First trip to Europe? Focus on these 5 great cities rather than cheap ones
Planning your first trip to Europe can be challenging because we hear so many great things about so many different places, it’s tough to know which to see first. There are interesting cities like Copenhagen and cheap cities like Krakow and even some cities that are interesting and cheap at the same time such as Cesky Krumlov. Still, I’m here to recommend starting with the classic and famous cities first and then exploring other places starting on your second trip (and there WILL be a second trip).
The list of 5 cities below can make for a perfect first-time to Europe itinerary all by itself if you have two weeks or so to spend, and I even tell you exactly how to do that at the end. Traveling can seem competitive in certain circles and it’s hard to brag about having visited Belgrade or Riga if you haven’t been to London, Paris, and Rome before. We keep an updated list of European cities from cheapest to most expensive and most of the cities I mention in this article are on the expensive end of the list, and they are still worth it.
This article was last updated in April, 2024.
Start with Europe's greatest cities, and work out a budget from there
If you are planning your first trip to Europe, hopefully it will be the first of many. Once you get a taste of the place and the crazy variety you’ll experience there, you’ll be ready to start planning your second trip before you even get home from your first.
While it might be tempting to start by visiting some of Europe’s cheapest cities, it’s actually much better to start with the classics to see what all the fuss is about before you branch off into more obscure destinations. And good news for Americans in 2024 who are planning a trip because the Euro and British Pound are both very weak right now so even the top cities such as London and Paris will be relatively cheap, even compared to visiting, say, Chicago, this year.
Suggestions for your first trip to Europe
Due to the unexpected popularity of this article and the many questions in comments about first-time itineraries, I’ve created a new and detailed article with all of my best suggestions.
>>>11 Best itinerary ideas for your first trip to Europe
Once you at least scan that article you’ll have some itinerary ideas for your own trip and I’ll be happy to answer questions at the bottom of that one. If you want to choose just one country to visit on your first trip to Europe, your best choices are England, France, or Italy.
Europe's 5 Great Cities for visitors
1 – London
The only town that can compete with New York City for the title of ‘Capital of the World,’ London is where everything comes together. And obviously as an English-speaking city (mostly), it’s among the easiest to begin adapting to the culture and style of Europe. The first time you see Parliament and Big Ben just around the corner from the London Eye, you’ll know you are somewhere important and unforgettable.
London also used to be famously expensive and it still can be if you are holding money in Euros or British pounds or some other currency that is low at the moment. But if you are from the US or Canada, London has come down in price quite a bit in the last few years due to a currency drop. It’s true that there is inflation as well and some prices have gone up for visitors, but generally London is relatively cheap for most people in 2024. The British pound had been close to US$1.50 for many years and since 2016 or so it’s been around US$1.25, which means your travel budget goes farther than it historically did.
This is also a perfect place to start your first Europe trip because there won’t be a language barrier (although some accents are harder to understand than others) and you can get the feel for Europe and the time zone without also having to worry about being understood by the people you meet.
- 2024 Backpacker Index: US$131.73 per day
2 – Paris
Definitely more intimidating than London, and also far more beautiful, Paris is a city that so many people gush over that you might assume there’s no way it could live up to the praise. Then you go to Paris for yourself and you start gushing yourself. Walk for thirty minutes from anywhere near the city center and you’ll keep seeing buildings and bridges and public art that will make you want to start checking apartment prices.
Every city has problems, even Paris, but it’s hard to imagine anyone being sorry they visited. While Paris is an expensive city, it’s actually a bit easier to keep costs down, mainly because the extensive Metro system means that you can still have a great and convenient time if you stay in a cheaper hotel outside of the main tourist center.
Another thing to mention is the food. Somehow, the French people care a lot more about food than any other nationality and they are amazing at it. Seriously, it’s almost impossible to find a meal that isn’t unusually great. You can even order the Plat Du Jour (plate of the day) at the closest neighborhood restaurant to your hotel and it is almost guaranteed to be amazing and also reasonably priced.
- 2024 Backpacker Index: US$123.52 per day
3 – Rome
Unlike London and Paris, the city of Rome does actually seem to have a group who’ll tell you to avoid it. Rome is frustrating in many ways, with crazy traffic and a sense of disorganization that is hard to adapt to, but there’s also no denying that it’s one of the world’s greatest and most important cities.
It’s easy to tell people to avoid a city once you’ve been there yourself, but no one gives points to those who would brag about never visiting a city because they heard it was too crazy. With Ancient Rome, the Coliseum, and the Vatican just for starters, Italy’s capital is worth the hassle to see it at least once, and many people love it so much that they keep returning. Hotels in Rome are weirdly expensive, but other costs are reasonable, and it’s totally worth it at least once in your life.
In 2024 all of Italy is relatively inexpensive because of the low Euro, so it’s a good time to visit some of the normally expensive cities like Rome. There are probably 10 famous attractions in this city that are each more amazing and interesting than any attraction in most other European cities such as Berlin or Brussels.
- 2024 Backpacker Index: US$125.44 per day
4 – Venice
Some cities are really beautiful from certain vantage points or certain angles, but Venice is beautiful from all of them. As a touristy city for several hundred years now, the biggest problem with Venice is the crowds it attracts. Even in winter, the main pedestrian routes can be so packed that it frustrates nearly everyone. And in summer, they are worse, of course.
Even though hotels in Venice tend to be quite expensive, the best way to visit is to spend at least one or two nights on the main island. You’ll find that early mornings and evenings are far less crowded, as most groups head to the mainland to sleep. Venice is also small enough that 36 hours is plenty of time to see the best bits, so it’s worth a one-night splurge for a good location.
Try to visit Venice when there are no cruise ships parked nearby, although that can be tricky in summer. You’ll enjoy how empty the island feels in the early morning hours and also late into the evening. The restaurants tend to close early and there isn’t much raucous nightlife, so after 10 PM or so the walkways are mostly empty and it’s another great time to enjoy Venice.
- 2024 Backpacker Index: US$125.97 per day
5 – Amsterdam
Some people might not put Amsterdam on this short list of great European cities, but plenty of people agree with me that it’s another of the world’s most beautiful and interesting places. Most of the city center is perfectly preserved from its beginnings in the 17th Century, and it’s been quite wealthy ever since.
Many cities around the world boast that they have more canals than Amsterdam, but except for Venice, none are nearly as stunning. Add in the way bicycles dominate the landscape, the weirdness of the Red Light District, and its pleasant overall nature, and Amsterdam is worth a visit in spite of its relative high prices for most things.
Hotel prices in Amsterdam have gotten somewhat out of hand so it’s a good thing the Euro is lower if you are coming from outside the region. Still, as good as the public transportation system in Amsterdam is, you’ll have a better time if you pay a bit more to stay in a hotel or hostel in the compact city center, roughly from the Princengracht canal ring to Centraal Station and anywhere in between.
- 2024 Backpacker Index: US$121.87 per day
The most efficient way to visit all of them on one trip
If you are planning your first trip to Europe and you’ve got about two weeks to spend there, it’s quite easy to visit all 5 of the above cities on one efficient trip. You can even sneak in another amazing city for a day or two if you’ve got it to spare.
You can do the following itinerary in either order, but I do think starting in London is better than starting in Rome on your first trip.
- Fly into London and spend 3 or 4 days there
- Take the Eurostar train (90 minutes) to Paris and spend 3 or 4 days there
- Take the high speed train from Paris to Amsterdam (3 hours 20 minutes) and spend 3 nights there
- Fly from Amsterdam to Venice (or nearby Treviso) and spend 1 or 2 days there
- Take the train from Venice through Florence (2 hours) to Rome (another 90 minutes) and spend 3 or 4 days there
- If you have one or two days to spare, stop in Florence in between Venice and Rome
- Fly home from Rome or back to London to board your flight home
Include the above cities as part of bigger trips
The 5 cities mentioned above are the ones that I think are the best and most dramatic introduction to Europe, and the most likely to inspire more trips, but I wouldn’t recommend just trying to see these 5 and then heading home. Depending on budget, season, and trip duration, you could add or subtract many other worthwhile cities to make the perfect itinerary.
If you’ve traveled all over Europe yourself, do you agree or disagree with the cities selected above? I can’t think of another that deserves to be in this top tier, but I’d imagine that other people might have other ideas.
Honorable mentions and other places to add
If I had to add two more cities to the list above it would be the two cities below. It’s not an easy call, but each of the cities mentioned below has a lot to offer and is also very different from all of the ones on the main list above.
Prague, Czechia
Something that isn’t widely discussed in the travel world is that most of Europe’s largest and most historic cities were bombed to bits during World War II. Many of them rebuilt some historic neighborhoods to look as much like the original buildings as possible, while many others just built new versions. Prague is one of the few that was mostly spared from bombing, and it has a mostly intact castle and historic district that is just stunning from every angle.
Prague is also an interesting stop compared to the Top 5 mentioned above because it’s very different from all of them. It was part of Eastern Europe and was under communism, which also means that prices of most things are generally lower even if hotels have become quite expensive lately. The cuisine is hearty and they make amazing lager-style beers. Prague just has a different feel to it than the others and it’s got pretty free-wheeling nightlife as well.
- 2024 Backpacker Index: US$76.73 per day
Barcelona, Spain
Another city I would recommend to add to the Top 5 mentioned above is Barcelona, as it’s unusual in many ways. Barcelona has arguably the most distinctive architecture in Europe. The Sagrada Familia church by itself has got to be the most interesting building in Europe and it’s finally almost complete after about 150 years of construction. The other Gaudi buildings are also highlights, but the whole city feels different with most corners having a wedge cut off so every intersection feels more open. You’ll see what I mean when you get there.
Barcelona is also one of Europe’s few large cities to not only be on the ocean, but to also have lovely sandy beaches within the city limits. This as well as the large marina complex near the city center give it a unique feel. Unfortunately Barcelona is one of Europe’s popular destinations (along with Prague, Amsterdam, and Venice) to worry about over-tourism. Especially in summer, the crowds here can be enormous and it’s really best to visit in spring, autumn, or even winter if possible.
- 2024 Backpacker Index: US$98.57 per day
Hello, I need suggestions as we are planning to book our vacation for this june for Europe travel with our 2 kids. We want to do London,Switzerland, Rome or Venice and Barcelona. How should we plan it and and which places in Switzerland we should go to and Barcelona. in what order should we make bookings etc. should we take trains from London and going forward etc. Please help as I don’t want to use a tour company.
Sam,
I’ll be happy to try to help. Have a scan of my article on where to visit in Switzerland and it should help a lot. The short version is the Interlaken should be your number one stop, and also Lucerne if you have more than 3 days or so.
As you may know, your choice of cities is quite tricky because none of them are close together. If you were to do it as you have written the best thing would be to fly into London and then fly to Zurich to visit Interlaken and then fly to Rome and then fly to Barcelona before heading back home or going through London. If you buy those plane tickets soon you’ll find that they are pretty cheap, although the fares you’ll see at first probably won’t cover luggage or a seat assignment.
Assuming you haven’t been to Europe yet, I would instead recommend substituting Paris for Barcelona. For one thing, Paris really does live up to the hype, which is why I included it in the article above. Barcelona is really nice and quite interesting, but Paris is really far more memorable and the food is a million times better. If you did that you could start in London and then take the Eurostar train to Paris in a bit over two hours. After Paris you could take a train to Interlaken in about 6 hours. You could fly from Paris to Zurich and then take a train to Interlaken, but it takes just as long and is fairly stressful compared to the more comfortable and relaxing train ride.
From Interlaken you could actually take a train to Venice or Rome in 6 to 7 hours, or you could first take the train to Venice and then the following day take the train down to Rome. That train ride from Interlaken to Italy is one of the world’s most scenic train rides as it goes through the Alps. Venice is small enough to enjoy in 24 hours or so, and so crowded that 24 hours will feel like enough. Of course, if you wanted to keep Barcelona instead of Paris you could still take the train from Switzerland to Italy and then fly from Rome to Barcelona. If you buy those train tickets at least two months or so in advance, they will be quite cheap. Buy from the official online rail sites for one of the countries you are traveling to or from. This article on buying Europe train tickets in advance has all the info and links to the official rail companies.
If this is your first trip to Europe it can seem daunting for sure, but once you get there you’ll realize that it’s surprisingly easy and you can visit all of these places speaking English only if you prefer. English is less widely spoken in Barcelona than the others, but even there it’s easy to get along if you are in the tourist areas. Let me know if you have any other questions. -Roger
Thanks for suggesting the itinerary Roger!!Also I was very keen on towns along the French Riviera which is why I included Nice in the plan.So if I can add 3 or 4 more days to my itinerary, can you suggest me some towns on french or italian riviera and where it can fit in the above suggested plan by you? I am really keen on visiting the coastal towns/villages
Devesh,
Nice is definitely the best stop on the French Riviera. It’s a very interesting city and it has a wide variety of accommodation that is generally cheaper than the nearby smaller villages. Nice is also only 20 minutes by train from Monaco and 20 minutes in the other direction from Cannes. Antibes is in between Nice and Cannes, and it’s another little gem. As for the Italian Riviera, the Cinque Terre towns are the most famous, but at this point they are so crowded that it is hard to recommend them. I am less sure of some of the alternatives, although there are many. At the time of year you are visiting the crowds in Cinque Terre would be small, so it’s probably a good place to go. Vernazza is the most charming and photogenic of the five towns. Let me know if you have any other questions. -Roger
hi Roger, i have been looking through how you helped other travellers and it amazed me.
my head is literally spinning trying to plan this trip.
i am going on a honeymoon trip with my husband this April.
we will fly to London on 10 April and leave from Paris on 1st May.
we also booked a ticket a live MU match on 14th, so we will have to stay at Manchester on that particular date.
could you help us out on the rest dates? thankyou so much
Blair,
I’m happy to try to help. You’ve got almost limitless options to fill in those dates, and perhaps scanning another article I’ve written about first-time Europe itineraries will help a bit. I’ll get you started and then give you some suggestions to fill in the middle.
Stay in London on 10-April until 13-April or 14-April, so 3 or 4 nights. The West Brom match starts at 15:00 on 14-April so you can take a morning train to Manchester and have time to check into your hotel and get to Old Trafford in plenty of time. Or you could come the day before, but personally I find Manchester to be kind of a dud compared to many other English cities and towns. I’d probably just go for that day and then leave the day after the match. As long as you are exploring Britain I would suggest heading to Edinburgh after Manchester for 2 or probably 3 days. I would also plan on arriving in Paris on 27 or 28 April, giving you 3 or 4 nights there before you fly home. Paris is amazing and especially on a honeymoon I would recommend 4 nights there.
If you included Edinburgh it would mean you’d have about 10 or 11 days to fill in between there and Paris. If you skipped Edinburgh you’d have 13 to 14 days. If you like England you could make other stops there, including maybe a day in Liverpool (which is more interesting than Manchester) or 2 days in York, or a visit to Bath before heading to Manchester.
My top recommendations for those in-between days would be 3 nights in Amsterdam for sure, and if you want to mix in Europe’s most beautiful scenery you should head to Switzerland for 4 or 5 days. Here is my article on where to go in Switzerland, which should help a lot. You could also go to Berlin and/or Munich in between Amsterdam and Switzerland. Another interesting possibility would be to head to Amsterdam and then fly to Madrid and spend 3 days there before taking the train to Barcelona for 3 days, and then a train to Paris. Have a look at the itinerary article and see is one or more of those suggestions stands out to you. Once we know what interests you most I can help you organize it further into an efficient itinerary. -Roger
Hi Roger,
I am planning my honeymoon trip to europe in late March to early April. Below is the list of places That I am planning to visit:
1 Amsterdam( 2 days)
2 Paris(3 days)
3 Nice(2 days)
4 Chamonix(2 days)
5 Zzurich(1 day)
6 Interlaken,Lucerne and surrounding villages(2 days)
7 Venice( 1 day)
8 Florence(1 day)
9 Rome(2 days)
The above list is more or less in order that I would be visitng or if you could suggest some other better order)
Also, I want to see some popular places as well as some hidden gems(off-beat places).
In terms of my preferences, I am not much into museums and architecture(not want to explore in lot of detail). I am looking more towards fun activities(lie paragliding, rock climbing etc) and some romantic sight seeing places.
Also, I dont want to stretch my trip for more than 15 days but at the same time I dont want to miss wonderful places.
Based on my requirements and the places that I have listed down, could you please help me out with my perfect itinerary. It would be nice if you could suggest some other places instead of the mentioned once. But I am really keen on France, Swiss and Amsterdam.
Devesh,
Your itinerary looks full of highlights, but if you did it as written you would be spending at least half of your honeymoon on trains, in train stations, or going to and from hotels to check in or out. My strong recommendation for any first-time trip to Europe is to plan on 3 nights in any city you visit, except for a few small cities such as Venice where 1 or 2 nights is enough. As mentioned, going from a hotel in one city to a hotel in the next city will take 5 or more hours during the middle of the day in most cases, and sometimes much longer. You don’t get much sightseeing done if you check into a hotel at 3pm and you are scheduled on a 10am departure the next morning. In other words, in 15 days I would recommend choosing 5 cities, or perhaps 6 if one of them is Venice (which is small enough for a 1-day visit). If you can do 16 days then 6 cities including Venice works well, or you could do Florence in 2 days because it’s fairly small and it’s also close to Rome and Venice by train.
I’d say the most efficient itinerary for your priorities would be to fly into Amsterdam for 3 nights, then take the train (a bit over 3 hours) to Paris for 3 nights. Then take the train to Interlaken (5.5 hours) for 3 nights. Then take the train to Venice (6 hours but extremely scenic) for 1 night. Then take the train to Florence for 2 or 3 nights, and then to Rome for 3 nights. Zurich is very expensive and fairly boring. Chamonix is nice, but Interlaken is nicer and much easier to reach. You could visit Lucerne on a day trip from Interlaken or stay there for 1 night and 2 nights in Interlaken if you like. As always, let me know if you have any other questions. -Roger
Hi my wife and I are going to Barcelona in the last week of February and we are planning to do a side trip. We have been to London, Paris, Rome. Where else can we go if we have 3-4 days?
Jund,
My top choice would be to visit Madrid, which is only 2 hours 45 minutes from Barcelona on the train. Those cites are both huge and very different from each other, so visiting one only gives you a small slice of Spain. Since Madrid is the capital is obviously has the royal palaces and such, while Barcelona is more about unusual architecture and the beaches. I’d say 3 or 4 nights in each of them would be an ideal trip. There are some other good choices in Spain, but in February it’ll be too chilly to enjoy any of the beaches or islands. If you were looking for something different let me know and I’ll try again. -Roger
Hi Roger and Happy New Year.
I just stumbled upon your website and cannot begin to tell you how helpful this is. My husband and 18 year old daughter will be traveling to Europe June 2018. Our possible itinerary has us flying into Paris (4 nights), then traveling on to Italy, with hope of getting to Rome (3 nights)/Florence (either 4 with a day trip to Venice or 3 with 1 night in Venice/Venice and Cinque Terre (2 nights)(Vernazza?)
2 questions:
1. Does this itinerary sound too daunting?
2. If not, what would you recommend for transportation? Train for sure in Italy, but not sure about travel from Paris to Italy? Better to fly to Venice or Rome or try to train down?
Thank you so much for your help and any other input or suggestions would be much appreciated. Stephanie
Stephanie,
I’m happy to hear that people find this useful. Your plan sounds like a standard “high-speed” trip through those cities, and by that I mean that it’s pretty much the same schedule that I would do myself if I wanted to see as much as possible. Rome in 3 nights is perfect, and 4 nights in Paris is also ideal. If you can spend at least 2 nights in Florence that is great even if 3 nights is better, and 1 night in Venice is ideal. The thing about Venice is that it’s quite compact and it’s absolutely overloaded with visitors on day trips from about 10am until 5pm each day. You could visit on a day trip from Florence, but you’d have a much nicer time if you stayed on the main island itself for about 24 hours and do as much of your sightseeing as possible in the morning and evening, when the island is actually not all that crowded.
The trains within Italy are definitely the way to go, and if you book them at least a month or two ahead of time they will be quite cheap. From Paris to Venice or Florence there is a night train, but it sells out early and it’s more expensive than flying. So my advice is to fly from Paris to Venice (or nearby Treviso Airport), and then take trains.
In the Cinque Terre you would want to focus on Vernazza, as it’s definitely the most photogenic of the 5 towns, but I would probably skip it altogether in June. The thing is, about 20 years ago Rick Steves (who I am a big fan of) noticed that these 5 little towns were a “hidden gem” and almost untouched by tourism. So he recommended that people visit, and they have now in such great numbers that the towns are overwhelmed, especially in summer. If you go in June it will feel like visiting Disneyland because you’ll be surrounded by 5 times as many fellow tourists as locals. Instead you might think about visiting one of the hill towns above Florence, which are touristy but in much smaller numbers. That is a better way of experiencing authentic small town Italy in summer. I’m happy to help more if you have other questions. -Roger
hi
I have to plan a trip to Belgrade,Serbia for 3 days in Feb 2018 for some official work. I would like to visit some place around that for the next 5-6 days(Total of 7-9days).I am a 1st time visitor to Europe
I had planned:
1) Belgrade 2 nights—> Montenegro 1day —>Rome–>Florence—> Milan/venice.
2) Belgrade–>paris 3 days
3) Belgrade—>rome–>florence–>venice—> Paris
4)Belgrade–>Budapest–> Vienna(Austria)
or any other ways i can make the maximum out of these 7 days and not too expensive
Krishi,
That sounds like a very nice opportunity. Belgrade is a pleasant enough city and it’s quite affordable, but it does lack memorable sights. One challenge is that the trains and buses that connect Belgrade to other cities around it are all quite slow, and you don’t have much time to spare. There are actually no trains that run from Belgrade towards Italy because the “east” and “west” never needed to be connected when the train lines were built, and the “east” has not had enough money or motivation to build them since. There is pretty good bus service in that whole area, but buses are never quick, of course.
I’d say you have two options. The cheaper of the two would be to take a bus from Belgrade to a nearby city of your choice. I’d suggest Sarajevo, which is about 7 hours from Belgrade by bus, as it’s a really interesting city that is also cheap and has a photogenic setting. After that you could take another bus to Split, Croatia, which is another favorite of mine and very different from the others. You could fly from Split back to Belgrade or hopefully straight home. I’d recommend 2 or 3 days in Sarajevo and 3 days in Split.
The more expensive option would be to find the cheapest flight from Belgrade to a city that interests you. I’d suggest Rome or Paris as the most memorable and dramatic. If you went to Rome you could easily spend 3 days there and 2 days in Florence, which is only about 90 minutes away by train.
Actually, if you don’t mind a longer train or bus ride you have a few other options. Have a look at this article from Seat61 on all of the trains leaving from Belgrade. The trains are slow, but you do have other options. -Roger
Hi Roger,
I’m planning my first trip to Europe next year. The set dates as of now are the end of august. I will be traveling from Chicago and I am working with 16-17 days to work with. As of right now I only think of visiting 3 different cities which are London, Madrid, and Barcelona but I am not sure as to how many days should I stay in each city or can I add more cities. If I can add more cities I am interested in paris, lisbon, and berlin but i am open to suggestions. I am also not sure if taking a plane between cities is better or taking a train.
Can you recommend an itinerary that makes the most of my first visit to europe?
Francis,
That’s going to be a great trip. With 16 or 17 days I’d shoot for 5 or perhaps 6 total cities, but probably 5. It would be easiest to fly into London and spend 3 or 4 days there, and then take the Eurostar train to Paris for 3 or 4 more days. Both of those cities are very large and packed with sights, so 4 nights is ideal if you can spare them.
Then you could take a train from Paris to Barcelona in 6.5 hours. You could also fly, but it would take about the same amount of time when you factor in the airport transportation and early check in, and the train is far more enjoyable. Then you could take the train to Madrid in 2.5 hours. I would recommend 3 nights in Barcelona and Madrid, as each is large and quite different from the other. That would give you one more city to include. Berlin is wonderful and you could include it, but you’d have to fly from one of your cities to Berlin and fly from Berlin to another one. Lisbon is also fantastic and it would be easier to include. Unfortunately, the only train from Madrid to Lisbon goes overnight and takes 10 hours, but you could fly from Madrid to Lisbon for a cheap fare if you buy well in advance.
Another option would be to add one more city in Spain. Seville, Granada, Valencia, and Toledo are the most popular options, and you can actually visit Toledo on a day trip from Madrid or take a quick train ride there and spend about two days. All of those cities are smaller than Madrid and Barcelona, so two days could be enough if you are in a hurry. Let me know if you have any other questions. -Roger
Thanks for the info Roger! It was very helpful. I feel like I have a good starting point now.
We are actually thinking about skipping London this trip and adding a different country instead. The ones we are considering are: Portugal, Germany, Czechia, Croatia, Greece or Poland.
Can you recommend which one would fit in well with the itinerary you previously suggested?
Thanks!
Kelly
Hi Roger,
My husband and I would like to start planning our first trip to Europe for next summer. We are thinking late August or early September. We are travelling from Vancouver, Canada and have about 15/16 days to work with. I want to visit as many countries and cities as I can or at least the main tourist attractions as we probably won’t get to come back for a few years. Cities we want to visit include London, Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Rome and Venice but are completely open to suggestions. We have family in the UK so we want to start or end there for sure.
I have no idea where to start or how many days are needed in each city. Would you be able to suggest an itinerary for us? And modes of transportation between each?
Thanks so much for your help!
Kelly
Kelly,
My recommendation is to spend 3 nights in almost any European city you visit, although a city as small (and crowded) as Venice can be enjoyed in 24 to 48 hours. On a day that you are going from one city to another, from the time you check out of one hotel and get to the train station and take the train and then are checked into a hotel in the next city, it takes up most of that day so you won’t get much sightseeing done. With a stay of 3 nights that still leaves two full sightseeing days in each city. If you try to go faster and spend only two nights in a city, it means every other day is sightseeing and every other day is spent in transit. So if you have 15 or 16 days I’d recommend 5 cities or maybe 6 if you just do one day in Venice.
If you want to visit the 6 cities on your list the best way would be to fly into London and then take the Eurostar train to Brussels and then Amsterdam, or even fly to Amsterdam. Then take the high-speed train from Amsterdam to Paris. Then take the high speed train from Paris to Barcelona, or you could fly, although the train would be more enjoyable and they take about the same amount of time. Then fly from Barcelona to Venice (or nearby Treviso) and then take the train from Venice to Rome and end there. I can help more if you have questions. Have a great trip. -Roger