Once you have taken the 3 essential first steps to plan your Europe trip it’s time to decide where to go in Europe.
I like to approach this from two sides, one from your “Why?” and the other from a practical standpoint.
Starting with your “Why?” Pick one or two things or places you dream of going, that would make your soul sing. This should be the starting point for your journey. All too often I see people who have planned a trip with all the ‘must-see’ places in Europe then can’t fit in the one thing they’ve always dreamt about.
So, my advice to you, which I will no doubt repeat again and again because I think it is very important, is don’t put any of the must-see places in Europe on your list unless they are your Why.
I’m not saying don’t go to the must-see places, but I am saying don’t base your trip AROUND them. Base your trip around what you dream of, what you want to see, not what Nigel from the office tells you can’t miss if you are in Europe.
Hopefully your why will be reasonably clear and you will have one or two ideas to use as your starting point. If you have a list of ten things and you are only going to Europe for a week then you are going to have to rethink. For now, make this a short list, one or two things per week of travel.
If your list is a place that’s great, you’ve got your starting point. If it is an experience or a feeling then we are going to have to dig deeper. This is where a travel planner can really add value.
Another tool you might be tempted use is AI (chatGTP, copilot, gemini etc). Give it as much information as you can and see what suggestions it comes up with. However, a word of warning: AI is currently not good at working out itineraries. The subtleties of how easy it is to get from one place to another get lost in the algorithms. It can miss the fact that a ten mile hike needs the cable car to still be open when you arrive for example, or that driving from Lisbon nonstop to Barcelona is not a great idea. It also seems to have a problem knowing where Lisbon actually is. Geography is definitely not it’s strong point. These are Chagpt generated maps of the route from Barcelona to Lisbon. You will note that Lisbon is no longer in Portugal, and in fact Portugal seems to have moved to Africa. I think my job is safe for now.
But as a brainstorming tool it’s quite useful. As an example, I asked Gemini “I’m looking for somewhere in Europe to visit. I am interested in food and hiking and would like to go on a cable car. I will be visiting in July and I will be travelling by train.” The result was four options Switzerland, Italian Dolomites, Chamonix in France and Innsbruck in Austria, each with reasons why they might suit me. They are all good possibilities and certainly fit the brief. The obvious problem with this is that we are trying to narrow down our options and this has just given us more things to think about.
From the practical standpoint one way to approach Europe is to see where you can actually get to, preferably with a direct flight but if not at least a sensible stopover.
To do this there are various tools available such as Sky scanner or Expedia but one of the best places to start is Google flights. Put in your starting airport and put Europe as your destination. Chage the filters so it only shows direct flights and you will be given a map with the possible destinations and their cost for the date you have set. You can also change the date to be flexible date and just give the month you are expecting to fly. If you are lucky and one of these matches, or is close to, your Why then you are good to go.
This gives you a great starting point to see where you can get to easily and if it fits in your budget.
Be aware though that choosing the cheapest option at this stage is not necessarily going to save you money. If the cheapest option is to Lisbon for example and your dream destination is Pompeii in Italy then you are likely to spend more than you saved getting from Portugal to Italy. Added to that it will waste your precious time.
Once you’ve got your starting point you can start to look at other things to see and places to go.
If you are staying one week I highly recommend you stick to three overnight destinations as a maximum. Again, I am repeating myself as I’ve already discussed it in “European Itinerary planning – find your when”, consider places that are an easy (under 4-5 hours) train or car journey. Don’t forget to look at smaller places as well as the popular major cities. I am often asked to suggest hidden gems in Europe, but they are few and far between in the major cities. The best way to avoid the crowds and find something a bit different is to get out of the main cities.
Take a look at a map. Its even better if it’s a paper map or an atlas, they are one of my most important tools as a travel planner. It will help you get your bearings as to which countries border which. See if anything pops out at you. Maybe somewhere you have heard of or seen in a film.
True story – friends of ours were visiting from the UK last week, they had decided to have a bit of a road trip on the way so looked at a map to see where they could go. Cholet was on the way, and they had heard of it somewhere, so they decided to visit. It was only once installed in their hotel that they realised that they knew the name Cholet from Madame Cholet from the British children’s show “The Wombles”! Fortunately for them Cholet is a very nice town.
One common trait I see often in visitors to Europe (I say trait because I don’t like to say it’s an error) is treating countries like a tick box. Planning your Europe trip around ticking off as many countries as possible is likely to find you unfulfilled. If this is really your plan then I suggest visiting Basel, Maastricht, and Bratislava. Between them and with day trips you could clock up nine or ten European countries (perhaps I should do an itinerary on that trip?) but you wouldn’t really have visited the countries in a meaningful way. Within the Schengen zone your passport won’t be stamped so there will be no proof that you have been to other countries.
I do understand the urge to visit as many countries as possible. Especially if you have never travelled abroad before. The idea that you can hop on a train and an hour or two later be in a different country with a different language and maybe even a different currency is intoxicating. But believe me when I tell you that spending three days in that country, soaking in the atmosphere, listening to the conversations, eating the food and getting to know just a little of the culture will make the change to the next country EVEN MORE intoxicating. The advice I give is never about diminishing your experiences, only enhancing them.
So, picking three reasonably nearby places, hopefully all of which have something in common with your why, will help you have the best Europe trip possible.
One of the reasons that I don’t suggest more than three is that getting on and off trains, lugging your luggage around and checking into hotels takes time and energy. A road trip can reduce this and can mean that you see more places, by stopping off at towns and villages on the way, without having to worry about luggage. A car also widens the scope when looking for where to go as many, particularly rural, places in Europe are not accessible by train. This is why choosing where you go also needs to be done in tandem with choosing your mode of transport (see Car rental vs Train for Europe Trip)
It is very easy to underestimate the time it will take to get from one destination in Europe to another. One looks on a map and thinks that the two cities look reasonably close together, but the map doesn’t necessarily make it clear that there are other factors at play, such as mountains, and infrastructure.
Flying between destinations shouldn’t be ruled out. Europe has a great rail transport network as I discussed in “Is train travel in Europe better than flying?” but sometimes flying is the best option.
There are a few good apps that can help you with this, the Trainline for journeys by rail, RometoRio and Omio for other means of transport.
When planning your European trip it is important to take your time into consideration. Your time is precious, it is valuable, it is in short supply. Choosing the cheaper flight option that is then going to add hours and hours of travel time is not treating your time with the respect it deserves. And I say that even for those travelling on a tight budget. There are other places to save money. It is far better to eat a few cheaper meals or to stay in a slightly cheaper hotel than it is to waste half a day of your precious vacation getting to where to you want to be just to save a couple of hundred bucks.
Travel planning is about optimisation, optimising your route and your plans to fit within your time and budget, and making sure that your time is spent in the very best way possible.
Where to travel in Europe?
Where to travel in Europe is not an easy question to answer, but hopefully I have given you food for thought. A combination of why you are travelling and the practicalities of getting to Europe should combine to show you where to choose. If you are still struggling with too many options, then why not book a video call to get some expert help. Remember your time is valuable and I can help you save a lot of time.
Watch this space for some more posts on where to go in Europe with destination ideas for different types of travellers.
If you are planning your first trip to Europe then make sure your read How to plan a trip to Europe: the 3 essential first steps
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