How The Pieces Connect
Some of these cities are three hours apart by train. Others are only reachable by air. That shapes the route more than anything else on this site.
Trains Flights Borders Winter daylight
Directional, not gospel
Journey times are current typical durations and will hold roughly true, but schedules, operators, and border rules all change. Re-check everything once dates are set.
🚆 Getting between cities
The single most useful fact in planning this trip: some of these cities are 2–3 hours apart by train, and others are only reachable by air. That shapes the route more than anything else.
Fast and easy — take the train
| Route | Time | Operator |
|---|---|---|
| London → Paris | 2h20 | Eurostar |
| Paris → Amsterdam | 3h20 | Eurostar |
| London → Amsterdam | ~4h | Eurostar |
| Rome → Naples | ~1h10 | Trenitalia / Italo |
| Rome → Florence | ~1h30 | Trenitalia / Italo |
| Madrid → Barcelona | ~2h30 | Renfe AVE |
| Madrid → Seville | ~2h30 | Renfe AVE |
| Seville → Granada | ~2h30 | Renfe |
| Madrid → Granada | ~3h30 | Renfe |
All of these are city center to city center with no airport transfer and no security queue worth the name. A three-hour train usually beats a one-hour flight door to door — see Trains or budget flights? for why.
Fly — rail is impractical or slow
| Route | Time |
|---|---|
| Athens → Rome | ~2h |
| Athens → Barcelona | ~3h |
| Athens → London | ~3h30 |
| Rome → Barcelona | ~2h |
| Barcelona → Paris | ~2h (or ~6h45 by train) |
Greece has no useful rail link to the rest of Europe, and Rome to Barcelona by rail means several changes up through France and the better part of a day — those legs are flights regardless of preference. Barcelona → Paris is the exception: a direct train exists at ~6h45, which is a real option rather than a fallback. See Trains or budget flights? for that trade-off.
✈️ Getting there and home
All three arcs are linear, so an open-jaw booking — into one city, home from another — avoids backtracking. Airlines sell this as a multi-city itinerary. See Open-jaw or round-trip?
Winter transatlantic service is thinner than summer. London, Paris, Amsterdam, Madrid, and Rome all have direct US service year-round — London and Amsterdam especially heavily, which makes them good places to end a trip. Athens is mostly one-stop in winter, which is an argument for placing it at the start if it makes the cut at all.
🛂 Borders and paperwork
- Schengen area — Greece, Italy, Spain, France, and the Netherlands are all inside it. Once you are in, internal borders are effectively invisible.
- The UK is not. A London leg is a separate border crossing with its own entry requirements and its own authorization scheme.
- Passports — must be valid well beyond the trip; six months' validity is the safe margin. Check all four now.
- ETIAS — the EU's pre-travel authorization for visa-exempt visitors, expected to be in force before this trip.
Details and the one action worth taking today are on ETIAS, passports, and paperwork.
🌦️ Winter weather at a glance
January daytime highs and late-December sunset times. The daylight column is the one people underestimate.
| City | January high | Sunset in late December |
|---|---|---|
| Seville | ~16 °C / 61 °F | ~6:10 PM |
| Barcelona | ~14 °C / 57 °F | ~5:30 PM |
| Athens | ~13 °C / 55 °F | ~5:10 PM |
| Naples | ~13 °C / 55 °F | ~4:45 PM |
| Granada | ~12 °C / 54 °F | ~6:05 PM |
| Rome | ~12 °C / 54 °F | ~4:40 PM |
| Florence | ~11 °C / 52 °F | ~4:45 PM |
| Madrid | ~10 °C / 50 °F | ~5:55 PM |
| London | ~8 °C / 47 °F | ~3:53 PM |
| Paris | ~7 °C / 45 °F | ~4:55 PM |
| Venice | ~7 °C / 45 °F | ~4:40 PM |
| Amsterdam | ~6 °C / 43 °F | ~4:29 PM |
Seville gets more than two extra hours of usable afternoon than London does. Over fourteen days that is a materially different trip — and it is the crux of Which arc?
So Which Arc
Journey times and daylight are the whole input to that decision. Now that you have them, the arc question is the one worth arguing about.
Read the breakdown →