PRITESH

Hello Everyone... I am planning my first visit to Europe along with my wife coming May end-June.
Our places of interest by what we heard and read includes: France, Italy, Spain, Protugal, Switzerland, Greece.
But we are not particular that we gotta visit only/all the above destinations in this tour itself.. can add-up some for our visit along with some more countries.
It would be of great help if someone could help us decide itinerary for our 2 week budget tour.
Thanking you in advance!

Whathello

Nobody should decide for you.
Pay attention to time spent traveling so that you know how much you have left to actually visit.
Buy a guide and decide where to go. The area you indicate is about as large as India. We could not see India in 2 weeks could we ?

StCirq

With 15 days, you should limit yourself to about 3 places, preferably fairly contiguous. What would be great would be for you to do your own research and narrow it down, so that it is a trip that is meaningful to you, not strangers on the internet. We have no idea who you are, what is of interest to you, how old you are, what your budget is, etc. When you have a plan people here will be happy to help you refine it.

tonfromleiden

To narrow down your choices: Switzerland is expensive and Greece involves flying to and/or from one of your other destinations.

sundriedtopepo

For budget I would suggest Portugal and Spain. Do you enjoy cities or countryside? Museums or hiking? Beach or history?

PRITESH

Thank u everyone for your time.
Yes.. I too felt that i should narrow it down to Switzerland, France, Spain and Italy.. and looking for about 18N/19Days tour.
I am 35 years and my wife is 30.. looking for mixture of cities and countryside, bit of museum and history.. not much of beaches as am living in Goa.. But covering most of the Must See no matter what!

Sassafrass

You are naming whole countries. You could spend your entire time in any one of them and still have had only a taste. You will have to choose - one country and see a lot of it, two countries and see two or three places in each, one city or area in three countries, etc. History is everywhere. Great museums all over. Pick your top two or three places. Figure out how much time you need/want for each. Then decide what to do with any extra time.
These are not suggested itineraries, just examples of what is possible out of hundreds of options.

A - relaxed pace
Rome, 5 nights (possible day trips)
Florence, 4 nights (day trips to Pisa & Lucca, and Sienna)
Switzerland, 3 nights
Paris, 5 nights (day trip)

B - squeezing more places in (not seeing more, just moving more) rushed, doable
Rome, 4 nights
Florence, 2 nights
Venice, 2 nights
Switzerland, 3 nights
Paris, 4 nights
Amsterdam, 3 nights

C - really packing it in.
One Greek Island, 3 nights
Athens, 2 nights
Paris, 4 nights
Switzerland, 3 nights
Florence, 2 nights,
Rome, 4 nights


Budget means different things to different people, so in concrete terms, what is budget to you? Per hotel per night - 100euro, 200euro, 500 euro, etc?

Going from place to place, one hotel to another, trains, planes, eat up a lot of time. Factor that into your plans.

"Must sees" are also not the same for everyone. Disney Paris is a must see for some while the Louvre is a must see for others. For some it is sitting in a cafe for a leisurely lunch while for others, it is racing around to take photos.

It is unlikely you can even cover "most" of your own must sees, "no matter what." Resign yourself to choosing only what are "must sees" for you.

PalenQ

That type of trip where you see a lot of far-removed places means you should definitely go by train - trains go up to nearly 200 mph now and night trains can be used to cover a lot of ground - like between Paris and Venice - and save daytime travel time. If you want first-class train travel and for the trip of a lifetime I advocate that - much more relaxed and especially more room for luggage IME - then investigate the Eurail Select Saverpass - anyway for lots of great info on European trains check these informative sources: www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com - check the latter's free online European Planning & Rail Guide for suggested rail itineraries all over Europe country by country.

sassafrass has given several possible and excellent itineraries to tweek or follow as is - try to add a few more days onto your trip to make it more relaxed.

I stayed in Goa once for several days - in a hut right on the beach - long ago in my 'hippie' days and loved it. European trains are NO way similar to Indian ones - European trains are the most advanced in the world - super comfy (even in 2nd class),fast and frequent.

PalenQ

Ok land in Spain and fly to Rome

then work you way by train from there to Florence and Venice

then onto Switzerland

and into Paris - 4 countries easily done in 18/19 days if bent on doing 4 countries - Spain is the outlier and I would drop it and concentrate a bit more on the other three.

nytraveler

You have said you are on a "budget" but Switz i the most expensive city in europe. We are from New York - and find many of the prices in swtiz shocking (can easily be twice those in New York).

Much as I love Switz I culd not reco it to you if you're on a tight budget - even if you are willing to stay in hostels rather than hotels.

Really it would help if you give us a nightly lodging budgt then we can make some reco about places (Spain and Portugal are cheap) Italy is moderate as is France, except for Paris.

IMHO A above works ell, B is quite rushed. I would not even consider C.

Remember that you must spend 2 nights is a city to have a full day there - and it will take at least 1/2 a day to get from any city to the next - at best. (More if you try to include Greece.)

StCirq

You can never see all the "must-sees," whatever they might be to you, in such a short trip. And if budget is a concern, forget Switzerland - it is a phenomenally expensive country, easily twice as expensive as the others on your list.

hetismij2

Don't forget if you are an Indian citizen you will need to get a visa for the Schengen countries. That will require you have everything booked before you apply for it you need to start now if you intend to travel in May.

I would drop Switzerland from your list also, as it is so expensive, and you have a limited amount of time.

PRITESH

Thank u sooo much everyone for all your words and concern...
Going by the popular advice out here We have dropped Spain and have come down to this itinerary.. see if it goes well..
Will leave on 3rd night and reach Paris on 4th June @ 07.30 hours.
4-5-6-7 stay in Paris
8th travel to switerland
8-9-10-11 stay in Switzerland
12th travel to Venice
12-13-14 stay in Vinice
15 travel to Rome
15-16-17-18-19 Rome
20th travel back to Paris (fly) as our return tickets are far less priced than one-way airfare.
20- stay in Paris
21st fly back home.
Any suggestion to add some place or change in there?? Any night travel worth considering and save on our hotel expense and time??

PRITESH

Just another thought:
4-5-6-7 stay in Paris
8th travel to Amsterdam
8-9-11 stay in Amsterdam
12th travel to Rome: fly
12-13-14-15 stay in Rome
16 travel to Venice
16-17 stay in Venice
18th travel to Switzerland
18-19 stay in Switzerland
20th in switerland with night travel to Paris.
21st fly back home.

PRITESH

Sorry typing error: missed out 10th in the above itinerary.. add that to Paris perhaps☺

Whathello

Second prop ooks good to me !
Now you have to decide where to stay in Switzerland. I can't help you much there.

Paris -> Amsterdam can be done by fast train (called Thalys) book now to get better prices - reservatoin mandatory.
Namaste

Mimar

Have you looked at multi-city flights as opposed to 2 round trips? They are usually about the same as round trip and save time and money spent backtracking.

Where do you plan to go in Switzerland?

PalenQ

For Switzerland for the first time to me the absolute best place to go is the Jungfrau Region around Interlaken - sheer glacier-girdled peaks soaring thousands of feet above lush cow-dotted meadows (like India you see cows everywhere in Switzerland it seems!) - a myriad of toy-like trains and thrilling aerial gondolas going off in all directions, hiking/walking paths for all degrees of energy and difficulty - regular sports shoes just fine for most

Stay in a mountain village like Grindelwald, a favorite with Indians now I always see lots around there and spend three whole days exploring this multi-faceted area - take the Jungfraujoch train to Europe's highest train station - do lovely boat rides on the two lake bookending Interlaken, etc

https://www.google.com/search?q=jung...w=1745&bih=868

Heimdall

Totally agree with PalenQ about the Jungfrau Region. I've been there five times in the winter for skiing, but it would be a fabulous summer destination as well. The mountain village of Grindelwald would be a good place to stay, but also consider Interlaken, which has good train connections to Wengen and Mürren, where you can take the cable car up to the Shilthorn. From Wengen you can take the train to Kleine Scheidegg, and then up to Jungfraujoch. Kleine Scheidegg has beautiful views of the north face of Eiger.

Heimdall

You can get up to Kleine Scheidegg and Jungfraujoch from Grindelwald as well, so it makes no difference which side of the mountain you ascend. Usually I went up the mountain from Grindelwald and skied down to Wengen.