How many times to explore Europe?
 

Hi All,
I would like to visit Portugal,Spain,France,Belgium,Netherlands,Germany, Luxembourg,Switzerland,Italy,Austria,Czech Republic,Hungary,Denmark,Poland.

May i know to how to group which countries together?
Can i finish all these countries in 2 weeks per trip x 4 times?

I am a budget traveler.

Thank you very much,
Sharon

I live in Belgium and have not been to Hungary yet.
But if you want to say that you've been there you can finish them in a few days each. One day for Belgium half a day to Luxembourg.

You want to "do" 14 countries in 8 weeks? How much do you think you'll see of a whole country in 4 days for each country? You can't see any of these places in 4 days unless you go to one specific town or site and that's it.

Europe is over 10 million square kms, while the US is slightly smaller at 9.8 million. You couldn't see all of the US in 8 weeks.

I've only been to Hungary three times (2 weeks each) and still have more than half to get to (the southern bit). Hungary is not very big.

To help you Sharon we need to know what you want to see. Museum, modern art, pretty villages, castles, churches, rolling hillsides, tumbling waterfalls, ocean vistas, Italian restaurants, snow covered mountains, wildlife parks, ancient monestries, walled cities, sandy beaches, street parties, et cetc

Time of year would be good too. Winters are dark a lot of the time, summers are more expensive.

You group them by proximity to each other. Or you group them according to the best means of travel between them.

You could spend a few lifetimes exploring all these countries. Eight weeks might afford you a brief glimpse of a few of them, but you certainly can't "finish" any of them. It depends on what you want to see in each of them, and even then, your coverage will be very limited. Being a budget traveler has very little bearing on anything.

I made at least 200 trips to Europe before I moved here, and since moving here 2+ years ago have traveled for a total of about 4 months to 7 different countries, plus numerous brief trips within France, now my home country. I have seen only very small "slices" of any country other than France.

Instead of focusing on "finishing" anything travel-related, which is inherently impossible, focus on why you want to visit a place and what you want to get out of it. Allocate your time accordingly.

I have lived in the UK for the last 60 years, and I have yet to see North Wales, Northern Ireland and anywhere in Scotland north of Inverness. OTOH I've been to Venice 6 times.

I will never see all of the UK, let alone Europe, however long I live.

Trains are great and if moving around so much check out railpasses- good sources: www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com (good online European Rail & Planning Guide has rail itineraries in all those countries.

Easy to hit all those countries in 8 weeks- but to see much of all of them more problematic.

Where will you be coming from to start these trips?

Get a map.
Get a train schedule.
Call your bank.
The rest is up to you.

Portugal,Spain,France,Belgium,Netherlands,Germany, Luxembourg,Switzerland,Italy,Austria,Czech Republic,Hungary,Denmark,Poland.

May i know to how to group which countries together?

Portugal,Spain, fly to Denmark

France,Belgium,Netherlands,Germany,Luxembourg

Switzerland,Italy,Austria

Czech Republic,Hungary,Poland.

Use open jaw flights - fly into first city and out of the last.

NO U.K. well I guess that ain't in Europe anymore?

P, Uk remains in Europe, like many people you confuse Europe with the EU (or the UE as some countries insist on calling it). ;-)

"How many times to explore Europe?"

Several lifetimes.

And when you find places you love, they become repeat destinations.
To answer again your question: forever

No.
Two weeks for just Italy or just Spain or just France is minimal if you want to see much of anything they have to offer.
The Netherlands, a bit of Belgium and Paris could be 10 days to two weeks.
You have to read, research, learn what there is to see and do in different places, decide what is important to you and plan accordingly, allowing plenty of travel time between places.

My advice.
Forget about all the four, two-week trips stuff. Forget about seeing all of Europe in set times.
Start by choosing two or three places or one country you have always dreamed of seeing. Plan a trip based on your personal interests, art, music, architecture, history, food, etc. You could have a major focus of one or two cities or countryside places, then include other nearby or easy to reach places. Come home and start planning the next trip based on the experience of that trip.

Read some trip reports here on Fodors. Read some guide books. Watch travel videos.

Budget means different things to different people. When you get down to details like lodging, you will need to specify budget in real numbers, but you are not close to that yet.

We have been all your countries save Denmark. We have spent considerable time in a few.

The answer remains, do you just want to say you just stepped foot in a country or do you want to get to know a country?

If you just want selfies in front of the major monuments,you could maybe do this as a race? If it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium sort of thing. LOL

8 weeks is a long time but for 14 countries a little rushed - you can easily go to those countries and spend a half a week in each but better to pare down -unless just counting countries- do first 2 weeks and see how it goes.

Many bus tours do such break-neck schedules.

why 14 -I'd cut Denmark for sure not because it ain't nice - Copenhagen to me is one of the most fascinating cities in Europe but it is an outlier to the others and maybe Poland for that reason too.

I would first put the list of countries in the order of importance to YOU. Are all 15 countries of equal interest?

Next use a map & put them in a geographic order of which ones are closest to the others to make the groupings make sense.

If you really want to do this in 4 different 2-week trips, that would require you seeing 4 countries each time, allowing 3 days in each one.

Especially as a budget traveler that's a pretty tall order.

Yes, definitely put them in order of importance, then plan a trip to the country at the top of your list - maybe include a neighboring country or two, depending on the length of your trip. Then when you can, plan a trip to the next country on your list. Continue in this vein as long as you can travel. Don't worry about how many trips it will take to see everything on your list. Just start.

Troll alert! She just joined to ask a really silly question, but some of you rose to the bait. Has not come back with any details, you will note.

Troll or stupid.

Just becuase they have not posted again does not mean they are a troll -could be but may not be.

These questions do pop up from novice travelers.

But...