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Ok gang we've decided that next year we are headed to Europe. Here's the thing. We have no idea where to even begin with getting accomedations or anything like that. We have 14 days. We would prefer not to break the bank but we aren't afraid to spend more if we need to. We want to see Rome, Paris, Normandy, maybe Venice and Switzerland. Also open to other ideas. Help! Lol

I have no idea, but this guy thinks he has it figured out.

7 Cheap Ways to Travel Europe

Yo Dreamer what are your priorities on your trip? What are you trying to see? Architecture? How people live? Food? Cultural stuff like museums or the place Picasso painted Guernica? Churches? Are there certain countries or cities that you've heard about over the years are you've been longing to see them, and if so why?

The one thing I would advise against is the thing people do where they try to see 6 cities in 14 days. You'll end up having more memories from sitting on a train than you will anything else. My wife and I went to Paris in November 2009, rented an apartment for the month.There was a little old man upstairs, Monsieur Fraschi who must have been nine thousand years old. Every time he saw my wife, a woman in her 40s, he stood up a bit straighter and grinned at her like she was a little child or like he was flirting with her I still don't know which and gave her a hard candy out of his pocket while his African nurse was like "may-NONT, mon-SHUR Fras-KEE, all-ON LE-pat-tuh-MAHN." I can still see him, can still see the threadbare lapels of the herringbone wool blazer he wore every day, I can still see her, I can still see the tiny little candy wrapped in fire-hydrant red plastic. It's our favorite memory of the trip, that and a guy who owned a bar who was super stoked that we were from Chicago, home of Obama, and wanted to come to Chicago to see "Obama Cité" and also, because he had seen it on "Emergency" (ER in France), Cook County Hospital. The little stuff like that, the people you meet, IMO are the things that really create an experience, an understanding of a place, and real memories. Don't [expletive] it up and try to go look at 8 cities instead of kicking back and enjoying yourself on your trip.

For the stuff you've listed Normandy -> Paris -> Zurich would be the most attainable on 14 days without spending too much of your time on a train.

Agree that doing too much is fine if you’re instagramming but not if you want to really see a place.
Normandy down to the French Basque country for my next visit but a couple years ago i flew into Paris and hung out for 4-5 days then rented a car and drove to Toulouse then Barcelona and back. That was just almost too much driving but got to see some cool spots a train wouldn’t take me.

So... I’d say make your list of places then pare it down. Give yourself time to see/feel places.

That's a good point guys. We could maybe do France/Switzerland on this trip and maybe in a few years hit Italy.

We definitely want to take in the culture but also see the museums. Obviously the Louve is high on the list. Was hoping to see Notre Dame but that's obviously an issue now.

The Louvre is cool and all but i would definitely try to find an off time to go. It can be insanely crowded and underwhelming because of that.

We stayed in a 4th floor walk up in the 2nd for 4 days so not quite the French experience that 33 had but much moreso than staying in a hotel.

I would say there are good times to visit the Louvre and there are better times to visit the Louvre. I don't think I would ever describe it as underwhelming, although I did prefer the Pompidou Center. I find modern art museums more engaging the classic stuff, for whatever reason. I was underwhelmed by Versailles.

Normandy is impressive enough, but as I get older, I wish I had spent time at WWI sites.

Italy can be its own trip. There's just too much I'd want to see.

We just spent 3 weeks in Italy, and didn’t have enough time there.

If you decide upon Italy, I can give you some pointers. Specifically for Rome and Venice, I would not plan to go to either unless you can spend at least 3 days at each of them. And I would definitely avoid both of them in the summer, unless you really enjoy unbearable crowds.

For anywhere in Europe, consult Rick Steves videos on youtube for a good introduction.

My GF and I are doing a 3 week Europe trip in the spring. Edinburg -> Brussels/Bruges/Ghent -> Cologne -> Rothenburg ob der Tauber -> Munich/Fussen -> Strausbourg/Colmar -> Angers/Paris.

We had a lot of trouble limiting our cities. I wound up using Air BnB or just finding cheaper boutique hotels via Hotels.com.

I am stoked to see so much in one trip, but we will be spending a fair amount of time traveling too. We knew we wanted to hit Scotland, Belgium and Bavaria. We weren't originally planning spending any time in France, but the flight home was cheaper out of Paris. Then we found Srausborg & Colmar and fell in love with those cities. I have some french ancestry that traces back to the Alcaises Lorainne region, and I'm really looking forward to that part of the trip now.

I do think that we are going to be exhausted from traveling to so many cities though. Our future trips will most certainly focus more on finding a central city or two and doing day trips. We already know we want to hit Iceland & Norway (& maybe Sweden) on another trip. And I reeeeaaaaallly want to do an Italy/Greece trip too. Ahhhhh dreams.

Good luck!

Really what I need to do is get a job where I can work 100% remotely and then just go city-hop all over Europe for several years.