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-   -   Please critique our 2 month Europe itinerary (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/please-critique-our-2-month-europe-itinerary-1702733/)

fansy Oct 25th, 2021 05:51 PM

Please critique our 2 month Europe itinerary
 
Hi everyone! My partner and I are planning to travel around Europe beginning in August/September 2022 for 2-ish months (first time visitors). As this is part of a much larger trip (8 months around the world) we are trying to be as budget-savvy as possible, so we will be predominantly staying in hostels and cooking our own food.
We have a very rough idea of an itinerary, but to be honest it is probably pretty horrible and needs some serious altering. We need an honest and critical review of it - does it flow okay, are we trying to travel to too many countries, are there countries you would recommend skipping, adding on, etc. Also, I know there are so many variables, but how much do you think we should budget for? Again, we really want to do this as cheaply as possible!

Here is our itinerary:
- Spain (Flying in from Singapore)
- Portugal
- Morocco (momentarily out of Europe)
- Back into Spain
- Along Southern France
- Italy
- Slovenia
- Romania
- Montenegro
- Greece
- Bulgaria

We are hoping to stay a week (give or take) in each country. Alternatively, we could cut out the first 4 countries, begin in Italy and stay 2 weeks per country (?).
Thank you!!

Edit: We are interested in visiting architecturally beautiful towns/cities, castles, hiking and getting off the beaten track a bit.

dreamon Oct 25th, 2021 07:02 PM

You have chosen some beautiful places but I think you have too much for two months. A week in a country really is so little that I think you would be better reducing the ground you are covering and seeing more places which are closer together. Additionally, if you are on a budget, the more area you try and cover the greater the transport costs.

I think it is helpful to not think in terms of 'countries' visited but towns/villages or regions. For example, take Italy. It's a tough choice to decide where in Italy you would visit with only a week. Do you fancy the mountains, the coast, the north, the south, villages or cities? Wherever you go, I recommend mixing up the size of towns you visit and their physical location (i.e. a mix of cities, villages, rural, coastal, etc).

If you're prepared to drop the Spain, Portugal, Morocco and France, then one idea would be to fly into Milan, Bologna or Venice and explore some places in northern Italy. Then visit Slovenia, then either Croatia/Montenegro/Albania/Greece or Romania/Bulgaria/Greece. This would still be a very busy itinerary. There are a million possible ideas but I think when you drill down into where you want to visit within each country, things might become a little clearer. The danger is that the more you research, the more places you'll find which look amazing. One place to start might be to look at some tours - not to take a tour but to see which are the popular places to go. You could try Intrepid Travel as an example. But I would aim to spend longer in each place than most tours offer. Of course, you may have already done that.

Once you've narrowed down your itinerary, there are many people on this forum and others who will enthusiastically share their knowledge of the places that they've enjoyed themselves - and give lots of practical advice about logistics.

It's an amazing opportunity. I do think that with 8 months you won't want to be rushing around all the time and will need some down time. I remember my first trip to Europe was 5 months and after 3 or 4 months I really wanted to stop somewhere for slightly longer, I was desperate to cook a proper meal (places with kitchens were out of our price range back then) and I wanted to do some fairly mundane things for a few days. Enjoy yourselves - I'm very envious.

lavandula Oct 25th, 2021 07:52 PM

You have a good trip ahead of you - just make sure that if you are travelling within the Schengen Area, that you observe the 90 in 180 days rule. I think with additions like Morocco and Bulgaria (non-Schengen countries) you will be able to do this trip easily. It is not impossible to get a visa to stay longer, but you will have to nominate a country where you expect to spend most time. Good luck, sounds fantastic!

Lavandula


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