If you think you need months and months off work to take an epic adventure, you’ve clearly never seen a list of best 2 week trips like this one. Covering all corners of the earth and featuring fresh, interesting destinations that are more than worth jettisoning all your paid time off at once, they’re the sorts of trips that’ll have you booking as ticket today.
I’ll also be sharing inspiration for shorter spurts of traveling that doesn’t fall into the near frame of 2 week travel itinerary ideas. Some of these will be even shorter trips (how does a week road tripping through Canada’s Rocky Mountains in Alberta sound?) while others might be just a week, or slightly longer than two weeks (I hear Italy is nice this time of year) on the upper end.
Which is not to say I intend to ramble in this post. I’m writing about 2 week trips, after all, so time and brevity are of the essence. The less time you spend reading, the more time you can spend making your trip into a reality!
The Truth About Shorter Trips
Whether we’re talking about the best two week trips or just discussing shorter trips in general, there are several advantages to being on the road for a short (but not too-short) span of time, as compared to some of the more epic sojourns I’ve personally taken. These include the following:
- Planning a two-week itinerary leaves little room for fat—you’ll only see the best of a destination
- More generally, having fewer days will motivate you to make the most of each one you do have
- You’ll spend less money over the duration of a shorter trip, even if you spend more on a day-by-day basis
- Shorter trips allow you to leave the destination wanting more, without being burnt out
Now that we’ve established how awesome it can be to take a shorter trip, let’s talk through some of the best 2 weeks vacation options in the world, shall we?
The Best 2 Week Trips on Earth
The Balkans
Let’s start out our round-up of 2 week vacation ideas with one you might not have considered: Europe’s Balkan region, which is the area wedged between the Alps, the Black Sea and Greece. For the purposes of my popular two weeks in the Balkans post this includes Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Serbia and maybe Kosovo, but you can expand this to countries like Albania, Bulgaria and Macedonia (or substitute them), depending upon your preferences.
Colombia
When it comes to the top places to go for 2 weeks within a few hours’ flight of most cities in the US, I can’t think of a better place to go than Colombia. Whether you explore the colonial quarter of Bogotá, rub elbows with digital nomads in Medellín or bask in the Caribbean ambiance of Cartagena, Colombia is a microcosm of South America as a whole—and I haven’t even gotten to the country’s “Lost City,” its coffee region or the paradise islands that crowd its northern coast.
Ethiopia
Not at the best two week vacations I’m listing here are for the faint of heart. Case in point: Ethiopia. While spending two weeks in Ethiopia will force you to choose one region of this massive country (I’m partial to the north), you can nonetheless cover a lot of ground. Touch down in Addis Ababa, then head north to cities like Bahir Dar, Gondar and Lalibela, finishing up in the Danakil Depression at the literal “Door to Hell.”
Israel
If you’re on the hunt for the best 2 week trip and don’t mind a flight halfway around the world, but can’t deal with the utter chaos that is Ethiopia, Israel is another potential option. Famously “the size of New Jersey” and as packed-to-the-gills with awesome destinations as it is people (and camels), Israel is made for a two-week trip. Starting in Tel Aviv, you can explore destinations as diverse as Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Sea of Galilee and even the Red Sea Port of Eilat during 2 weeks in Israel.
Italy
Although I usually like to spend about 3 weeks in Italy, the reality is that you can cover quite a bit of Italian ground in just two weeks. Specifically, after starting in the Milan area, I usually like to travel across the country by high-speed rail to Venice and then, after an optional excursion into the Dolomites, head south through Tuscany and Rome to Naples, gateway to the Amalfi Coast (and, if you stay longer, Sicily and/or Puglia).
Japan
I consider Japan to be the top travel destination in the entire world, so it’s probably not shocking that it’s a contender for the best place to travel for 2 weeks. However, whether you spend two weeks in Japan or a much longer period of time, be warned: Every experience you have here will inspire you to plan countless future trips, whether wondering the streets of futuristic Tokyo, exploring temples in Kyoto or discovering underrated parts of the country like Shikoku and Tohoku.
Nepal
If you’re up for adventure (and I literally mean up—the altitude here is skyscraping!), the Nepal might be the best two week vacation ideas you’ll ever take. Personally, I recommend following up a few days in Kathmandu with a week or so trekking along the Everest Base Camp route, followed by brief stints in Pokhara and Chitwan National Park, but this colorful country is nothing if not a canvas for travel improvisation.
New Zealand
Two weeks is actually the minimum amount of time I recommend devoting to a New Zealand trip. Given how long it takes to get there from most parts of the world, any fewer days and you wouldn’t so much as be able to recover from your jet lag! As far as how to organize this, I usually like to start with a few days on the North Island (maybe Auckland to Taupo to Rotorua and back around), before flying to Christchurch and road tripping around the South Island for at least a week.
Spain
Spain is weird in that it’s simultaneously one of the world’s most-visited countries but also, in my opinion, one of the most underrated. Part of that contradiction is that many travelers to Spain stay put: Either in Madrid or Barcelona, or on any number of particular beaches or islands. Instead, I recommend that you spend your 2 weeks in Spain on the go, starting and ending in Madrid, and making your way clockwise around the country, hitting up destinations like the Basque Country, Andalusia—and yes, Barcelona—along your way.
Thailand
Rounding out this round-up of 2 week traveling ideas is one of my favorite countries and my former home: Thailand. Divided more or less between Bangkok and the vague regions of “The North” and “The Islands,” 2 weeks in Thailand will take you to familiar destinations like Chiang Mai, Phuket and Krabi, as well as potentially some more obscure ones, including the quiet city of Chiang Rai and off-the-beaten path paradises like the Koh Yao islands.
What About Longer Trips?
This post has been about the best 2 week trips specifically, and more generally about extolling the virtues of short-term travel. However, I’m not opposed to long-term travel either. For many years, the most popular post on my site was about how to spend 2 months in South America—and that post still receives a ton of traffic, FWIW. Similar posts for Southeast Asia and Europe are also very popular, if only for the simple fact that these larger regions of the world require more time to digest, unless of course you can do them piecemeal over several years.
On the other hand, whether because you prefer to travel slowly or go more in-depth than I’ve recommended, it’s also possible to extend many of the best 2 weeks vacation options I’ve listed here. It’s easy, for example, for two weeks in Japan to become 3 weeks in Japan or even a month. Likewise, adding the southern Balkans to my two-week trip, or hiking both Annapurna and Everest when you go to Nepal can easily require you to expand those trips to three or four weeks.
Other FAQ About 2 Week Trips
Can you do Europe in 2 weeks?
You can certainly spend just two weeks in Europe, but you will need to travel very deliberately. The best way to structure Europe in 2 weeks is either to focus on a handful of capitals, such as London, Paris, Amsterdam and Berlin, or to focus on individual countries—France, Spain, Portugal and Switzerland lend themselves especially well to two-week trips.
Is two weeks vacation 10 or 14 days?
Generally speaking, two weeks of vacation entails 10 days or two Monday-Friday periods off work. However, when you add in the leading and following weekends, two weeks of vacation is actually 16 days off!
Where should I go for a 2 week holiday?
The best choice for a 2 week holiday is a small country, or a medium-sized country with great infrastructure. Small countries like Israel and Nepal are easy to explore fully with just two weeks, while the high-speed rail network of Japan and abundant low-cost airline flights in Thailand make these medium-sized countries perfect for two-week trips as well.
The Bottom Line
This isn’t an exhaustive list of the best 2 week trips, but it’ll definitely get your inspirational juices flowing, at a minimum. Whether you’re seeking 2 week holiday ideas like exotic adventures in the Middle East or Southeast Asia, or jaunts closer to home in the Caribbean or Europe, two weeks—you probably have at least this much paid time off on hand—in is all you need to have the time of your life. Feeling inspired, but don’t have the time to plan your trip? Consider hiring me as your Travel Coach, and letting me sweat the details.
