in Athens
Day 11 Athens to Santorini 5.5 hour ferry / as many nights as possible to relax.
Day 12 in Santorini
Day 13 (at least) Santorini to USA
Reads a little like a RS best of something tour.
Rough guess is about $125 per flight and the ferry too maybe. Those flights will eat up 4 to 6 hours of each day you fly. But it ain’t 10 days. Drop Lisbon and Milan to get closer to 10.
My suggestion is USA > Lourdes 3 nights > Budapest 4 nights (non-stop 2.5 hours starting at $25) > Santorini 3 nights (non-stop 2.5 hours starting at $35) > Home = 10 nights.
As a reminder, you do not know what you don’t know when you ask a question requesting help…which is the point of the forum. Common courtesy, and a review of Community Guideline #2, “Be unfailingly polite… New travelers should be shown extra patience…”, should be applied here. An apology or two may be in order.
Peace.
I've eliminated a few posts here and kept the reminder in the preceding post as the guiding principle that should have prevailed. Thanks to all who have ensured that their post is helpful to the OP.
Wondered if anyone had been able to do at least 3 countries in one
trip.
I'll be doing Netherlands/Belgium/France in October on a 12 day trip- not including flights to and from home. The key is eliminating day-long travel that eats into your vacation time. Our longest travel day is 2.5 hours via train from Amsterdam to Bruges. By flying, you lose at least half a day per flight checking in and out of hotels, getting to airports and waiting at the airports for your flight.
Generalities are great to start a plan, but then …
Anyway, just to pick nice central tourist hotels; the Sofitel Legend in Amsterdam and the Hotel De Orangerie in Bruges
Train: 2.8 (train time) + .5 (taxi to train station) + .5 (early arrival) + .2 (taxi to hotel in Bruges) = 4 hours
Plane: .75 (flight time) + 1.1 (taxi to the airport) + 1.5 (early arrival) + .5 (luggage pickup time) + 1.1 (taxi to hotel in Bruges) = 4.95 hours
Personally I would take the train. Faster and I dont like AMS.
or
Again, a couple of nice centrally located hotels; the K&K Opera in Budapest and the Hotel Ventana in Prague.
Train: 6.8 (train time) + .3 (taxi to train station) + .5 (early arrival) + .2 (taxi to hotel in Prague) = 7.8 hours
Plane: 1.3 (flight time) + .6 (taxi to the airport) + 1.5 (early arrival) + .5 (luggage pickup time) + .7 (taxi to hotel in Prauge) = 4.6 hours
Personally I would fly because BUD and PRG are easy.
Okay, so neither example have anything to do with the OPs shopping list. Its just a reminder to, sure use generalities when you begin thinking about a trip, but dont rule anything out once you start fine tuning the trip.
The places the OP wants to hit in one trip, for the most part, you just cant do by train in the amount of time the OP has. Most of the flights will take under 5 hours hotel door to hotel door. Most of the trains if you tried would be 13 hours or more hotel door to hotel door. Not to mention you cant reach Athens (in any practical imagination) or Santarini by train. Of course I didnt look for night trains. One of those if available would be a great help with the timing.
