Europe in 7, 10 or 14 nights: itineraries that survive contact with reality

Four workable routes at each length, built on one rule: move in one direction, never sleep somewhere for a single night, and let the train do the distance.

Three rules these routes obey

Two nights minimum in any base, three where the city deserves it. A single night is a hotel with a train attached.

One direction of travel. Every route below progresses across the map rather than doubling back, which is what makes an open-jaw flight worth booking.

One country per week, roughly. Seven nights is one country. Ten stretches comfortably to two. Fourteen holds two properly or three if they are adjacent.

Journey times below are approximate and deliberately unspecific about services — timetables change, and a route that depends on catching one particular train is a route that will break.

Seven nights: Italy, one country done properly

Rome three nights, Florence two, Venice two. Fly into Rome, out of Venice.

Rome first because it is the most demanding and you have the most energy on arrival. Fast trains link all three city centres — Rome to Florence is well under two hours, Florence to Venice around two — so no day is lost to transit and no airport transfer is involved after the first.

This is the single best first-Europe itinerary for most Indian travellers: one country, one language, one rail network, three genuinely different cities, and no border crossings. The Italy guide has the detail on each.

Variation for a slower trip: drop Venice, give Florence four nights, and use it as a base for Siena and the Tuscan hill towns.

Seven nights: the alternatives

France alone: Paris four nights, then two or three in Provence or on the Riviera by fast train south. Paris rewards a longer stay than most people give it, and the change of pace afterwards is what makes the week feel like a holiday. See the France guide.

Greece alone: Athens two or three nights for the ancient sites, then four on one island rather than three. Island-hopping in a week is how people end up spending the week on ferries. The Greece guide covers the choices.

Spain alone: Barcelona and Madrid, three or four nights each, connected by high-speed rail in around three hours. Two very different cities, no flying. See the Spain guide.

Ten nights: Italy and Switzerland

Rome three, Florence two, then north to Switzerland for four or five — Lucerne or Interlaken as a base, with a mountain excursion. Fly into Rome, out of Zurich.

This works because the geography cooperates: the route runs steadily north, the rail journey from Italy into Switzerland is itself one of the more scenic legs of the trip, and the two halves are genuinely different — cities and antiquity, then mountains and lakes.

It is also the combination that most reliably satisfies a family where one half wants museums and the other wants scenery. The Switzerland guide covers the Alpine bases.

Do not attempt to add Paris. Ten nights across Italy, Switzerland and France is three countries and four or five moves, and the trip becomes transport.

Ten nights: France and Switzerland

Paris four nights, then east into Switzerland — Lausanne or Montreux on Lake Geneva, then up to the Bernese Oberland — for five or six. Fly into Paris, out of Zurich or Geneva.

The Paris to Switzerland rail leg is quick and comfortable, and Lake Geneva makes a gentle intermediate stop that breaks the journey without costing a full travel day.

This suits travellers who want one great city rather than three, and who are going to Europe partly for the Alps. It is a calmer trip than the Italian route and involves less walking on hard surfaces.

Fourteen nights: the routes that open up

Italy in full: Rome three, Naples and the Amalfi coast three, Florence three, Venice two, with a night in transit somewhere sensible. One country, fourteen nights, and you will still leave things out.

Italy, Switzerland and France: Rome three, Florence two, Swiss Alps four, Paris four. Three countries, one direction, four bases — this is the classic grand tour and fourteen nights is the shortest length at which it is not punishing.

Central Europe: Prague three, Vienna three, Budapest three, with time to spare. Compact, well connected by train, considerably cheaper than western Europe, and much less visited by first-time Indian travellers than it deserves.

Greece properly: Athens three, then two islands at four or five nights each, with ferries planned around the timetable rather than in spite of it.

The itineraries that do not work

Five countries in ten nights. This is the most commonly sold and the most commonly regretted. It produces a photograph outside each landmark and no memory of any of them.

Paris and Rome in a week with anything else attached. Both cities need three nights minimum, and the journey between them is a flight or a long train, so a week holds the two of them and nothing more.

A different city every night on a rail pass. The pass encourages movement because movement feels like value; the holiday suffers.

The Alps in one day from a city. Reaching genuine mountain scenery and returning the same day means most of the day on trains, and weather can make the whole excursion pointless. Stay two nights in the mountains or leave them out.

The order to book things in

Fix the open-jaw flight first, because it determines the shape of everything. Then the intercity trains, particularly the fast services in France, Italy and Spain where reservations are compulsory and cheap fares vanish early. Then accommodation, which stays available longest.

Leave the day-to-day unbooked apart from the two or three attractions that genuinely require timed entry. Over-scheduling is the other way a good route becomes a bad holiday.

If you would rather not assemble this yourself, our Europe itineraries are built on the same routing logic, and the planning guide explains the reasoning behind each rule above.

Sources

• Short-stay calculator — the 90/180 rule for longer or repeated trips — European Commission, Migration and Home Affairs