Hi guys,

I am hoping I could get some insight on how to spend my 21 days in Europe. I will be travelling alone and on a budget. I would like to see ancient history, good food, culture, possibly check out some beaches.

I am thinking of visiting France (Paris), Spain (Madrid & Barcelona), Italy (Rome and day trip to florence).

I am just hoping to get some insight as to how many days i should spend in each country. For instance if i spend 5 days in France, would you recommend i visit other cities in France, if so, which one would you recommend.

Is 5-6 days in Madrid/Barcelona too much or will there be enough things to see and do.

Italy i am sure will be fine as i have heard there is plenty of things to do.

Thank you all in advance

5 days in either Paris or Madrid/Barcelona or Rome will never be too much - and great bases from which to hop on day trips by train to nearby gems - maybe stay in Florence overnight for two days there. There is also a boat that connects Italy to Spain - havfe a cruise too! Trains are best between those places or cheap flights - too far to drive and once in cities cars are rather a liability - useless.

For lots on planing a European rail trip check these IMO superb sources: www.ricksteves.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.seat61.com.

Madrid has some great day trips, like to Toledo - great great old town and Avila, Segovia or Salamanca for starters.

From Paris go to Chartres for the world-famous cathedral or Reims for Champange tours - Versailles is a half-day trip very close to Paris that IMO it is in Paris.

I just got back from 5 days in Barcelona and 4 days in Rome. This was my first time in Barcelona. I absolutely loved it. 2nd time in Rome and it was great! Happy travel planning to you.

It's great to spend 5 days in the city - in those cities as there is so so much to do but also I think to do at least one day trip out of these tourist meccas and into a more typical Spain, Italy or France - like Chartres or Reims are lovely lively regional towns besides having blockbuster attractions - they are not overrun with foreign tourists but regional centers where folks come to shop and do business from a wide area.

Purely subjective suggestion for time allotment (relative to your 21 days of available time and a desire to visit all of these places)based on what I believe each city has to offer from my experience

Paris-5/6
Madrid-4/5 (day trip to Segovia or Tooledo)
Barcelona-3/4
Rome-5/6
Florence-3 (more on offer than a day trip could ever cover)

At the high estimate that would be 24 days. At the low end 20. If you want to stay in Rome rather than move on Florence only to return for a flight, then go with the higher numbers for each city.

You would half to be a real stick in the mud to not find enough to do in each of these cities, other than Florence, (but you could day trip to Siena), for 4 days.