
Posted: 2008-09-10 01:29:00  
Hiya,
Two weeks is little time. You could spend more than two weeks alone in either Spain, France or Italy - there is so much to see!!
The route Spain to Italy is hard to make. If you really want to travel a lot (you could fly with Ryanair, who have several bases/hubs in Europe) then I would suggest to make a loop. Amsterdam - Trier 1d - Luxembourg 1d - Lucerne 2d - Florence 2d - Pisa 1d - Monaco 0.5d - Nice 0.5d - St Raphael or Le Lavandou (less touristy) or Cassis (less touristy) or Ste Maries de la Mer (less touristy, near Montpellier) 2d - Barcelona 2d - Paris 2d - oops! the end - back to Amsterdam. You can always try in the opposite direction.
If you spend just one day in each place, then you could fit a few places, provided you mainly fly between the sites. You could rent a car in Nice and give it back say in Cassis. This way you could see much of French Riviera and can stop in a few places for coffee and ice-cream. The drive along the coast is also nice and many little towns are extremely picturesque. But it takes a while - the road can be winding and there is a lot of coast... :) You could then stay in less touristy places, like Ste Maries de la Mer - and actually, the spring will still be rather quiet everywhere, except Cannes and St Tropez, I guess.
If you use the super-fast trains in Germany and France, you should prepare for a significant expense. Often larger than flying. Depending on destinations, taking a train rather than plane may be more convenient for schedules and including time to/from airport and allowance for check-in, and may be even faster.
Spain is also fabulous but the coast is now very commercialised, plus the most attractive places are in the interior of the country - Sevilla, Cordoba, Toledo, Granada...
Tuscany should be lovely in the spring, too and you could easily spend a few days in Florence, Pisa, Siena, Livorno and all the villages in between... When in Italy, no-one should give Venice a miss. It is unique and truly spectacular place.
There are cities in Europe, where one or two days is simply not enough to see them properly - like London, Paris, Krakow, possibly Rome, but when skimming through them for a quick glance, then you could see the highlights of many cities in a day or a few hours, but this does not provide for relaxing and soaking the atmosphere and chemistry of the place, if you know what I mean...
I am not sure, if I helped. But do ask if you need more info re specific areas.
Best regards
Krys --- Open your eyes. Free your mind. Touch lives. Sink into the different. Travel and belong.
Profile photo: Palma de Mallorca.
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