One week in Europe
 

My husband and I are planning to go to Europe in October, I def want to go Spain, and we were thinking to go to Italy too. Any suggestions? I haven't visit Europe in my life so I can't wait for this vacations. I can only go for a week, departing from NY.

Is that 1 week home to home - or 9 days with one week 'on the ground' in Europe?

In either case but especially of it is 1 week total you really only have time for one or two destinations, not one or two <i>countries</i>

7 days total will net you 4.5 useable days in Europe.

What sorts of things do you enjoy and why did you pick those two countries and we can help a bit.

One week one country - 7 days ain't much -maybe land in Madrid -few days there then down to warmer climes and say Seville/Cordoba and fly out of there?

Or Barcelona and Madrid?

Trains blast between those places at nearly 200mph -booking tickets way early can save tons of money over walk-up fares: www.renfe.com for booking your own - www.seat61.com gives great advice on doing that - for general info I also like www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteve.com.

But forget Italy with only 7 days unless just going there.

The only way to see anything in both countries for a short journey is to take a plane between them. if you want to visit 2 countries, it is best that you fly into one country and fly out of the other.

What do you most want to see or do inside Spain? What is number one for you?

What is number one for you to see or do in Italy? What is the most important one thing?

Would you rather just visit Spain so you can see several different parts of Spain?

If it was me and I only had one week, I'd choose one location - one city - and do a day trip if I wanted to.

Enough time for one big city in two countries, Madrid and Rome for example.

A week long road trip through Spain has always been our favorite.

Land in the morning, pick up rental car.

By the time the hordes get their luggage, drag it to the train station wait for train, you could be enjoying a cold one in Toledo, Oropesa or Zaragoza.

Picking up a car in a foreign environment after a long flight for a first timer is recipe for disaster.
I would do 2 cities in Spain. Madrid and Barcelona.

By the time the hordes get their luggage, drag it to the train station wait for train, you could be enjoying a cold one in Toledo, Oropesa or Zaragoza.>

But not in say Seville.

Driving is no fun in a Toledo - trains go there in about 45 minutes. Zaragoza served also by bullet trains.

Not to say a driving week could not be sweet but most want to see a Madrid or Seville or Barcelona where cars are boondoggles.

Fly to Madrid, train to Barcelona and fly out of Barcrlona home. Alternatively fly just to Madrid and stay a week with day trips to Segovia, Toledo etc.

One city, two at the very most. You probablyhave zero idea what a very, very short trip is ahead of you and how jetlag will affect your ability to adjust.

You probablyhave zero idea what a very, very short trip is ahead of you and how jetlag will affect your ability to adjust.>

Yeh, a week is so so short -you cannot get say 2 weeks at any other time of year? If not yes just do 2 places max.

Whatever places you pick, fly into one city and out of another. This is called an open-jaw or multi-city trip and should cost about the same as round trip, saving the time and money spent to return to your arrival airport.

Hoping you haven't already bought your tickets....

This is such a discouraging thread!

I have seen two cities in Europe in one week. Ideal? No. But it was the time I had.

I do not suffer significant jetlag, nor does my SO, we never have. Some do, some don't. Picking up a car on the morning of arrival and driving a bit--ok, not all day!--was doable, for us.

I regret that I have never been to Spain and so can;t give specific advice here, but I wanted to say that not everyone has the leisure to travel slowly, nor does everyone need to do so.

<7 days total will net you 4.5 useable days in Europe. >
This is an absurd piece of math that is best ignored.

<7 days total will net you 4.5 useable days in Europe. >
>>This is an absurd piece of math that is best ignored.<<

7 days
- 1 day flying over night to Europe
- .5 day arrival/immigration formalities/travel to hotel or to first destination
- 1 day flying home

You do the math. And decide yourself what is absurd and who to ignore.

BTW -- I made it VERY clear that calculation is IF your trip is seven days total home-to-home.

Which is why questions should include a lot more information. People are just trying to suss out some specifics so that something closer to a conversation can take place.

"<7 days total will net you 4.5 useable days in Europe. >
This is an absurd piece of math that is best ignored."

If you intend to do two cities I think it's optimistic.

Train from Madrid to Barcelona is only a few hours less then flying to Italy.

OTOH the thread isn't much use until the OP tells us what they want to see or do.

The OP has probably headed for the hills with the usual "family squabbles" here.

Having said that, two countries is a bit ambitious I think for the trip to be really enjoyable. Two cities would be my best recommendation.

Hopefully you will have a wonderful time and wet your travel appetite. It's so fun to see new places.

You can do 1 or 2 cities in a week. They could be in the same of different countries. Train or fly between them depending your final choice.

Consider buying your plane ticket "open jaw" - into one city and out of the other, to avoid time backtracking on the ground.

Rome / Venice
Venice / Florence
Rome / Barcelona
Madrid / Barcelona
Rome / Madrid

I'll be optimistic and assume it is nine days--Saturday to Sunday week or better yet ten days if you leave late on Friday nite, since you're going from NYC.

Even with that, I'd stick to just one country, and I'd probably choose Spain given your desire to go there. Fly to Madrid, take a train to Toledo for the day and one overnite, then take a train to Sevilla and explore Andalusia. You might even rent a car for a few days to explore the countryside and some of the smaller cities. Return to Madrid for a couple of days and fly home from there. That would give you a pretty good look at some of the most charming areas of Spain.

It's not a family squabble! It's bad advice given incessantly by one poster, to the detriment of advising novice travelers on this board.

<7 days
- 1 day flying over night to Europe>

That's not a day, it's a night, as you say yourself. Day 1 is the day you land, not the evening and night you spend getting there.


<- .5 day arrival/immigration formalities/travel to hotel or to first destination>

Could be half a day, but if you land in Rome, say, at 6am, say, and are staying in the city, say, you should be at your hotel by 10am. Your day is not half over.

If you need to rest that day, that's is your idiosyncratic response to jet lag and not a general rule.

<- 1 day flying home>

Yes, no way to avoid this.