TRAVEL DESTINATION: 2 WEEKS IN EUROPE ITINERARY

My epic first Europe Itinerary for 2 weeks! 

Traveling is exhilarating! it Is one of my favorite hobbies! As the type A personally that I am, I loveeee planning and organizing. Planning a vacation for me is a BLAST! BUT, I know it can be overwhelming. There are soooo many amazing places to visit and see!

Which is why, I put together my trip details to help you get a better idea of where you want to go and where to stay.

Here is my Amazing 2 week journey, from where I went, ate, and stayed!! this is a huge help if you are traveling to Europe for the first time and want an amazing EXPERIENCE! I will keep posting all my travel journeys for those who are as hyped up about traveling as I am.

This post is all about my Europe itinerary for 2 weeks through Italy & Spain. 

This post will give you a step-by-step on where I went. But First, here are a few tips when traveling abroad.

1. Location

This is the very first step on the list. One of the things that I kept in mind was the weather and location. I was traveling during a chilly season, I wanted to make sure it was a good temperature for me to travel. I always wanted to visit Italy, France & Spain. I choose to do Italy & Spain for my two weeks, as I felt the weather was best (it truly was).

2. Time in each destination

Once you have the location, you can choose where you want to go. Be mindful of the length of each city, you want to see everything you can without Feeling rushed. Off-Course!! you might not be able to see it all.

3. Budget!

If you are traveling to Europe, have a great time! you will not want to count pennies every time you are going to eat. But when it comes to the big expenses, you will need to budget! I set aside a specific amount for Hotels, Travel, excursions, etc. I also set a realistic amount for food and miscellaneous purchases. Keep track of every expense before your trip!

4. Plan Ahead

This was very important. I bought my airline tickets about 3 months in advance and got all our hotels, and transportation about 2 months prior. This was great to help me budget and it allowed me to research everything since I did have plenty of time.

THE BIG TRIP!

For my two weeks, I went to Italy & Spain. IT WAS AMAZING!!!!

We went to Rome, Florence, Milan, Madrid, and Barcelona. 

Traveling within Europe is really cheap! so we took trains within the country and then flew from Milan to Madrid and another train to Barcelona. Each ticket was less than $20!! which was amazing.

When traveling to Europe, you want to make sure you stay at a good location. You will be walking A LOT! having a hotel near the metro will make it soooo much easier to get around.

You will be traveling a lot via metro and bus. I HIGHLY recommend google maps. It will show you what train or bus line you need to take. Make sure you have an international plan or get a SIM card. Trust me, you do not want to get lost!

Here are the places I traveled to and what I saw in each area. There is a lot to see, I am sure I missed a few things. But I made sure to not miss the TOP items in each place!

ITALY!

Rome:

One of my favorite places. I am sooo glad I went here, we stayed for a total of 4 days and stayed at a really nice, small hotel called Piazza di Spagna Suite de Charme. It was a really cute hotel that was right next to the Piazza di Spagna. This was a phenomenal location! the hotel was a very small boutique hotel. Which means there was no lobby or a big building. The hotel had a total of 6 rooms. It was really nice, super cozy, and remodeled. the best thing, was it had a small cafe right next to it that was perfect for breakfast and the metro was 2 minutes walk. Highly recommend this place!!! it was a great price for its location.

In Rome this is literally everything we did:

• Walk around Piazza di Spagna
• Visit Fuente de Trevi
• Eat Pizza in Sorbillo
• Vatican Museum (Expect to be here for at least 4 hours)
• St. Peters Basilica (Highly recommend you go up, expect hallow hallways and many many steps)
• Castillo San Angelo
• Piazza Navona
• Trastevere Area (great place to go and eat dinner). I went to Tonnarello and ate Amatriciana.
• Have an ice cream or eat crepes in Gelateria la Romana.
• Coliseo
• Foro Romano
• Pantheon
• Arco Constantine
• La Cannoleria Siciliana (AMAZING CANNOLIS, super far though)
• Orificio de la Cerraduran (Not many people know about this, but experience the Vatican city through a peephole!!! Getting there is a bit challenging)

Firenze (AKA Florence)

Florence was my favorite place overall. It is BEAUTIFUL! we took a train from Italiarail and we were there in less than 2 hours! FYI, Florence is Firenze, that is how they pronounce it. We were sooo confused at first!!

This was one of the best places we saw, we were close to everything and there really is no metro. So we walked everywhere! make sure you stay in a good location. We mostly looked for hotels near the Dome. We stayed at a hotel called Il Perseo, it was 9 minutes walking from the station and 2 minutes walking to the dome. This was by far the best location!! the hotel was okay, it had a nice balcony. I would 100% stay here again and recommend it. The location was just AMAZING!

Here are some places we saw:

• Dome (Recommend you go up to see the view, there are a lot of steps here too!)
• Ufici museum
• Ponte Vecchio ( good to walk around)
• Galleria Academia
• Giardino Bardini
• All Antico Vinaio (Sandwhich shop! MUST GO)
• Osteria Del Cinghiale (Restaurante, make reservations before)

Milan

Milan is where we stayed the least. I felt 2 days was enough, but definitely a great city that I recommend visiting. My hotel here was not a 10/10. The hotel itself was good, but the location was not the greatest. I recommend staying near the central station. In Milan, I stayed in a B&B chain hotel Milano Sant’Ambrogio.

• Duomo milano (Walk to the rooftop)
• Castello sforzesco
• Santa Maria delle Grazie ( to see the last supper)
• Galleria Vittorio Emanuele
• Parco Sempione
• Naviglio (great to walk and have dinner)

SPAIN!

Madrid:

I completely fell in love with Madrid! it helped that I had friends to show me around. But it is definitely a place I would go back to 100%. I would really recommend you go to Toledo or Segovia! it is a great day trip with a 2-hour train ride on the outskirts of Madrid. I stayed at a friend’s house here, but I recommend you stay near La Gran Via, Puerta Alcala.

Here are the places I went to see:

• Plaza del sol
• Plaza Mayor
• Plaza Santa Ana
• Mercado de San Miguel (Really touristy/expensive, but really good experience)
• El Palacio Real
• Templo de debod
• La Gran Via (Great to shop)
• Plaza Cibeles
• Puerta Alcala
• Museo Prado
• Platea (great for nights)
• Bernabeu
• La Primera (Restaurant with an Amazing view! great for breakfast)

There are sooo many places to see and eat in Madrid! I will create a post with my favorite restaurants here that I recommend. But definitely go to La Primera & Platea, it is a great experience.

Barcelona:

There is sooo much to see in Barcelona. I went in the middle of March and it was a bit chilly, I truly recommend going during a warmer time. But whenever you go, you will fall in love. I recommend staying near the gothic quarter or by Las Ramblas. We stayed at a hotel called Hotel Barcelona Apolo, Affiliated by Melia. The hotel was great and right in front (LITERALLY) of the metro and bus!!!

• La Sagrada Familia
• Parque Guell
• Mercado de la Boqueria
• Arco de triunfo
• Casa Batllo
• Port Vell
• Bormuth (Great Bar to drink and eat tapas)
• Casa Milla
• Monthjuic
• Iglesia Maria del Mar
• Xureria (BEST CHURROS EVERRRRR!!!)

Overall I had an amazing time. The food in Italy was AMAZING, I ateeee sooo much and had Gelato at least once a day. Do not plan to diet! Spain is mostly tapas, which I love. If you are in Spain, make sure to order a “Clarita”, which is a beer with lime juice. It is very typical in Spain and super refreshing. I do not like beer, but I love a clarita.

If you are planning a trip to Europe my tip is to investigate a lot. There are sooo many things to see and you will feel overwhelmed. You will need a day to relax or replenish after walking so much. In Rome, we walked about 32,000 steps a day!!!!! CRAZYYYYYY. We planned our days before the trip, at least the big items we wanted to see. I recommend booking all the big ticket items (Vatican, Colosseum, Sagrada Familia, etc) in the morning. We scheduled all the tours for 9 AM, which is early! but it meant we were done by noon and we avoided the big crowds.

For these big excursions, you will need to book in advance. You can try to book a tour, but they are wayyyy more expensive. We really just got the entrance ticket and that was it! The only tour we paid for was the Colosseum and Roman Forum. For everything else, we did a normal entrance and went through it ourselves. Try to get the tickets at least 1 week in advance, they typically sell out fast in peak season.