14 nights in Europe
 

Hello Everyone

Me and my husband will be travelling to Europe April 2017 until May 2017, we have 14 nights.

We will be arriving in Rome and leave again from Barcelona, it will be our first time in Europe, and we have no idea how our itinerary should look like, any advise would be welcome?

We are not travel agents here. It's up to you to haul out the guidebooks and maps and plan your own itinerary. There are literally thousands of variations, and only you can decide what will work to satisfy your interests, budget, and travel style.

Come back when you've done some research and outlined a plan. People here will be more than happy to help you refine it, but it's up to you to do the homework. If you're not up for that, take a bus tour and let someone else handle the details.

This will help you see how far apart everything is and your travel options. Train, plane bus or car. With only 14 days I would limit to just Italy and Spain. Are you doing a flight into Rome and out of Spain?

www.rome2rio.com

Or get inspired by www.viamichelin.com/ Activate the »Tourist sites« button and you'll see what you find on the way between Rome and Barcelona, roughly following the coastline of the Mediterranean.

Thank you Macross and tonfromleiden for the advise, and websites I will definitely have a look there.

Macross, yes we are doing a flight into Rome and out of Spain.

I like the follow the coastline route. Some very good scenery that way. Good that you did an open jaw ticket.

1368 km total.

Your obvious itinerary would be:

Rome
Tuscany
Côte d'Azur
Provence
Languedoc
Costa Brava
Barcelona

However, 12.5 days are not enough to see all these 7 destinations, so you have to skip 2 or 3 of them.

Be aware that you will have to pay hefty fees if you return a rental car in a different country, so cross borders by train.

This could be a tentative itinerary for first-timers (without Languedoc and Costa Brava):

Days destination
0.5-3 Rome, 2.5 days in Rome
3-5 morning train to Florence (1:21), 1.75 days in Florence (maybe with a half-day trip to Pisa)
6 train to Nice with 3 or 4 hours in Milano (all day)
7-8 rent a car in Nice, 1.5 days in Nice/Côte d'Azur, then scenic drive along the coastal road (Corniche de l'Esterel) westwards to Provence, arriving in Arles/Provence in the evening
9-10 2 full days exploring Provence (Avignon, Pont du Gard, Arles, Les Baux, St. Remy, Camargue)
11 returning rental car in Nîmes, visiting Roman archeology in Nîmes, in the afternoon train to Barcelona (3:34)
12-13 two full days in Barcelona
14 departure

It will be a bit rushed, but doable, and you will see some of the best places in Europe. Time at each destination will be limited, but enough to get an impression and to see the major attractions.

I added Milan only because you have to change trains in Milan anyway, and a break of a longish train ride will be welcome enough, especially if it gives you the chance to visit the magnificent Duomo (cathedral) and to stroll through the city centre.

Or an alternative:

2.5 days in Rome
train to Venice (3:45)
2.5 days in Venice
flight to Nice (direct, with Easyjet, around €55), there rental car etc.

Actually, I like this one more, because Venice is unique and outstanding. And you save the long train ride from Florence to Nice.

Spring is a nice time for your trip.

It is a long way from Rome to Barcelona. Had you thought about how you would get from Rome to Barcelona? Drive, train, fly, ferry?

Travel between places eats up more time than you might think. When you lay out your plan, allow time to get from your hotel to the train station, the train time, and time getting to your new hotel. At least trains are generally city center to city center, so very convenient. Since airports are outside the cities, you have to allow extra time getting there and time for going through security.

14 nights gives you 12 days on the ground. travel from Rome to Barcelona will eat up at least a half day, so now 11 & 1/2 days on the ground. Add another place and getting there will eat up another 1/2 day, leaving you with 11 days for sightseeing.

Can't advise you on an actual itinerary without some idea of your personal interests. History, Architcture, Art, Food, Culture, archeological sites, landscapes or cities, etc.? Example: I would never have picked Barcelona for my first visit to Europe, but you did, so it must hold some special interest for you? What is that? What made you pick Rome? Be specific.

What other 1 (one) place or area in Europe have you ever thought about seeing? This is just for reference to your interests.

Overall budget, excluding airfare?

Rome: Though much is walkable, Rome is a big city and you have not been there before, so unless you take a local tour, it will take a bit of time and a good map to learn your way around. I suggest you buy or download a nice map of Rome and study it now. I enjoy the ones with street names, but also little images of major buildings. You will probably have some jet lag, so the first afternoon will be for walking and relaxing. How much time you want in Rome depends on all the things you want to see. They all take time to see and to get to them. You may want to get tickets to some things ahead of time. Buy or look on line for guides that have top 10 or top 20 sights in Rome. I never take tours, but many people take local tours and enjoy them, especially if they are not very knowledgeable about what they are seeing. Other people can make good suggestions for good tour guides.

With your short time period, I would never, ever recommend you drive from Rome to Barcelona! I wouldn't recommend a train the whole way either. Travel less, see more.

Without knowing your interests, here are logistical options for planning.

1. Divide your time between Rome and Barcelona as your two bases, and do day trips from each. There are many interesting places near both cities.

2. Add one city (like Paris) in between Rome and Barcelona and fly between them. 4 nts. Rome, 4 nts. Paris, 3 nts. Barcelona.

3. After Rome, choose another area to explore in Italy. Use trains in Italy, then fly to Barcelona. Areas to consider are Tuscany (Florence) or Amalfi Coast & Pompeii. You might fly from Naples or Florence to Barcelona.

4. Rome, travel by train to Venice, Fly from Venice to Barcelona.

5. Rome, fly to Nice (or other coastal area) rent car. Tour a few days. Fly or train to Barcelona.

6. Rome, fly to Seville (or another place in Spain) sight see a few days by train in Spain, fly or fast train to Barcelona.

Get some guide books and do some research! It will be fun.

Thank you everyone for the great tips and advise, we will surley use all of the advise. We only booked our tickets yesterday, so we still got lots of planning to do.

Rome
Florence
Venice

all by train

Fly to Barcelona

tight but gives you enough time in each to hit main sights.

Booking trains very early can save tons of money - www.trenitalia.com to book on discounted fares- for general info check www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com and especially for info on discounted fares - www.seat61.com.

Seems some here are indeed travel agents.
However they omitted Switzerland.

So : Rome, up north Venice. From there Lljubljana (bonus) Then Zurich. Soem time in the French alps, say Chamonix. Then Lyon. From Lyon, Lourdes. Very toursity, well liked. Saint-Jacques de Compostelle (has another name in Spanish). Madrid (maybe Sevilla but I might be too much) then Barcelona.
Maybe skip Llubjlana after all.

What are you interested in?

With 14 nights you could simply do 1 week in Rome and 1 week in Barcelona. But I don't like to rush around.

Why Barcelona? Why not say Paris for 4-5 days - take an overnight train there from Venice or a day train via Milan - maybe go via Switzerland.

If I had never been to Europe I would not necessarily include Barcelona unless it was close to my other places.