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...

Thank your very much for all your replies. Im very sorry that my question is very brief and sorry i use wrong words. My english is not good.

Im from Malaysia. For each trip, each year i can take 2 weeks leave from job. Plus the weekends will have 16 days in total including flights.

I would love to travel many times to Europe, explore each country but being from country that is smaller currency, i try to make the most if what my savings can afford.

I will remove Denmark and Poland. For UK, we have friend there, can bring us around. After read the replies, country that most want to visit is France, Switzerland and Austria. We are ok for anything heritage and important landmark of the country. Understand we will not be able to see everything. I have 3 friend that will be coming with me.

Thank you very much again.

<country that most want to visit is France, Switzerland and Austria>

That would make a fine first trip.

You couldn't see the entire countries but in 16 days times (2 weeks on the ground in Europe) you could go to:

Paris / Geneva or Zurich area / Vienna. Fly into Paris and out of Vienna. Take the train in between cities.

If you have now narrowed it down to France, Switzerland and Austria, now is the time to look at the guidebooks and see where you want to go in those countries and how you could combine them to make a sensible itinerary. [that's something people here are really good at if you want some help with that].

Don't be too ambitious - moving from one place to another takes time and energy - think in terms of where you would like to base yourselves for a few days and then where you would move on to. in 14 days, 3-4 bases will probably be enough.

But it seems the OP is also visiting friends in the UK, so that would be four countries in 14 days.

Sounds like you will be moving around a lot by train with that ambitious wish - fine go for it - consider looking at Eurail Select Flexipasses for X number of days of unlimited train travel over a 15-day period- most of your countries allows you to just hop on any train anytime -full flexibility.

Dear All again,

Finally has internet access to reply you. So happy and thankful for all your for the valuable advice and that the 3 country can be traveled together. So next I will plan which month to go and prepare the plan. Hope its ok, that after the plan is ready, i submit in this forum again for all your review and advice.

Thank you very much again.

Rude or ignorant, Whathello?

Both Aramis.