I’m planning my first trip to Europe, and I’m overwhelmed with all the options, especially how long to stay and where to go. I was thinking about a 12-day trip, and some must-see places are France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Portugal. Can anyone share some insights? Is 12 days enough? Should I include other countries?
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Congrats on your first Euro-trip! I think 12 days is a great amount of time, but how much you see depends on how fast-paced you like your vacation. I would say for me, I like to stay at least 3 days in one place, to have a chance to check out major sights, maybe take an adventure in the local area and one day to pretend I live there.
So with 12 days, I would personally keep the trip to 3-4 destinations max. And you have to consider travel days as well which will cut into your time in each place.
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If you are like me and like to visit as many places as possible - I recommend looking into something like this Europe Escape by Expat Explore Travel with 856 Tour Reviews (Code: EE:12) - TourRadar - you won’t regret it! it will save you so much time and headaches! I personally love fast paced trips because it makes my travel time more valuable 
but if you like something a bit more peaceful then yes you will need to leave a few countries out!
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12 days is not a lot of time for all of those countries, you have to think of getting to each place as well. France, Germany, Netherlands and Italy are fairly close together but Portugal is your outlier.
I would focus on the first four and the trip @micatravels suggested looks great or something like that and then come back and do Spain and Portugal together as one!
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I agree that for 12 days I would stick to 3 or 4 places. It also depends if you think you will be back to Europe. If this is a one and done type trip then cram as much in as you can or use it to see some of the top sights and come back another time for more
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I’m not a big multi-country traveller. I like staying at one destination and spending 12 to 14 days there to truly experience the culture. I’ll often stay at multiple different regions within the same country to mix things up.
With that said, I also get the value of seeing a bunch of great destinations in one visit. If you are going to go the multi-country route, give yourself more time than you think (14 days minimum) and only stick to a few countries (3 or 4). It also gives you an excuse to go back to Europe next year to go to the other countries you missed!
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Hey @maria!
When I did my first trip to Europe it was about 12 days too. My tip for a first time is try not to cram as many cities or countries in as possible. It becomes a whirlwind 
As was mentioned above, travelling between these countries can also waste some time.
What I did was, I went to countries next to each other. France, Belgium and the Netherlands. This gave me more than enough time to enjoy each country but also see multiple cities in some and not waste time on travelling (back then I travelled by bus).
I would suggest going to 10 Best Europe Tours & Trips 2025/2026 - TourRadar and then filter for three of the countries next to each other you definitely want to see, and see what tours are on offer. For example out of your list, France, Germany and the Netherlands are next to each other so I would start there.
Enjoy your first Euro-trip!
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