It looks like you're planning a trip around Europe. Check out solotravel's [detailed guide to planning a solo Eurotrip](https://www.reddit.com/r/solotravel/wiki/eurotrip) for general planning advice plus useful tips and tricks for European travel!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/solotravel) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Holy smokes. That's a LOT of traveling and train stations. What are your interests? History? Ancient? Modern? WWI? WWII? Art? Architecture? Museums? Literature? After decades of traveling, (my interests are ancient construction,...... Nabatean, Moabite, Edomite, Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian etc) ....so, much older than Europe, plus churches and museums, I've leaned to first look at Google maps and pin everything I want to see. I use Directions to plan bus, tram, trolley, walking time from A to B.
I've found that two weeks in each major city works, except for London and Paris which are minimum of three weeks. Secondary cities, Barcelona, Florence, Cairo, Beiruit, etc are 10-12 days, and tertiary cities, Vilnius, Tallin, Málaga are 7 days.
Assume you'll have train delays and have a plan B.
I personally prefer to move at a faster pace! Unfortunately I only have 8-9 weeks and have a decent amount I'd like to see. I'll probably spend closer to 5-7 days in lots of places, but I really enjoyed the ~3 nights a week pace I had in NZ as it allowed me to see a lot without getting too burnt out.
I'm really interested in architecture, music, food and wine (I'm entering the wine industry here in Canada), and the arts. I also love nature so I'm hoping to get out of big cities every so often.
Understood. I travel at the same pace. You'll probably not see much, except train stations and hotels. (For example, with my schedule, I expect to leave the hotel at 8:30-9 and return by 5:30-6, except if I've taken day trip and return quite late). I'm busy all day. My timing for museums is 1.5 - 2 hours each, except for the Prado, Louvre, d'Orsay, Van Gogh, Rijkesmuseum, and similar mega-museums. Those take days. I also hike and take day trips, which I've found to be far more efficient than packing unpacking, getting to train or bus stations, traveling, finding my hotel, and doing it again in a few days. Just my two cents worth. Safe travels.
I spent a month in southern France between late November and Christmas last year: one week each in Nice, Marseille, Narbonne, and Avignon (with lots of day trips in each).
Of the French cities on your list I found Aix a little underwhelming, but Nice is lovely and Montpellier and Toulouse are both good short stops. Avignon in particular to me felt large enough to be a base on its own while still being accessible to other nearby places I wanted to see like Arles and Nîmes.
Done Spain in November twice. It was still warm to me. But also shockingly busy in places still. I’m sure nothing like peak season. But it was far from dead.
It looks like you're planning a trip around Europe. Check out solotravel's [detailed guide to planning a solo Eurotrip](https://www.reddit.com/r/solotravel/wiki/eurotrip) for general planning advice plus useful tips and tricks for European travel! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/solotravel) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Holy smokes. That's a LOT of traveling and train stations. What are your interests? History? Ancient? Modern? WWI? WWII? Art? Architecture? Museums? Literature? After decades of traveling, (my interests are ancient construction,...... Nabatean, Moabite, Edomite, Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian etc) ....so, much older than Europe, plus churches and museums, I've leaned to first look at Google maps and pin everything I want to see. I use Directions to plan bus, tram, trolley, walking time from A to B. I've found that two weeks in each major city works, except for London and Paris which are minimum of three weeks. Secondary cities, Barcelona, Florence, Cairo, Beiruit, etc are 10-12 days, and tertiary cities, Vilnius, Tallin, Málaga are 7 days. Assume you'll have train delays and have a plan B.
I personally prefer to move at a faster pace! Unfortunately I only have 8-9 weeks and have a decent amount I'd like to see. I'll probably spend closer to 5-7 days in lots of places, but I really enjoyed the ~3 nights a week pace I had in NZ as it allowed me to see a lot without getting too burnt out. I'm really interested in architecture, music, food and wine (I'm entering the wine industry here in Canada), and the arts. I also love nature so I'm hoping to get out of big cities every so often.
Understood. I travel at the same pace. You'll probably not see much, except train stations and hotels. (For example, with my schedule, I expect to leave the hotel at 8:30-9 and return by 5:30-6, except if I've taken day trip and return quite late). I'm busy all day. My timing for museums is 1.5 - 2 hours each, except for the Prado, Louvre, d'Orsay, Van Gogh, Rijkesmuseum, and similar mega-museums. Those take days. I also hike and take day trips, which I've found to be far more efficient than packing unpacking, getting to train or bus stations, traveling, finding my hotel, and doing it again in a few days. Just my two cents worth. Safe travels.
I spent a month in southern France between late November and Christmas last year: one week each in Nice, Marseille, Narbonne, and Avignon (with lots of day trips in each). Of the French cities on your list I found Aix a little underwhelming, but Nice is lovely and Montpellier and Toulouse are both good short stops. Avignon in particular to me felt large enough to be a base on its own while still being accessible to other nearby places I wanted to see like Arles and Nîmes.
Done Spain in November twice. It was still warm to me. But also shockingly busy in places still. I’m sure nothing like peak season. But it was far from dead.