How to Visit 4 European Countries in a Week Without Over Packing Your Itinerary 

We agree that counting countries is not the point of travel — but exploring new cultures certainly is high on the list. Ideally, we would have weeks or months to slowly travel the globe, and that would be amazing. But when you’re short on time, you might want to survey a few countries, explore their unique cultures and history, and decide where you want to take a deeper dive later. 

You’ll want to see the attractions while also taking extra care to ensure you’re not spend all your time in transit and simply snapping photos and moving on to the next spot. Here’s how we had a rich experience in four countries on a recent trip to Europe without wasting too much time in transit. 

Fly Into Paris 

Paris is an easy arrival city from the US and Canada, and it’s well connected to much of Europe. 

Particularly if you’re flying into CDG airport, we highly recommend staying near Gare du Nord station. It is well connected to the airport, Brussels, and Amsterdam by train — and all of Paris by metro.

On this trip we stayed in a beautiful two-bedroom Airbnb that was just a short walk from Gare du Nord but also had a local neighborhood vibe on a quiet street with cafes and boulangeries nearby. It was also an easy walk to Montmartre, which was high on our list to explore this time.  

Accommodation Strategy

• Divide your stay between two major cities. This is an important aspect of the trip so that you are not spending all your time in transit. 
• We truly only had 1 week for this trip, which meant 1 night in the air on the way to Europe and 6 nights on the ground. 
• We decided to spend 3 nights in Paris and 3 nights in Barcelona. 
• If you can manage 8 nights on the ground (4 and 4), we highly recommend getting an extra day to explore each of these 2 beautiful cities.

Day 1: Arrive in Paris

✈️ When you arrive in Paris at Charles de Gaulle, take the train to Gare du Nord and secure your bags at the station, hotel, or Airbnb until check in. 

🚶‍♀️ Then take a long walk down to the gorgeous Luxembourg Gardens. This takes about an hour without stopping – but you should plan to make stops.

📸 Along the way, walk around Notre Dame Cathedral, and view the Seine River. 

🧀 Stop for some wine and cheese (or coffee and an omelette) at La Palette in Saint-Germain, and explore the Latin Quarter, as well as Luxembourg Gardens. 

🚊 Take the metro or an Uber back to your accommodation and get ready for dinner. 

🍽️ For dinner, find a bistro or brasserie near your accommodations. We had a wonderful meal at Terminus Nord. 

🍷 if you still have energy, duck down one of the many streets away from the train station and find a cafe for a night cap. Of course, we want to see the sights of Paris, but this is how we also got to meet locals and feel connected to the Paris that exists beyond the attractions. 

Day 2: Explore Paris 

🚶‍♀️ We love to walk, and Paris is a wonderful walking city, but it also has an easy metro system and readily available Ubers. So, make your way through the city in whatever way is most comfortable for you.

⛪️ We started our day with a walk over to the Montmartre area and explored Sacré-Cœur, the basilica that sits high on the hill above the city. 

🥪 Then we explored the quirky streets and shops of Montmartre and had a delicious croque madame at Fric-Frac. 

🌺 Next we traveled down to the Louvre and wondered through Tuileries Garden.

🖼️ After that, we crossed the Seine River for our timed entry into our favorite museum in the world, Musee d’Orsay, to view the sculptures, architecture, and most impressive impressionist exhibit you can find. 

🌃 Next, we took a slow walk down the Seine and made our way to the Eiffel Tower. We think the best time to check it out is before sunset, so you can see its beauty in the daylight and its sparkles at night. The tower is lit up all night — but it sparkles every hour on the hour (if it’s functioning properly).

🍷 🧀 🍇 You can also have a picnic at Champ de Mars with an extraordinary view of the tower. This blog does a great job of explaining how. 

💎 If you want to go bougie, you can have dinner in the Eiffel Tower at Madame Brasserie or the 2 Michelin-starred Jules Verne. 

Day 3: Take the Train to Brussels

🚂 Today we travel to country #2. The capital of Belgium is just a 90-minute train ride from Paris out of Gare du Nord, making it an easy day trip. 

🚗 When you arrive in Brussels, the easiest thing to do is grab an Uber to the heart of town (the walk was a bit desolate). But public transport is also available.

🎨 Get dropped off at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium and explore the museum. 

🏰 We walked over to the Grand Palace — the main square here with the town hall is absolutely stunning. We literally watched everyone’s jaw drop as they popped around the corner and took in its majesty. 

🤷‍♀️ Find the quirky famous Manneken-Pis and its female counterpart Jeanneke-Pis.

🍺 Experience Belgian beer culture with a lambic at A La Bécasse, which was founded in 1877, or the famous Delirium Café, which serves more than 2,000 beers from around the world. 

🍫 Wander through the Royal Gallery of Saint Hubert — a luxurious 19th-century shopping arcade with boutiques, cafes, and chocolate shops. 

🧇 🍟 Try the famous foods of Belgium, including waffles, chocolate, fries, and mussels. 

🥘 Since we were short on time, we opted for a private food tour through WithLocals, which was fantastic. Our local guide walked us through town, talked about the history of Belgium, and stopped for tasty bites along the way. We highly recommend it, but if you’re on a budget, you can also build your own food tour with these tips.

🧆 Surprisingly, one of our favorite stops was Mr. Falafel 😃 

🚂 We headed back to Paris on a night train with enough time to stop at another neighborhood cafe for a glass of wine before heading to bed. 

Day 4: Relocate to Barcelona

🧳 We packed up and headed to country #3, Spain, today on an early afternoon flight so we didn’t have to start the day too early (this is a vacation, after all). 

✈️ Transportation tip: While you can take a train to Barcelona, a budget flight on Vueling was the easiest, fastest, and least expensive option — and it worked out great. Pro tip: Paris has three major airports. We actually prefer Orly, but for the ease of this itinerary, you’ll want to be sure you are booking out of CDG, so you can hop the train from Gare du Nord back to the airport. Ryanair flies out of BVA, which is much farther away.

🏨 Hotel tip: We loved Ohla Barcelona. It’s located in the heart of the city. The rooms are modern and comfortable – and the staff is so kind and helpful. It also has a fantastic rooftop pool and bar with great views and tapas.

Day 5: Explore Barcelona 

🚶‍♀️ Barcelona is such a great city to explore on foot: wander through the Gothic Quarter, stroll down La Rambla, and people watch at Plaça Reial.

🏖 You can also relax at Barceloneta Beach or go for a run and enjoy the novelty of having a beach right at the edge of a major city.

✨ Of course, you will also want to check out all the fantastical architecture from Antoni Gaudí, including La Sagrada Familia and Park Güell. We highly recommend making these plans and securing tickets in advance.

😋 Eat all the tapas. Our favorite spot was Tapeo Barcelona in the El Born district, which offers a modern twist on traditional Catalan and Spanish tapas. 

👓 You can read more details about our top 8 things to do in Barcelona here.

Day 6: Take a Day Trip to Andorra la Vella 

🚗 We jumped at the opportunity to add the small mountain nation of Andorra, country #4 on this trip, to our list of UN countries. There are several ways you can get to Andorra from Barcelona, which is about a 3-hour drive. You can rent a car, take a bus, or hop on a tour. We decided to hire a private guide, which was the best option for us: comfortable, relaxing, and informative. Out guide was great.

⛰We stopped in several locations on the private tour in Spain, France, and Andorra, and learned about the shared interests in Andorra between its two larger neighbors.

🍖 Andorra is known for beef and our stop for lunch at Manacor did not disappoint. 

😲We were actually quite surprised at how big and vibrant the capital city of Andorra la Vella felt. It’s a lovely mix of old and new with cute restaurants, historical buildings, viewpoints, and of course, shopping.

🧾 Read all about our day trip to Andorra here.

Day 7: Make the Journey Home

✈ We had an evening flight out of Paris, so it was easy to hop a budget flight back from Barcelona in time for our international departure – but you can also look into flying direct from the US or Canada into Paris and direct home from Barcelona for ease of travel.

We hope this inspired you to do a survey of Europe on your next trip – and we also hope you’ll take the time to explore your favorite locations in more detail. Happy travels!

Next up: Is a Trip to the Azores Worth It? How to Plan a Perfect Getaway