Hellobee Boards

Awesome! What are you looking for? Beach/ mountains, beer, wine, big cities, small towns?
Are you going to be train, fly, dive, cycle between destinations?

Love going to Europe in April. I would do northern spain (Basque country) and southern France. We went to San Sebastian for a few days and I wish I had more time in that area to explore. If your foodies at all this would be a perfect place to go. There is a Guggenheim museum in Bilbao close by. San Sebastian is right on the boarder of france and Bordeaux is close!

I backpacked Europe in the month of May. Mid-May in Paris was still pretty chilly - we were in jeans and jackets. We did a day trip to the Loire Valley and it was downright COLD.

Italy and Spain had perfect weather, though. Barcelona, though touristy, has great food and the architecture is 2nd-to-none. If I could do it again, I'd have made a bigger effort to go to Southern Italy.

I would pick Spain & Italy, so many great cities and scenery there Of course you could always come and see us in the U.K.!

I've done loops in Spain (Barcelona, Bilbao, Toledo, Madrid, Cordoba), France (Paris, Normandie, Bourgogne), Greece (Athens, Santorini, Paros, Mykonos), and Germany/Austria/CR (Berlin, Vienna, Prague, Munich). The Spain and Germany trips were probably my favorite, though they had very different vibes. Berlin and Barcelona are probably my two favorite European cities. As an American woman, I found Germany and Austria some of the easiest countries to navigate culturally and linguistically.

I backpacked Europe in July so the weather was warmer then, but I second Spain and Italy. So beautiful, gorgeous weather, mix of cities and beaches... In those countries we did Barcelona, Madrid, malaga, Venice, Florence, Rome, Sorrento and Pompeii.

@Truth Bombs: 90% of Greece is tourists right now.... my facebook feed is basically all of Melbourne's Greek community holidaying in Greece. Take a bit of extra cash and no problem. There's not political unrest through the country, bar some protests in front of parliament in Athens from time to time (which has been going on for years anywhoo)

April-May will likely still be fairly cool in much of Europe. Spain and France or just Italy sound like good options for a 2 week trip. Keep in mind that travel by train can take awhile and eat into your time, depending on the route, so you may look into overnight trains or fly with low cost carriers like Easyjet, Ryanair or Vueling. But you will probably be able to find deals on national carriers too since it will still be the off season.

@daniellemybelle: yes I do think that will be too much, with travel time between locations you will only get a few days in each spot which really isn't enough. If you want to cover that much ground I would just pick one country or the other. But it also depends on how you like travel! Some people like doing things more quickly. I enjoy staying in one place a bit longer (5 days or so) to really get to know it.

@lady grey: Another vote for Tangier! North Africa is amazing.

Do you want to fly in and out of diff airports or were you hoping to do round trip? A lot of flights are pretty cheap so if you want to see two or three different countries it might be worth flying. We've done Ryan air super cheap and it was a fine flight but they have airports in weird spots so sometimes it's hard to get to.

@lady grey: I love this idea! Andalucia, Lisbon, Tangier. That way you get a boat ride in as well. I haven't been to Andalucia, but Lisbon is a gorgeous city with incredible seafood, and Tangier is fantastic - such a cool mixture of European influences and Moroccan culture.

@looch: Sweden and Norway are awesome but sooooo expensive. We go to sweden every few years because we have family and friends there and it is crazy expensive. Food alone is outrageous. and Norway is worse!

@looch: oh yeah Switzerland is expensive too!

@T.H.O.U.: me too, I love it there! DH and I are dying to go back. We didn't rent a car last time so I really want to go back and explore the area around the city.

@daniellemybelle: Actually I think it'd be better in the spring than any other season. We went in the summer and it was unbearably hot. Looks like the weather would be in the 60s and 70s in the spring. Perfect!

@daniellemybelle: Don't miss the mosque at Córdoba!