The fact is you can’t do Europe in two weeks. You can only be in Europe for two weeks, which, though it may not carry as much weight on a bucket list, is as good a way as any to spend a vacation.
And besides, vacations are for enjoying, not for checking things off lists. So before you book that Eurorail pass and start planning 15 countries in 14 days, just take a moment and think about how much fun you’re actually planning to have on this trip.
How much time do you want to spend traveling from one place to another? How much walking will your body tolerate in a day? How many museums, monuments and cathedrals can you actually take in before they all start to resemble each other? Then:
1. Choose two or three cities at most
It takes time to get to know a city, its rhythm, its people and its ways. Just as important, even the most experienced traveler needs time to acclimatize. You’ll never get a feel for London in just three days. That’s just the way it is.
Paring it down to just a few cities means you get to see the ones you’re most interested in. You won’t have time to visit a city just “so you could say you’d been there,” which is a waste of time anyway.
2. Start with your top pick
You never know what’ll happen on vacation. You might meet someone, you might be invited somewhere, you might learn about an upcoming event you just can’t miss. That’s why your should start by seeing the place you want to see the most. Leave it to the end and you might not make it there.
If Paris has always been your dream, start there. Once you’ve eaten enough croissants and drunk enough hot chocolates that you’re developing a visible paunch, then it might be time to skip over to Belgium. But if you’re just enjoying them so much and you can’t bear to switch to waffles, stay a few extra days!
3. Be flexible
Unexpected things happen when you travel. Flexibility is pretty much the most important thing you have, more than any of that crazy Euro travel gear you thought you were going to need on this trip. (Except possibly your travel towel. You’ll never regret bringing that).
Plan an itinerary, but don’t book any tickets just yet. Same goes for hotels and hostels. Unless you’re traveling during high season, there will always be somewhere cheap and comfortable to stay in Europe.
4. Stay central and do day trips
Checking in and out of hotels and hostels can eat up half a day easily. It also means you have to be constantly figuring out the luggage, where to store it, when to come pick it up, etc. If you can park yourself at one or two hotels for the duration of your trip, you can easily buy yourself an extra day or two of sightseeing (and enjoying yourself, which is why you’re traveling to Europe, in case you forgot).
5. Rent a car
By North American standards, car rentals are not very expensive in Europe. Hopefully you know how to drive a standard transmission car, because that’s what you’ll be likely be renting. Expect to pay a little extra for an automatic, if one is available.
A car may seem like an unnecessary expense, but when you have only two weeks, it can get you a lot of places much faster than using public transit, particularly for day trips up to the country, which you will most definitely need to do when the luster of tourist attractions starts to wear off.
6. Stick to just one country
Consider that if you had just 10 days to spend in Italy, you could see Rome, Venice and Florence each for a couple of days, all the while getting friendly with Italian culture, learning a few new words, and cozying up to the locals. You might try to throw Barcelona and Paris into the mix – they don’t look far on the map, after all – but in that case you’d be dealing with three cultures, three languages, three different public transit systems, etc. Mucho extra headaches!
Europe is an incredible place to travel. You only get to go there for the first time once. Make sure you make some memories other than riding on trains and buses and talking to hotel concierges. Take your time. Eat long meals. Drink away an afternoon in the park. Sit in a church for a change, instead of just buzzing through and moving on to the next attraction. Smell the air. Let Europe reveal itself the way it wants; slowly and subtly.
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