10 Days in Europe Advice
 

Hello! My mom, sister, and I are planning a 10 day trip in May and are thinking about doing somewhere in Europe. We have been to Italy, Greece, and Croatia before so would like to see other places. We are planning a 2 week Scandanavia trip next year so also don't want to go there. Any suggestions? Preferably would like 5 days in one place and 5 days in another but don't know where to go! We enjoy sightseeing but really love hiking and exploring beautiful nature. Denmark would be a dream but I've heard its very very expensive and I'm not sure what would be a second place we could travel to inexpensively from there. Germany is not top on our list. We have always wanted to go to Iceland as well but have heard to do that in the winter. Any advice would be great! Thank you!!

Southern France is great -Provence area and especially French Riviera - start in Paris for a few days and take TGV bullet train to Avignon and then Nice and fly out of there.

Spain -Madrid and Seville would be neat too.

Trains are great to go between areas -check www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com (check-out free online European Planning & Rail Guide for lots of places to go by rail all over Europe); www.ricksteves.com.

Of course Britain would be great too.

Paris/London or vice versa. Fly into one city, home from the other, using a multi-destination flight search function.

England and Scotland! The Scottish Highlands are full of nature! London is my favorite city in the world. Also, the Cotswolds are beautiful (we stayed in Stow-on-the-Wold). I've heard the Lake District is wonderful, great for hiking, but haven't been there yet. We've traveled to the UK a few times in May and the weather is always perfect. Everything is blooming and green. The later you get in May, the more crowded things will be. During our 7 days in Scotland, it only rained for about two hours. You can easily spend a full 10 days in either country.

Fly into London, fly out of Edinburgh or Glasgow, so you don't have to backtrack back down to London.

Amsterdam (can go to Keukenhof Gardens only open in spring to see the vast flower show and miles of tulip fields in bloom) and Belgium or Paris would be nice too!

Denmark is in Scandinavia. Isn't it already covered by your trip next year?