For 2 weeks...Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece or South of France?

[TheCityTheBridge]

Originally Posted by ctr88

I haven't been to Europe in many years. Male looking to do a solo 2 week trip, maybe 3 weeks. Which of these 5 countries would you go to if you were me? Just looking to do the normal traveling stuff checking out cities and just general hanging out. My trip would be middle of March likely (could be late April or May possibly too). Thanks.

Originally Posted by ctr88

Thanks again for all the terrific answers. I tend to like architecture, history, hiking, cafe's, pretty countryside & quaint small towns more then sitting at the beach. So I'm not worried about it not being beach weather yet in April I have to decide if I want to do 2 weeks, 3 weeks or a month. A lot of decisions to be made on where to go and itinerary. It's been so long since I've been to Europe it will be like the first time again (last time was 1996 in Greece).

I tend to really try hard to avoid tourist crowds, but sometimes to see certain sites for the first time you have no choice but to go to touristy areas. But I think going in April or May (vs. summer) may help mitigate tourists crowds as was mentioned. I think I will probably do Greece (and Turkey) separately another time (maybe October), so I will focus on deciding where to go between Portugal, South of France, Spain, Italy. Difficult decisions! Maybe I can do a multiple hop plan ticket and fly into Lisbon and then fly out of Rome. And make my way from Lisbon to Rome. Or I may decide to bite off a smaller chunk and stay in a smaller geographic proximity (South of France/Northern Italy or Portugal/Spain). I think in April the weather may be best in Portugal in South of Spain. I live in Seattle U.S.A so I would like to get out of these gray skies see some sunshine. Florence, Sienna, Lucca, and Rome are extremely enticing too having never been to Italy.

Given your interests (architecture, history, hiking, cafes, countryside, small towns, NOT beaches) I would avoid the Cote d'Azur and look at Provence/Languedoc when you mention the South of France. A nice 2 week itinerary in France might be Avignon, Aix-en-Provence, Arles, Montpellier.

In Italy: Bologna, Parma, Villafranca In Lunigiana, Lucca

In Spain: Seville, Cordoba, Granada, Durcal

Just some suggestions, have fun! You'll find that the most touristy cities are likely busy in March as well.

[Snort]

If you're really into hiking, the best I've done is on Madeira.
Try this link for pics: https://www.google.com/search?q=levadas&client=firefox-a&hs=cBp&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&channel=sb&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&e i=nDwNU8KUEqPuyAHOkYDgCA&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1093& bih=513

Let's just put one pic in here too:

http://www.feriasemportugal.pt/fotos...7b16b40b3e.jpg

[overdrive1979]

If you want to get trains, there are high-speed trains from Spain to France and viceversa since two months ago:

Paris - Valence - Nimes - Montpellier - Béziers - Narbonne - Perpignan - Figueres - Girona - Barcelona, in 6:25 hours.
Lyon - Valence - Nimes - MOntpellier - Béziers - Narbonne - Perpignan - Figueres - Girona - Barcelona, in 4:53 hours.
Toulouse - Carcasonne - Perpignan - Figueres - Girona - Barcelona, in 3:02 hours.
Marseille - Aix en Provence - Avignon - Nimes - Montpellier - Béziers - Narbonne - Perpignan - Figueres - Girona- Barcelona - Madrid, in 7:01 hours.

[-Lamb]

Originally Posted by ctr88

Thanks again for all the terrific answers. I tend to like architecture, history, hiking, cafe's, pretty countryside & quaint small towns more then sitting at the beach. So I'm not worried about it not being beach weather yet in April I have to decide if I want to do 2 weeks, 3 weeks or a month. A lot of decisions to be made on where to go and itinerary. It's been so long since I've been to Europe it will be like the first time again (last time was 1996 in Greece).

I tend to really try hard to avoid tourist crowds, but sometimes to see certain sites for the first time you have no choice but to go to touristy areas. But I think going in April or May (vs. summer) may help mitigate tourists crowds as was mentioned. I think I will probably do Greece (and Turkey) separately another time (maybe October), so I will focus on deciding where to go between Portugal, South of France, Spain, Italy. Difficult decisions! Maybe I can do a multiple hop plan ticket and fly into Lisbon and then fly out of Rome. And make my way from Lisbon to Rome. Or I may decide to bite off a smaller chunk and stay in a smaller geographic proximity (South of France/Northern Italy or Portugal/Spain). I think in April the weather may be best in Portugal in South of Spain. I live in Seattle U.S.A so I would like to get out of these gray skies see some sunshine. Florence, Sienna, Lucca, and Rome are extremely enticing too having never been to Italy.

I think all of those countries tick all those boxes, but id go to the south of Spain if i were you. Maybe its my personal preference for Spain instead of Italy, although the south of France is very pretty aswell. In 2 weeks i wouldnt try to cover several countries, stick to a region and get to know it well, so you actually have time for the small towns, countryside and cafe's. You could go to Sevilla, Cordoba and Granada, also Cádiz is nice (and old!), those city's have great architecture, great history and sunshine is pretty much guaranteed. Theres also mountains if you want to hike and everything can be travelled to by train. If you have a month, you could after that just move up north and go around another region, maybe Catalonia and the Languedoc? That would make a really nice trip aswell

[overdrive1979]

Some information offered by Renfe and SNCF:

[ctr88]

Originally Posted by -Lamb

I think all of those countries tick all those boxes, but id go to the south of Spain if i were you. Maybe its my personal preference for Spain instead of Italy, although the south of France is very pretty aswell. In 2 weeks i wouldnt try to cover several countries, stick to a region and get to know it well, so you actually have time for the small towns, countryside and cafe's. You could go to Sevilla, Cordoba and Granada, also Cádiz is nice (and old!), those city's have great architecture, great history and sunshine is pretty much guaranteed. Theres also mountains if you want to hike and everything can be travelled to by train. If you have a month, you could after that just move up north and go around another region, maybe Catalonia and the Languedoc? That would make a really nice trip aswell

Thanks Lamb excellent and informative information. From the guidebooks I've been reading I've been liking Spain as well. I think that is a very good idea to just focus on that. It seems like there are a lot of really interesting towns in Spain. Would really like to see Granada. Thanks overdrive1979 for the enlightening train info. And snort that is a really beautiful shot of waterfalls in Madeira.

[markg91359]

I would start in Madrid, Spain. I'd spend a day or two there and a day touring nearby Toledo. I would than take the high speed train to Barcelona. I'd spend a couple of days there and than I would catch the high speed train over to to Marseilles and than to Nice, France. Perhaps, I'd spend one day each in Marseilles and Nice. Than, I'd continue by train to Italy. I'd see Venice, Florence, and end the trip in Rome. If you fly into Madrid and home from Rome, you can do all this in two weeks.

[overdrive1979]

Originally Posted by ctr88

Thanks overdrive1979 for the enlightening train info.

In view of the above, there are also 17 daily trains from Madrid to Barcelona and viceversa, as what I said yesterday is only for connections between Spain and France.
Madrid and Lisbon is connected by one daily train too, but's it's not high speed yet, so most people still use airlines to do it.
There also more cities in Spain that are connected by high-speed trains:

Spain introduces a new high speed segment | ACP Rail Blog

Renfe

[DavidEvans]

If you say you are into architecture and history then Greece is definitely the best option for you, although Tuscany in Italy is a great region to visit also.