DH and I are planning first holiday without our children. We are active 40+ y.o and have 4 weeks away April/May or August/September 2010. Europe is our chosen destination. We would like to know if you think it's best to see a little of a few countries or more of one?

If this is your first trip to Europe, I would see at least 2 countries. 4 weeks in 1 country is going extremely in depth for first timers.
The April segment would be good for Italy and finish up with May in France.
Or - begin in Spain and finish in France.
Flying "open jaw" would work well if doing 2 countries.
You could also choose August/September which would give you more time to plan the trip.
We love both France and Italy! You would have a nicely diversified trip and be able to see 2 main capitals - Rome and Paris.

You could do a bang-up job on a country with lots to see, like Italy or France.

Or you could do a "taster," one or two cities or regions in two or three countries - around 6 cities or regions.

Open-jaw is a very good idea to avoid backtracking.

I would go in April and May, not so hot and fewer crowds.

April and May is a wonderful time of year for most places in Europe - not too hot during the day, but not frigid at night either. You'd be there right before the main tourist season so you'd have good weather without the crowds.

I would suggest more than one country, two to three would give you a good mix while still letting you really get a feel for each area.

What are you interested in? That would help determine which country/countries might fit your interests best.

For me, I would either pick an itinerary that allowed me to trace the spread of ancient cultures across the borders of several present-day countries or I would create an itinerary of very startling European contrasts: Like one week each in Rome, Berlin, Paris and traveling around Moorish Spain.

If history or cities don't really motivate you, and you like to be outdoors I would pick for beauty (blue seas? high mountains?), and get off the beaten track as much as possible.

If you'd rather drive around than train and fly and ferry, pick one country, go in May, and just have fun mainly following your nose. All the countries you've tagged have enough to keep you fascinated for 4 weeks, including Spain and Greece, if you are interested.

Finally, 4 weeks give you plenty of time to see some of the most spectacular monuments in the man-made world, with some time left over. The Acropolis. The Alhambra. The sights of Paris. And Rome. If that's what you really want to do, you should go for the gems.

I think the one trip I wouldn't want to take is one that schedules a lot of sightseeing destinations that feel obligatory and guide-book driven rather than exactly what you'd be interested in seeing.

Thank you all for your quick replies. It was exciting to see 'replies' in the box as I'm new to this.
nannibray. Yes this is our first time to Europe. We have traveled a little here in our native Australia and been to USA twice and New Zealand.
What's 'open jaw' flying?
I like the idea of more planning time but do you agree with artsnletters that it's cooler in April/May? I'd prefer to travel when the weather is cooler as we work in the heat. What would you suggest if we were to visit Spain, France and Italy.

artsnletters. I would prefer not to backtrack, it seems like a waste of time. We are hopeful that we can travel every year or two from now on so we were thinking we would do 1 country at a time, but we're not set on that.

Iowa-Redhead. I was hoping to avoid the real cold so we could travel light. Very light. My HD would like to hire a motorbike for some part of the trip and ride. I've read that you can check you luggage into train stations when you are doing day trips on your way somewhere. Do they let you check luggage in for a day or two? We like everything and anything. I'd like to mix art, architecture, history, eating, beautiful scenery, people and shopping. I'd even like to throw a cooking class somewhere in there to.

"Open jaw' means flying in to one city and leaving from another - it saves going back to the arrival city.

You will need to look at which airlines facilitate this from Australia.
For some years now we have used (at least 7 times) a Qantas/Finnair combination ticket that flies via a number of Asian cities to Helsinki and then on to a big choice of European cities.
You may leave from a different city to your arrival one.
We like it because we fly daytime to Hong Kong, then sleep in a real bed overnight, and then fly daytime to Helsinki and on to - up to you!!!
For extra luxury or treat you can buy the Finnair sectors as business class.

As you plan to travel more often from now on maybe start in Italy - then have a look at some of the lovely places in either Austrian Alps or Switzerland and then go to France or wherever you feel the urge.
We rail travel all the time - and have done for 30+ years - up to you.

Don't over plan with rigid sightseeing - with 4 weeks you can really enjoy slower days with no list to check off.

Also there is a lot of excellent advice on this forum about renting apartments in some of the places you might visit.

Maybe tonight being Friday get out (or download) a map of Europe and then hit this and other forums for comments.
Also Google place names and look at images - great way to start!

Happy planning.

Yep visit two counties is a great idea, just bare in mind if you hire a car then you should return it to the country of hire. If not there will be large repatriation fees involved. So may be choose two counties which are neighbouring. Do a circular tour.
July and August will be high season in Europe, plus Easter time in April and around the 1st of May also. There may be other public holidays to consider which may make hotels add prices.
In July Spain puts up it's taxes so that may add to some costs too.

I would also suggest doing two countries in your four weeks. Maybe Italy and France. There is an enormous amount to see in each country so once you have settled on your countries, get hold of some guidebooks (Lonely Planet and Rough Guides are good) and do some reading to see which areas interest you. We did have 5 weeks in Italy once which was great but we had been to Europe a few times before.

Another idea to throw into the mix, is a trip we did with Emirates to Malta and Sicily. We flew out of Melbourne, stopping in Dubai, had a week on Malta, then flew to Catania in Sicily and had 2 weeks in Sicily. Then flew back to Malta and had a week on Gozo. It was a fabulous trip.

If you want to check historial weather averages, try the Trip Planner on www.wunderground.com I would avoid travelling in August as it's peak season for Europeans having their holidays and you will pay top price and it will be very crowded.

Kay

<<I'd like to mix art, architecture, history, eating, beautiful scenery, people and shopping. I'd even like to throw a cooking class somewhere in there to.>>

It sounds like Italy and France could be an interesting mix for you. If you spent about two weeks in each country it would give you a good idea of where you might want to go back to in the future and a good comparison between the two. You could fly into Rome, spend about 5-7 days, then spend another week or so heading up through Italy with a car. Turn in the car in Italy, hop on a train to France and spend the next week or so in the countryside with another rental car, Paris for the last week or so and leave from Paris. I wouldn't want a car in either big city but it would be nice the rest of the time. You're coming a long way so please remember to give yourself extra time in your starting city to recover from the flights.

Look on the Italy and France boards for trip reports... what have other people done that sounds like you would really enjoy it? I love reading trip reports and thinking "oooh, that sounds like fun!" Do random google searches for both countries and see if any pictures catch your attention. You could easily spend the entire four weeks in either of these countries and still not see everything you might want to, but splitting it up might give you a better mix.

Figure out what countries you want to see, then look for trip reports from those countries and ideas for cities, get your flights, get information on apartments or hotels (I prefer a small apartment for anything over 4-5 nights due to price and having a kitchen), and then you can plan any details. It sounds like a lot but you have more time than you think, even if you're aiming for April/May.

As for weather, especially for packing purposes, I would say April/May is light jacket or sweater type weather but it really depends on what you're used to. Check a website like weatherbase.com for average temps for a couple cities you might be interested in. You asked about checking your luggage in one place and taking a motorbike for a few days... I have no idea how that works.

<<I'd like to mix art, architecture, history, eating, beautiful scenery, people and shopping. I'd even like to throw a cooking class somewhere in there to.<<

It sounds like Spain and Greece could be an interesting mix for you. Seriously! Both overflow in all the things you like (and both have many places with reliably dry weather for motorcycling in Spring). Or, of course, you could choose Spain and Italy. Or Spain and France. Or Greece and France. Or all four or one. If you're an open minded person, it isn't a problem to find interesting things to learn, do, eat and buy in any of the places you've tagged, and generally you'll be treated well wherever you go.

Various countries and locales have various rules about how long you can leave luggage in train station storage (and not all train stations have them).

Four weeks is actually a long time for most people to be on the road, away from home, traveling. You may love every minute no matter what you do, but what I recommend is that you avoid is a dense itinerary of visiting famous places, guidebook in hand, sightseeing all the "10 must-sees" for each destination -- with no coherence between the sights. For a 3 days or a week it can be enjoyable to move from 9th Century castle to 19th c. art museum, to 12th C. church to 17th C. fountain, to 2 BC ruins to legendary to 20th c. art deco wonder -- but after about two weeks of that, it can become a blur.

I'd focus on what you want to learn more about during your four weeks a way from home in Europe -- whether it's learning a cuisine, learning about a certain set of architectural styles, or the spread of a philosophy, and pick the destinations based on how much they add to your knowledge.

I like the Rome-to-Paris agenda, which can give you everything you want. If you chose Rome-Tuscany-Liguria (Italian Riviera)-Provence-Paris, you'd get a variety of everything you like. You could also take a cooking class in each of these areas - lots to choose from! I would definitely do that itinerary from south to north, April-May, which should give you the best chance of warm to warmish weather (anything being possible in a given year).

You can still pack very light even with the possibility of cool weather. Just throw in a sweater and a light jacket or windbreaker/windcheater.

Oh, and any station where you can check your luggage will let you leave it as long as you like - a few hours or a few days.

How refreshing. More often the question is, can I see 10 countries in 4 days.

I suggest that you buy a Fodor's Europe guidebook to help you choose the 2 or 3 places that really appeal to you. Italy, France, Spain, Greece, sure. But Austria, Germany, the British Isles - these places also fit your description. And so do plenty of other countries.

That said, I personally like Iowa's suggested itinerary, with Rome at the beginning and maybe ending in Paris for a week in an apartment. And agree that April / May is better than August / September.

Buon giorno/Bonjour Wongale....

(It's Adventureseeker here. I "cut and paste" my response to you on my Trip Report thread) ....And am adding a few comments from the responses generated on this one.

I think Italy and France are 2 perfect choices and you will be able to have to time to savor than to just take a nibble and race off from place to place.

Giving it some thought....If you are flying in from the USA, I strongly suggest to Fly into Venice. Stay at least 4 nights there. Train to Florence (or Rome) and hit Tuscany (or Umbria) for at least 6 nights (for both). Train over to Cinque Terre for at least 3 nights (or do Amalfi Coast), Train over to the French Riviera (Nice, Cannes, etc.), maybe do Provence. And then end in Paris (at least 5 nights w/ side trip to Versailles). Fly back from Paris. (These all being your "bases" and then you can plan great day trips from there). I completely agree about getting an apartment in Paris. I don't have any experience in the France portion, but we did spend a whirlwind 22 hours overnighter in Paris on a layover and it was sublime. ...And of course, making me chomp at the bit for more (why does that always seem to happen?).

One more thought...and it is strictly just my opinion. Do you do Rome/Amalfi or do Florence/Cinque Terre? What is your preference: Rome is an icon, yet busier and much larger than Florence. Florence is very compact and so easy to navigate. Amalfi is glitzy and glamourous whereas Cinque Terre is more rustic and is perfect if you love the outdoors (fabulous hiking). People have been amazed that we have done Italy twice and have not yet been to Rome. We will someday. But, we know that we couldn't just do Rome for a 3 day stint. It would be overwhelming to us. (And...on top of it all, I have this incredible bad habit of wanting to do/see it all.)

Good luck and have fun in your planning. You are off to a fabulous start. This is where the trip begins...in the research/planning phase! Gosh, have you pinched yourself yet that you're spending 4 weeks in Europe? Aaahhh....

Here's my response to you from my Trip Report thread....
<<<There are so many possibilities with 4 weeks! You are SO lucky. We've done Italy twice in October and loved the Autumn climate and less crowds. However, I would love to see Tuscany, especially in Spring. I'm sure you're aware that the week before/after Easter are very crowded. And not sure if the Italians still are following the August holiday rule where they all go on holiday and close up shop. Another consideration is that many places may already be booked in April/May since it is so close.

As far as your itinerary, I'd love to help you where I can. There are many experienced travelers on this site that would be better at advising a 4 week itinerary (whether starting N to S or going S to N). Once that gets pinned down, I'd love to help you plug in places to stay, things to do, etc.

One thing I'd do if I were planning a long trip is to check out local festivals, events that I would like to see and start planning the trip around those specific dates. (If you're a music lover, you may want to be in Verona during concert season; if you're an opera lover, in Milan to experience La Scala; if you're a food lover....well the possibilites are endless. Then there are many harvests: olive, wine, truffle, etc. that I've always wanted to partake of...but, it didn't fit into our timing/itinerary.)

The other thing that helped us in narrowing down our 3 week trip was we wanted a bit of everything. We chose our "city": Florence (over Rome which seemed to be too overwhelming for 3 days plus it was more South); we chose "romantic and magical": Venice; we chose "country": Tuscany; and we chose "coastal": Cinque Terre. Of course, you can plug in other options: Amalfi (coastal), Rome (city), and Umbria (country) depending if you wanted to do the Southern route. I have to say that the BEST thing we ever did was start our trip in Venice. We came off of a 9 hour time change, 15 hr or so flight and gliding into Venice (with no city traffic, sirens, cars) was truly...La Serenissima! It was the best intro into Europe and to beat jet lag!

I've said it before...."A trip to Italy will change your life...if you let it".

I look forward to helping you......

Ciao for now!
A/S>>>

I like artsnletters' proposal. Tuscany is quintessential Italy. You can divide a week between great arts in Florence and hill towns in southern Tuscany near Siena. Provence is very nice. An alternative is Dordogne, probably more quintessential France (I have not been, hopefully in 2010).

I would go in April/May. I would definitely choose Italy and France. I would plan a week or so in cities and a week or so in smaller towns in each country. You could also do the big three (Venice, Florence, Rome) in Italy with a few days in Tuscany or CT or something similar; a week in the Paris area and a week in a more rural area in France.

If I were doing Spain, I would do a Spain-Portugal-Morocco combo. With Greece, I would do a Greece-Turkey combo or a Greece-Italy combo, or a Greece cruise combo that included several Islands, Egypt and Turkey.

Thank you all for posting your suggestions. I couldn't resist seeing if I had any replies and then I couldn't resist reading them. But I must resist replying to them (except to say thank you) at least for now. Hopefully I'll get back to you tonight. It looks like 2 countries it is!
Thanks again.

When we do longer trips we always do parts of 2 or 3 countries - so we get a flavor of different cultures. You might do part of Italy with some of Switzerland or Germany or Austria. Or parts of England with parts of France. Also - unless you really hate cities or countryside we always do some of each - typically have a large anchor city at each end and drive in between stopping at a couple of smaller cities or towns.

If you really don;t know where to start I would get a bunch of tour brochures (not to take the tours) but for the photos and info on key sites. When you plan your own trip do realize that you need to leave at last twice as much time in any place as a tour does - if you want to really see anything and relax/soak up the atmosphere a little bit.

2 countries, I would say take it easy, and all of these have so much to see....Ok, skip France I would narrow it down to Spain, Italy, and Greece and then ask what appeals to you most. Greece and Italy are just so visually stunning, Spain so alive. Personally though I prefer Greek/Italian food to Spanish as Spanish food is a bit blander, though ANYWHERE is more affordable than major Italian cities these days. Still, Italy can't be missed, and 2 weeks is enough time to focus on a region or 2 and really soak it up.