Europe looks easy on a map. Countries sit close together, trains cross borders and low-cost airlines promise to take you almost anywhere in a couple of hours. That apparent simplicity is often what makes planning difficult. It is very easy to build a trip that includes three countries and very little time in any of them. We have made that mistake ourselves. A route looks efficient until you count the checkouts, journeys to airports, security queues and time spent finding your bearings in each new place. Our Europe guides come from years of travelling around the continent, living in Ireland, growing up in Italy and now calling Portugal home. We cover destinations from Finland and Iceland in the north to Greece and Malta in the south, with trips based around cities, road travel, food and the places that deserve more time than most itineraries give them. Three or four days is enough for one city. A week works for a city and its surrounding region. With ten to fourteen days, you can travel through one country properly or connect two neighbouring destinations without rushing through both. European regions covered in this guide Dividing Europe into regions helps with planning, although the type of trip matters just as much as the geography. Ireland and Iceland both work well by car. Germany, Austria and Switzerland are much easier to connect by train. Southern Europe needs more attention to heat and peak-season crowds. Northern Europe and the North Atlantic We would never plan Finland without deciding what kind of season we wanted first. A winter visit to Helsinki or Lapland has very little in common with a summer trip through the lake regions. Snow and short days define winter, while summer gives you long evenings, outdoor markets and much easier access to nature. The first thing to accept about Iceland is that the road will take up a large part of the trip. Reykjavik is compact. The waterfalls, glaciers, geothermal areas and volcanic landscapes most people travel for are spread across the country. Trying to fit too many of them into a short stay usually means seeing Iceland through a windscreen. Ireland was home for many years, so we know how misleading its distances can be. A drive that looks short can take hours once narrow roads, villages and unplanned stops are added. Dublin is easy without a car. The west coast, peninsulas and smaller towns need more time and are usually easier to explore by driving. Our United Kingdom coverage currently focuses on Scotland and England . Scotland makes the most sense when a city stay is paired with one specific area, such as Aberdeenshire or the Isle of Skye. England works well for shorter trips to historic cities such as Cambridge and Stratford-upon-Avon, which can be reached without building an entire national itinerary. Germany is straightforward when the trip connects major cities. Berlin Berlin, Stuttgart and Munich sit within a strong rail network. Vineyards, forest routes and smaller towns are a different proposition, and this is where driving becomes more useful. Austria is one of the easiest countries in this collection to plan as a city-and-nature trip. Vienna and Salzburg connect well by train, and either can be paired with lakes or mountains. The mistake is assuming that Salzburg only needs a quick stop between Vienna and somewhere else. The city and its surrounding landscapes can easily occupy three days. You can travel around Switzerland very comfortably without renting a car. Trains, mountain railways, buses and boats connect places that would be complicated to reach elsewhere. The greater challenge is cost. Choosing one alpine area and one city usually makes more sense than repeatedly crossing the country. Southern Europe As Italians, our strongest advice for Italy is to stop treating it as one trip. Rome and Naples can fill a week together. Sicily, Puglia, Tuscany, the Dolomites and the northern lakes each need their own itinerary. Moving quickly between famous cities gives you the monuments but very little understanding of how different Italy becomes from one region to the next. Portugal is home now, and living here has made us much more aware of how often visitors reduce the country to Lisbon and Porto. Those cities are the obvious gateways, but the Algarve, Alentejo, Madeira, the Azores and the interior create completely different trips. Even Lisbon changes once you choose a neighbourhood based on how the city actually works rather than proximity to a single attraction. Spain also makes more sense by region. Andalucía alone can fill ten days. Barcelona and Catalonia belong to another journey, as do the Basque Country, Galicia and central Spain. High-speed trains make it possible to connect distant cities, but that does not always produce the best route. In Greece , island planning should start with ferry connections rather than a list of famous names. Islands that look close may have no convenient direct service. Athens, Meteora, the Peloponnese and northern Greece also deserve space in a country that is too often treated as Athens plus a beach. Malta is compact enough to explore from one base. Valletta, Mdina, the coast and Gozo can fit into a short trip, although traffic and bus times make the islands feel larger than expected. Four or five days works for Malta itself. A week allows Gozo to feel like part of the trip instead of a rushed excursion. Bucharest works well as a short city break, but Romania becomes much more interesting once you travel through Transylvania, the Carpathians and its smaller towns. Public transport can get you between the main centres. A car gives you the freedom to stop at villages, castles and mountain landscapes between them. Moldova asks for a slower approach. Chișinău, the wine cellars, monasteries and countryside are the main reasons to go. It receives far fewer visitors than its western neighbours, and much of the experience comes from local food, wine and conversations rather than a long list of major attractions. Planning your trip to Europe The best European routes follow geography and transport. The number of countries matters far less than the time required to move between them. Trains are ideal when they carry you directly from one city centre to another. They become less useful when the places you want to see are rural, coastal or scattered across a large area. Flights only save time when the full journey is considered. Reaching the airport, checking in and travelling into the next city can turn a short flight into most of a day. We would choose a four-hour direct train over a one-hour flight in many parts of Europe. Ireland needs a clear regional plan once you leave Dublin. Trying to include Cork, Kerry, Galway, Donegal and Northern Ireland in a week creates far too much driving. The practical side of planning an Ireland trip starts with deciding which part of the country matters most to you. In Iceland, the route depends on season, daylight and road conditions. Accommodation outside Reykjavik is limited in some areas, so planning Iceland in advance gives you more control over the pace. Best itinerary for Europe A good European itinerary gives you several consecutive nights in the same place. If every morning begins with packing a suitcase, the route is too busy. Three days works for Dublin, Vienna, Lisbon or Salzburg. A three-day Salzburg itinerary gives enough time for the old town and nearby landscapes without treating the city as a quick railway stop. Ireland needs more time as soon as the west coast is included. A week in western Ireland can combine Dublin with a focused Atlantic route. A 14-day circuit around Ireland gives towns such as Kilkenny, Killarney and Galway enough time to feel like places rather than overnight stops. Ten days in Iceland works for Reykjavik, the Golden Circle and the South Coast. Travelling farther around the island is more comfortable with twelve days or longer. Our 12-day Iceland route leaves some room for weather and long driving days. For a multi-country trip, Germany, Austria and Switzerland fit together more naturally than capitals chosen from opposite sides of Europe. Portugal and western Spain can also share a route if border connections are checked carefully. Driving in Europe A car is valuable when it gets you somewhere public transport cannot reach easily. In well-connected cities, it usually creates parking costs and unnecessary stress. Ireland, Iceland, Scotland and Romania are the countries in this collection where we would most seriously consider driving. Germany, Austria and Switzerland are easier without a car when the trip focuses on cities and main railway routes. Ireland, the United Kingdom and Malta drive on the left. The other countries covered here drive on the right. Rental terms should also be checked for cross-border travel, insurance exclusions, mileage limits and additional drivers. In Ireland, we would choose a small car. Many rural roads are narrow, and a larger vehicle provides little advantage. The details around insurance and local driving are covered in our experience of renting a car in Ireland . The right Ireland road-trip route depends on whether you have a week, two weeks or longer. Iceland’s Ring Road is easy to follow in suitable weather, but conditions can change quickly. Some roads close seasonally, and the route should always have space for delays. This is built into our 12-day Iceland road trip . Romania gives you more flexibility than Iceland, although mountain roads and rural detours still take time. A Romanian road trip is far better with conservative daily distances than a schedule built around kilometres alone. When to visit Europe There is no month when every part of Europe is at its best. May can be perfect for Italy and too early for some northern or mountain routes. August works for a beach holiday and can be exhausting for sightseeing in southern cities. July and August bring heat, crowds and higher accommodation prices to much of southern Europe. They still work for the coast and islands, but cities such as Rome, Seville, Lisbon and Athens require a slower daily rhythm. Ireland is never completely predictable. June and early July usually provide the longest days without the same visitor pressure as August, although rain remains possible at any time. Our experience of Ireland in summer explains what the season changes and what it does not. Winter works when winter itself is the reason for travelling. Helsinki, Iceland and the Alps need warm clothing, flexible plans and realistic expectations around daylight. In exchange, you get snow, winter food, Christmas markets and landscapes that look completely different from summer. How many days do you need in Europe? Seven to ten days is enough for one city and a surrounding region. Two weeks works better for a national road trip or two neighbouring countries. Ireland, Iceland, Italy and Spain can each fill two weeks easily. Malta needs four to seven days. Portugal works well over ten days if Lisbon, Porto and one additional region are included. The quickest way to improve most European itineraries is to remove one stop. Those extra nights leave room for weather changes, longer meals and places you only discover after arriving. Budget for travelling in Europe Labels such as “cheap Europe” and “expensive Europe” can be misleading. Season, accommodation and the speed of the route often matter more than the country. A Mediterranean resort in August can cost more than a city stay in spring. Icelandic cars and rural hotels also rise sharply during summer, while major events can push up prices in almost any European city. Fast itineraries are usually expensive. Additional flights, seat reservations, airport transfers and one-night stays create costs that disappear when you spend longer in fewer places. Europe cannot be understood through a list of national cuisines. Recipes, ingredients and eating habits often change within a few hours of travel. As Italians, we would never place Roman and Neapolitan food under one generic description of Italian cooking. Rome has carbonara, cacio e pepe, artichokes, supplì and a strong tradition of using every part of the animal. The food people actually eat in Rome is tied closely to the city and its history. Naples has its own rules. Pizza is central, but so are fried snacks, seafood, pasta, pastries and cheap food eaten on the street. Knowing what to eat in Naples takes you far beyond choosing a famous pizzeria. Living in Portugal has taught us how much local food still depends on region. Coastal towns cook around fish and seafood. The interior relies more heavily on pork, bread, cheese, beans and slow-cooked dishes. The country’s traditional Portuguese food makes far more sense once you know where each dish comes from. In Greece, the food of the islands differs from the northern mainland, Crete and the Peloponnese. Olive oil and vegetables provide a common thread, while pies, meat, seafood and local cheeses change as you move. The range is clear in these Greek foods and drinks . Finnish cooking follows the climate. Fish, rye, berries, mushrooms and game appear because they belong to the landscape and survive the seasons. The foods eaten in Finland are often simple, filling and closely connected to what can be grown, caught or preserved. Malta sits between several food traditions. 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