Last year, DH and I spent a week in Munich and Salzburg. We are now looking for another European trip that will allow us to visit two cities using only public transportation and that involves a pleasant ride between the cities (and that can be completed in one week). We are willing to consider pairings that require open-jaw air tickets, but would probably prefer RT air travel.

We are open to suggestions about any part of Europe. Obvious pairings include Paris-Amsterdam, Madrid-Barcelona, maybe Vienna-Prague, but we were hoping to hear about some less-obvious pairings as well.

Thanks in advance.

Well, I would certainly recommend more than a week but London-Paris would be good.

Copenhagen - Stockholm

I have taken a couple of two-city vacations and enjoyed the contrast between cultures rather than pairing similar cities, although this did involve flying between cities and flying open jaw. My daughter and I spent one week visiting London and Venice. We spent another week visiting Paris and Rome.

To be honest, with so many cheap interEurope flights these days, I no longer see the need for a pair of cities to be that close or even in the same general area. I think having two totally different destinations makes for a more varied vacation -- almost like getting two for one. So if you can do an open jaw flight and get a cheap flight between the two, why not? You could fly between Vienna and Barcelona for example in less time than a train between two fairly close cities, and certainly if you have to return to the same city to fly home.

If these are the sole criteria I offer up www.skyscanner.net so you can check on budget flights.

You might also consider the combination of Prague and Berlin if you want a REAL contrast and they are only 5.5 hours apart by rail.

Herself and I did Oslo and Copenhagen in one trip, doing the transfer by overnight ferry, which we found very pleasant (especially sailing out of Oslo).

A good dinner on the boat cost only an arm, whereas good meals in Oslo or Copenhagen cost an arm and a leg.

So many choices. What time of the year. Last year I took the night ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki. For cooler months, I would vote for Madrid/Barcelona.

You could enjoy Tallinn, Estonia for the day if you go to Helsinki.

Venice/Paris (but you'd want open jaw plane ticket)

We did Edinburgh/Berlin last August as an open-jaw on Continental, with an EasyJet ticket in-between.

I think Paris and Venice would be an awesome pairing. Or fly into Zurich and visit two regions in Switzerland. Train service is great there.
I'd also suggest open jaw. It is not always more expensive - depending on the cities. The fare will be halfway between the RT fares for each city. It saves you having to backtrack, which costs money and time.

Have fun!

Thanks for the suggestions. The advice gives us a lot to consider!

Hi T,

With only a week, why 2 cities?

You can easily spend a week in

Paris, London, Rome, Vienna, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Florence, Lisbon, Madrid, to name a few.

Prague - Krakow
Budapest - Vienna
Ljublana - Venice
Sofia - Istanbul
Helsinki - Tallin (boat, not train in between)

I have been to all of those cities, and each are a great place for at least half a week.

I recommend Paris and Provence... good combinatinon regardless of the season you're going to be traveling in! Enjoy!

Except that in my opinion exploring Provence is really not very effective by "public transportation" as the poster requested.

With only a week, I would limit my cities to one - especially cities like Paris, London, Rome. Smaller cities, maybe 2 that aren't far apart. Your Munich/Salzburg pairing sounds nice.

Venice and the Dolomites. Castelrotto
or Ortesei, City and mountains.

With only a week, I'd probably just stay in one area but if you really want to go to two cities, I'd suggest Paris & Florence. You can take the overnight train and they are both easy to navigate without a car.

Another possibility, if you're okay with one city and one town, would be Paris and Varenna. It's a little harder to travel between the two (you can fly to Milan and then take a train to Varenna. Once you're in Varenna, you can use the ferry to get to other towns on Lake Como) but I really liked the contrast of all the things to do in Paris followed by relaxing and enjoying the scenery in Varenna. Or you can rest from jet lag in Varenna and then travel to Paris.

London & Paris.