My preference would be Italy and Greece. Maybe start in Milan, swing over to Venice then down to pisa/Sienna/Flornce and then to Rome. From Rome fly to athens and hit a few islands. Fly home from Athens

I like finnegan’s plan above but no way to do that in 10 days. With such a short amount of time, I’d pick one country and explore. My #1 choice is Italy…with 10 days I’d do Rome (4 days), Florence (3 days), and either the Amalfi Coast or Cinque Terre (3 days). you might be able to squeeze a day/night in Venice too.

for Greece, a nice plan would be Athens (2 days) and then 2-3 islands for a couple days each. the trouble with Greece is that you need more time to get from place to place. since you don’t have a lot of time, I think I’d do Italy and then go to Greece when you have more time to island hop.

I also suggest Italy and Greece except I don’t really think you can do justice to both in 10 days. You could easily spend 10 days in either Greece or Italy. I think Greece, because of the time involved in getting to even a single Island, needs at least 5 days. Add an extra day in Athens for a day trip and a second Greek Island to fill up 10 days. Italy really needs at least 7 to scratch the surface. My minimum would be 3 days in Rome, 2 in Florence, 2 in Venice. You could easily fill up 10 with an extra day in Rome for a day trip to Pompeii, a visit to Cinque Terre and/or a day in some quaint smaller place like Verona. I would probably recommend Italy over Greece for first timers who didn’t have a preference, but you can’t go wrong with either.

If, for some reason I can’t fathom, you really think you must visit 2 countries, then Spain and Portugal might work out better although the distances and travel times involved are longer than most people think. Thus, 10 days won’t necessarily be an easy trek in Iberia. The alternative 2 country trek is 1 & 1/2 days in Athens, a fast trip to whichever 2 Greek Islands work out best logistically and a single city in Italy — chosen based on the best/cheapest flights.

Thank you folks, I do agree that we may have to stick to just one country, given the amount of time we have.

So if it is Greece, since the travel time is too much, do you think it would be worth it? I mean if we do Athens for 2 days and 2 islands, what itinerary would make sense? After all we do not want to spend most of the time driving or be on the ferry.

Also budget wise, what would be reasonable? Is $1800-$2000/person good enough, including the airfare?

We do want to make sure that we make the most of the 10 days, otherwise it might be worth waiting until we have more time in hand?

Any suggestions here?

I’d much rather do Spain and Portugal. I’ve always had much more fun in Iberia than in Italy, and the Iberian Peninsula offers so much regional diversity in terms of topography, climate, and culture. There are tons of opportunities for watersports on both the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts. The nightlife is amazing in cities, and you’ll find that in summer especially even small towns are pretty lively at night.

Airfare from where????

For 10 days, I’d figure (per person) airfare + $250 for city to city transportation + $100 per day. I always suggest an additional $200 emergency stash — or at least a reserve in the checking account or available credit for the unforeseen emergency. $2,000 is pretty tight since you’re planning on summer. You could probably swing it in May or September from a major east coast hub.

Augustin makes some good points about Iberia and it may be slightly cheaper — though not enough cheaper to make any serious changes to my base budget. I particularly agree about the fun night life. There’s night life everywhere, but I think it’s easier for a tourist to find and afford it in Spain. I like Italy better, but as I reread your interests, Iberia would be a good choice for you.

Ooops…didn’t see the 10 day limit. Yeah 10 days to do Italy and Greece is not enough

I like Spain, but it can be a bit of a tough slog. The heat in the summer is oppressive (there’s a reason why everyone takes a siesta in the afternoon) and I would describe most of the country as rugged, dusty and rocky. Spain and portugal have a lot to offer, but they are not for everyoe. I’ve never heard anyone say they didn’t love Italy

Thanks for all the suggestions floks, sorry I couldnt respond earlier, coz my account was on hold for some reason.

So what would be a suggested itinerary for Spain/Portugal? Accommodation? We can do a couple of days with decent hotels and rest with budget hotels/hostels as long as they are clean.

Oh and we are flying out of Boston, what city should we fly into? Barcelona? And as for the budget, we are trying to give ourselves a budget, but yeah for emergency situations we certainly will have access to extra cash.

As I mentioned we want a mix of culture and some adventure.

We are getting very excited already!
Thanks so much!

My advice is to hunt around for the cheapest “sensible” (not 4 connections and 22 hours) flight and then figure your itinerary from there. Barcelona or Madrid will probably be cheapest, but try Lisbon and Malaga, too. Check open jaw (into Madrid, out of Lisbon, for example) to try to avoid the time and expense of back-tracking to your arrival city.

Head to the “cheap flights” forum and read all the stickys. Do some research, then post what you find for flights and see if Don and the others can help find something better.

Wherever you go, with only 10 days I would definitely do an open-jaw ticket (fly into one city and home from another). If you want to do Spain and Portugal I would try using Lisbon & Barcelona or Lisbon & Madrid as your two cities (decent fares are available using all three cities). Airfares will be best if you can depart by the end of May.

Edit Sorry for repeating a lot of oldlady’s advice, but I had written my post and then waited a couple of hours to actually post it**

If you could just add a few more days, maybe 3, you could do Italy/Greece. No, you would not see all of Greece, or all of Italy, but you could have a very nice, un-rushed journey.
It really depends on how much in-depth a journey you want.
You mentioned your youngish age, and making the most of this trip.
With that frame of reference, I tend to think in terms of being a bit more ambitious, as long as it doesn’t turn into too much of a cramming session. I love the juxtaposition of Greece/Italy; they are so different, yet complement each other.

Sticking with 10 days, and looking at the adventure/culture/water sports: Iberian peninsula.

I think with ten days and a limited budget, you would be well advised to limit your itinerary.

I would consider flying into Barcelona, training to Madrid, flying to Lisbon, and flying home from Lisbon. Since Spain is very hot in the summer, I would recommend May. You could also do this route in reverse, if it work out better that way.

Another option would be northern Italy. I would skip Rome because is is large and takes a lot of time. I would fly round trip to Venice and take a train to Florence immediately upon arrival. Then visit Cinque Terre, then take a train back to Venice and fly home from there.

My suggested itineraries are, in my opinion, a bit much for ten days, but doable. Both are full of scenery and culture, but lacking in sporting activities, although Barcelona has great beeches, as does Lisbon, and Cinque Terre has good hiking and scenic beaches.

Oh God, you can’t go wrong with either choice.

Go where you want to go. But don’t expect much difference between these 4 countries. Don’t take me wrong, they all have their distinct characteristics (Spain has the festivals and varied regions, Italy has the fabulous cities, Greece has the gorgeous islands and coast, and so on), but the basics are the same across the four countries: fabulous weather, beaches, and Southern European culture (wine, good food, siestas, and nocturnal cultures).

That’s my recommendation, although a lot of people hate the Med during peak season (July-August), but IMO, anytime from May to September is fabulous.

Please, please, please use the search function here at Eurotrip. A lot has been written on all four countries. Your question on where to start is too vague to answer, and there’s a wealth of info right here. Lots of suggested places to visit, and feel free to search these places on flickr.com to see pictures of these nice places.

I will touch on getting around:

As everyone mentioned, Greece has the most difficult geography of the 4 countries, not only because of islands, but also because of the multiple peninsulas on peninsulas. Takes longer to get around. So, with only ten days…even on the Iberian Peninsula you can’t see much, but if you choose Italy-Greece: I like the fact that you’d like to see both countries, but you’ll have to be realistic and limit the amount of places you see in both countries. You can do, for example, Rome for 2 days, then Amalfi Cost for a couple days, Italy’s Puglia region for a couple days, then Greece’s Corfu. Or you can do, say, Tuscany/Cinque Terre for 3 days, Rome for 2 days, fly to Santorini via Athens, then fly or ferry back to Athens, then fly home. So, you can do both countries, provided you limit the amount of places you visit in each country. And also, keep in mind that there’s more to Italy than Rome-Florence-Venice. Don’t feel obligated to visit all 3 of these “big three” in a single trip. You can sacrifice one of them to spend more time on the Italian coast and/or Greece.

Thanks “luv_the_beach”.

I agree with you on being able to plan the number of days. I am think Spain and Portugal would make most sense for us this time.

We get on with some research on Spain and Portugal and come back with more questions.