Will be having a 2 week vacation. Only thing definite is flying into Paris on June 20 and flying out of Paris on July 2. We definitely want to stay around 4-5 days in Paris and also visit Lourdes. Would it be difficult to add Italy (Rome, Venice) to this trip? Or would it be easier to visit Spain? Which itinerary would make more sense? Thanks for any tips. This is my first trip to Europe (will be with my wife and another couple).

The issue will be that you must get back to Paris. I assume flights are booked?

Since you would probably fly to either Spain or Italy, I would let interests determine which is best. Paris and Venice would be a nice combo....big city, small city, with enough time to explore.

Michel, yes...flights are booked - in and out of Paris. Our concern is using too much travel time between cities.

Look into airlines like easyjet and ryanair to fly inexpensively between Paris and another city and back. 1 week each Paris and Barcelona would be a nice combo. You can also probably manage Rome/Venice, but might want to save Italy for another trip. on it's own.

A couple of years back my daughter used Ryanair to fly between Paris and Barcelona. I think it was the best deal at the time.

One caveat with these airlines is baggage limitations (and therefore extra fees). Some also fly in/out of less central airports

Have you looked at a map to see where Lourdes is? How had you planned on getting there? (There is a TGV that takes less than 6 hours from Paris, IMHO a better choice than flying.)

Once you are almost in Spain (and seemingly very near Barcelona) you have a choice: a really long train trip to Barcelona - or a flight to someplace in Italy.

Just realize that Lourdes is in a really out of the way place and will cause you to waste 2 days of vacation getting to and fro almost anywhere.

Also be aware that the budget airlines have VERY stringent rules about carry-ons and luggage (much more so than in the US) - which can get very awkward and expensive.

Thank you all for the inputs...MFNYC, we thought about Ryanair but will have to look at baggage restrictions on that. We thought about an overnight train too. Seems like Paris/Barcelona is shaping up. Nytraveler, you are right about Lourdes being seemingly out of the way. I'll have to ask wifey to compromise about that.