ksunshine91

Hi All, I'm looking to go to Europe for the first time next year. Right now just trying to get started with planning and I'm getting a bit overwhelmed. We are only able to go for 2 weeks. Would like to sight-see, have some downtime on the beach, and throw in some nightlife. Looking for suggestions on best time of year to go and if anyone can suggest some good itineraries for a 2 week time frame. Also, what places are overrated and aren't necessarily "must sees" on our first trip across the pond. I will be travelling with my friend, both of us female and in our late 20's. Thanks in advance.

LoveItaly

Hello ksunshine, what countries are you two interested in? Europe is a large area.

elaine

If you want beach but not the very worst of the crowds, I'd suggest mid September, starting in Greece. Perhaps 2 days Athens, 5 days a couple of the islands. For the second week
I'd say half Paris, half London, for a taste of the cities.
You'd have to fly from Athens to Paris.

Or, if you want to make it geographically more compact, say 5 days London, 4 days Paris, 5 days French Riviera.

ksunshine91

We are quite flexible on which countries because neither of us have been to Europe. That said, we have been looking into Italy and Spain. We were initially talking about 2 days in London, 2 in Paris, 5 in Italy, and 5 in Spain. However, after reading a lot of posts, I'm thinking this is a little overzealous.

capxxx

How about this: start by picking two adjacent countries to visit. Choose a pair from this list.

France and Spain
France and Germany
Spain and Portugal
Italy and Switzerland
Italy and Austria
Italy and Greece

This will make transportation issues a little easier to deal with, since you won't have to hop over a country to get to another place. (Do you want to travel by train or car?)

Then, pick two cities, one in each country, and a scenic rural area somewere in between. Fly in to city A for 4 days, travel to the scenic area for 4 days, then go to city B for 4 days, and fly out. Leave 1 extra day at each end for airports and jet lag.

The classics -- Rome, Venice, Paris, etc -- are classics because they are awesome and beautiful. They can also be way over-crowded (smaller cities get it worse than bigger cities). So depending on the time of year you go, you may want to avoid certain places if you know you can get back another time.

Narrow it down a little, and get back to us. Plenty of people will be happy to tell you what to do.