Europe Trip in Two Weeks
I planned a whirlwind Europe trip for our honeymoon. We decided to travel to three countries: Italy, France, and Spain. Within that trip, we visited five cities: Rome, Florence, Venice, Paris, and Barcelona.
We had planned to take a day trip to Madrid, but the train tickets ended up being too expensive due to the soccer match between Barcelona and Madrid that day.
We went to Europe in October. It was a perfect time for travel in terms of weather (moderate summer weather in Italy and Spain and fall weather in Paris). Also, I read that August is Italy’s hottest month and they tend to go on summer holiday. I wouldn’t recommend visiting in August because it could be too hot and a lot of places may be closed. Past blogs would say October is a less busy time for Europe. However, by the time we were traveling, countries were opening up after being closed for the pandemic; everywhere we went was quite packed with tourists!
This was both our first time to Europe, so we wanted a jam packed itinerary. I warned hubby it was not going to be a restful trip. Haha, if he wanted a relaxing honeymoon, then we should’ve chosen to go to Hawaii. I’m glad he was game.
Below is our overall Europe itinerary! I’ll be following up with travel posts on each city, what we did, and where we ate!
Riding the ItaliaRail
Thoughts on the Eurail Pass
I recommend planning out your trip and then seeing if the Eurail pass is necessary! It ended up not making sense for us to buy the Eurail pass since we only used the train two times; whereas, I felt like the Japan Rail pass was super clutch when we visited Japan. I originally wanted us to take the train between countries, but later chose to fly because our time was precious. If we chose to take the train throughout Europe, it would’ve been a savings of $129.90 with an additional 13:58 travel time.
Travel and Time Costs for 2:
Eurail Pass (4 days within 1 month) - $552
Train Cost Rome to Florence - $99.70
Train Cost Florence to Venice - $113.16
*Train tickets were bought at the train station just prior to departure. Could’ve been cheaper if I bought them online earlier.
Flight Cost Venice to Paris - $266.96
Flight Cost Paris to Barcelona - $202.08
Total Cost of Trains + Flights V. Eurail Pass: $681.19 V. $552
High Speed Rail Travel Time Venice to Paris - 11:13
Flight Travel Time Venice to Paris: 1:45
High Speed Rail Travel Time of Paris to Barcelona - 6:15
Flight Travel Time Paris to Barcelona - 1:45
Travel Time of High Speed Rails V. International Flights - 17:28 V. 3:30
Footwear Packing Tips:
Sneakers are a must! We walked 10+ miles a day.
Should you bring those little heels? Maybe wear them for a cute dinner? Pass. I ended up never bringing out my heels and it took up luggage space! Also, the uneven cobblestones in Rome are no joke.
What about sandals? If you’re not afraid to get your feet dusty and dirty, then sure! Otherwise, sandals weren’t necessary.