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Our Europe Itinerary: 12 Days in Paris, Portugal, Budapest, Vienna & Prague
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items Our 12-day Europe itinerary covering Paris, Portugal, Budapest, Vienna, and Prague. This is the trip we actually planned, including our hotels, flights, trains, tours, sightseeing, shopping, restaurants, and the little logistics that helped us get fr...
Sections
12
1. 🇫🇷 Day 1 — Travel to Paris
2. 🇫🇷 Day 2 — Paris Arrival
3. 🇵🇹 Day 3 — Paris to Lisbon
4. 🇵🇹 Day 4 — Sintra, Pena Palace, Cabo da Roca & Cascais
5. 🇭🇺 Day 5 — Lisbon to Budapest
6. 🇭🇺 Day 6 — Exploring Budapest
1. 🇫🇷 Day 1 — Travel to Paris
✈️ Day 1: Flying to Europe on Points & Miles
We kicked off our Europe trip with an overnight Delta flight departing around 10 PM. Since I have the Delta SkyMiles Reserve American Express Card, we spent a few hours relaxing in the Delta Sky Club before boarding, and I was able to use my guest pa...
✈️ Day 1: Flying to Europe on Points & Miles
2. 🇫🇷 Day 2 — Paris Arrival
We checked into the Le Belgrand Hotel in the 16th arrondissement after arriving in Paris. It was our home base for our Paris stay and a convenient starting point for exploring the city.
The rooms were very small, but we made it work—especially with ...
🏨 Where We Stayed: Le Belgrand Hotel Paris Champs-Élysées
Customs at CDG took over an hour, so we were especially glad we’d arranged a private driver ahead of time. Our Welcome Pickups driver was waiting for us when we finally made it out, and we were taken directly from the airport to our hotel. With four ...
🚕 Our Private Transfer From CDG: Welcome Pickups
🗼 Eiffel Tower
After lunch, we walked to the Eiffel Tower. It was our first major Paris sightseeing stop, which made for a pretty memorable way to officially start the trip. We paid to take the stairs to the second level but opted to stop at level o...
🗼 Eiffel Tower
3. 🇵🇹 Day 3 — Paris to Lisbon
After a quick flight from Paris to Lisbon, we checked into our hotel, relaxed for a bit, and headed back out to explore. We had dinner, walked around the city, took a tuk tuk tour, grabbed ice cream, and got our first taste of Lisbon. The girls absol...
We checked out of the Le Belgrand Hotel and took our Welcome Pickups driver to BVA (Beauvais–Tillé Airport). From there, we flew Ryanair to Lisbon. The flight was about 2.5 hours, and then we took an Uber from the Lisbon airport to our hotel.
✈️ Flying From Paris to Lisbon: Ryanair | Official Ryanair website | Cheap flights in Europe
We checked into the InterContinental Lisbon by IHG and took some time to relax after traveling. After a little downtime, we headed back out to explore the city.
The InterContinental Lisbon was absolutely amazing and one of the hotels that really sto...
🏨 Where We Stayed: InterContinental Lisbon
This was easily one of the girls’ favorite parts of Lisbon! They absolutely loved riding through the city in the tuk tuk. They were singing along, dancing, and even getting people we passed to join in. 😂 It turned into so much more than just a sight...
🛺 Our Lisbon Tuk Tuk Tour
4. 🇵🇹 Day 4 — Sintra, Pena Palace, Cabo da Roca & Cascais
Day 4 was all about exploring beyond Lisbon. We took a full-day tour through Sintra, visiting Pena Palace, Quinta da Regaleira, Cabo da Roca, and Cascais. We loved getting to see the historic architecture, old furniture and decor, and the girls had a...
We loved this tour! It was an excellent experience for our family and especially fun for the girls. They really enjoyed seeing the old furniture, architecture, and decor inside the historic sites.
We were able to see everything included on the tour—...
🏰 Sintra, Pena Palace, Cabo da Roca, Regaleira & Cascais Tour
5. 🇭🇺 Day 5 — Lisbon to Budapest
We checked out of the InterContinental Lisbon and took an Uber to the airport for our flight to Budapest. After landing in Hungary, we walked over to the ibis Styles Budapest Airport, checked in, and had dinner at the hotel. After another travel day,...
We checked out of the InterContinental Lisbon and headed to the airport for our Ryanair flight to Budapest. The flight was about 2.5 hours, and everything went smoothly for us. After several busy days in Portugal, we were ready for our next adventure...
✈️ Flying From Lisbon to Budapest: Ryanair
The ibis Styles Budapest Airport was exactly what we needed for this stop. It wasn’t a five-star hotel, but it was clean, comfortable, and perfectly adequate for getting some sleep after our flight. The biggest perk was the location—it’s right by the...
🏨 Where We Stayed: ibis Styles Budapest Airport
After checking in, we kept things easy and had dinner at the restaurant in the hotel lobby. The food was decent and convenient after a travel day, which was exactly what we needed.
And of course, Hubby had to try some local Hungarian beers! 🍺🇭🇺 I...
🍽️ Dinner & Local Beer at ibis Styles Budapest Airport
6. 🇭🇺 Day 6 — Exploring Budapest
We started the morning with breakfast at the hotel and then headed into Budapest for a full day of exploring. Getting to Fisherman’s Bastion turned out to be a little more complicated than expected because a major football event had the city busy and...
Our original plan was to take an Uber to Fisherman’s Bastion, but there weren’t many Ubers or taxis available because a major football event had the city especially busy. We ended up walking to the bus stop near the airport and taking the bus into th...
🚌 Getting Around Budapest: City Bus
We made a quick stop at the famous Michael Jackson Tree while exploring Budapest. It’s a quirky little stop and an unexpected thing to see while walking around the city.
🌳 Michael Jackson Memorial Tree in Budapest
We came across a local outdoor Saturday market while exploring the city. It was a fun opportunity to see a little bit of everyday Budapest beyond the major tourist attractions.
🧺 Budapest Saturday's market
We spent most of the day exploring Budapest on foot and packed a lot into one sightseeing route. Starting around Buda Castle, we made our way through the Castle Labyrinth and Fisherman’s Bastion, then crossed the Széchenyi Chain Bridge and continued ...
🚶♀️ Budapest Walking Route: Our Major Sightseeing Stops
7. 🇦🇹 Day 7 — Budapest to Vienna
We said goodbye to Budapest and took a taxi to Keleti Railway Station for our train to Vienna. The train ride to Wien Hauptbahnhof (Wien HBF) took about 2.5 hours. Once we arrived, we walked from the station to the Austria Trend Parkhotel Schönbrunn....
We took a taxi to Keleti pu station in Budapest and caught our train to Vienna. The journey to Wien HBF took about 2.5 hours. Once we arrived, we walked from the station to our hotel, which made the transition between cities pretty easy.
🚆 Budapest to Vienna by Train: Keleti pu → Wien HBF
The Austria Trend Parkhotel Schönbrunn is a beautiful, historic-looking hotel and, at first glance, appeared to be very clean and well maintained. Unfortunately, our experience was mixed.
When we arrived, the staff handling our early check-in reques...
🏨 Where We Stayed: Austria Trend Parkhotel Schönbrunn
After dropping off our luggage, we walked over to Schönbrunn Palace. It was our first major stop in Vienna, and seeing the palace and grounds in person was a great introduction to the city. The kids had a blast in the children’s museum. Be sure to bo...
🏰 Schönbrunn Palace
8. 🇨🇿 Day 8 — Vienna to Prague
We absolutely loved the Michelangelo Grand Hotel—it was right up there with the InterContinental Lisbon as one of our favorite hotels of the trip. 🇨🇿
The location was excellent for exploring Prague, and our room and bathroom were extremely clean. ...
🏨 Where We Stayed: Michelangelo Grand Hotel Prague
We spent the day exploring Prague on foot, starting in Old Town Square and the Astronomical Clock, then making our way to Charles Bridge, St. Vitus Cathedral, and Prague Castle. There was so much beautiful architecture along the way that simply walki...
🏰 Our Prague Walking Tour: Old Town, Charles Bridge & Prague Castle
9. 🇫🇷 Day 9 — Prague to Paris
We flew from Prague back to Paris and returned to the same hotel we’d stayed at earlier in the trip. Thankfully, the AC was fixed and working this time! We spent the rest of the day taking it easy, walking around Paris, and popping into a few shops. ...
We stayed at the Le Belgrand again for our return to Paris. Thankfully, the AC was fixed and working this time, which made a huge difference after our experience during our first stay. We already knew the hotel and its location, so it was an easy pla...
🏨 Back to Le Belgrand Hotel — With Working AC! 😂
10. 🇫🇷 Day 10 — The Louvre & Paris Shopping
We took the Metro to the Louvre for our 9:30 AM timed entry and had our audio headsets prepaid. We were strategic about our visit: once inside, we went straight to the Mona Lisa to get our pictures before leisurely exploring the rest of the museum. W...
We had 9:30 AM timed-entry tickets and prepaid audio headsets, and we were very strategic about our visit. Once inside, we went straight to the Mona Lisa for our selfies before taking our time exploring the rest of the museum.
We spent about 2.5 hou...
🖼️ The Louvre Museum
We took the Metro to the Louvre for our morning entry. Using public transportation made it easy to get there for our timed 9:30 AM tickets without having to deal with Paris traffic.
🚇 Getting to the Louvre by Metro
After leaving the Louvre, we continued walking around Paris and browsing stores. One of our stops was the iconic Chanel boutique at 31 Rue Cambon—a fun shopping stop to add to a Paris itinerary, especially if you’re interested in fashion history and ...
👜 Chanel — 31 Rue Cambon
11. 🇫🇷 Day 11 — Paris Cooking Class & Last-Minute Shopping
Our final full day in Paris was a little slower and more experiential. We took an amazing cooking class where the kids learned about the history behind Madeleine’s, then spent some time shopping at Monoprix before wrapping up our last day in Europe. ...
Absolutely amazing experience! 👩🍳🇫🇷 The kids really enjoyed the class, and we loved that it was more than just cooking—they also learned the history behind Madeleines and how this French treat fits into the culture and traditions around it.
It ...
🍳 Our Paris Cooking Class Experience: Airbnb Experiences
After our cooking class, we did some last-minute shopping at Monoprix. It was an easy stop for picking up a few things before leaving Paris and a fun way to squeeze in some everyday French shopping before heading home. 🇫🇷🛍️
🛍️ Last-Minute Shopping at Monoprix
✈️ Day 12 — Leaving Paris & Airport Tax Refund
On our final morning, we checked out and headed to the airport for our flight home. One important thing we learned: if you’re claiming VAT refunds through Global Blue or Planet, make sure you complete the airport declaration process before checking i...
We had purchases to declare for our VAT/tax refund, so we had to take care of the declaration through Global Blue and Planet at the airport before checking in for our flight.
This is definitely one of those little Europe-trip logistics that is easy ...
💶 Airport VAT Refund: Global Blue & Planet