7-10 day trip - London + 1-2 other countries but not France/Spain

We are starting in Scotland not London but from there we go to Conwy in Wales. We will then take the ferry for a"day trip"to Dublin. Ride the ferry back the next day and then head back to Scotland with many stops along the way.
The ferry ride is super cheap if you don't take a car and only stay over night. So that would give you England, Wales and Ireland.

Thanks we will consider London-Scotland-Ireland-..ideally we would fly from California -> London and back from Ireland-> California..

Can anyone chime about London --> Amsterdam? Possibly include Belgium? Or to Germany and fly back to California from Frankfurt?

We are starting in Scotland not London but from there we go to Conwy in Wales. We will then take the ferry for a"day trip"to Dublin. Ride the ferry back the next day and then head back to Scotland with many stops along the way.
The ferry ride is super cheap if you don't take a car and only stay over night. So that would give you England, Wales and Ireland.

Belgium and Holland are definitely a good alternative - different from both UK and France, and to some extent from each other. I'd start with Eurostar to Belgium (buy tickets to "any Belgian station" and as soon as you can, the prices will only go UP). Stay in either Bruges or Ghent for 3-4 nights, then train to Amsterdam. If you are taking more than a week, you could also spend 2-3 nights in The Hague (much cheaper than Amsterdam and good for day trips).

Day trips in Belgium - with Bruges or Ghent as a base (I recommend Ghent, lodging is cheaper and it's much nicer in the evenings), you can trip to the other, and to Antwerp and Brussels.

Day trips from The Hague (which also has some nice "stuff" to see) - Delft, Rotterdam . . . others I can't think of right now.

Thanks.

Any advice on booking open jaw tickets to save money?

We would go from SFO->London but have heard open jaw tickets can save a bit of money over round trip tickets.

That also could influence the itinerary as well.

Open jaw tickets are easy. Look for the multi-city or similar tab, as opposed to round trip. In the scenario of going to Belgium and the Netherlands, you would fly SFO-London & Amsterdam-SFO.

I guess i should clarify my question about open jaw tickets.

I have heard its cheaper to book open jaw versus RT tickets. I have also heard some cities provide substantial cost savings versus others.

For example, my friend flew back from Eastern Europe to DFW. His travel agent booked him a layover in Ireland on the way back and he said it saved him $700. Travel agent said in general booking an open jaw from Ireland will generally save people money..

If we did the london-->belgium-->Amsterdam would it be worth detouring and flying back to SFO out of Frankfurt? or out of Denmark?

Only you can determine if it's worth it. Check flights back to SFO from various airports. Maybe that would determine where you want to go. For me, time is money. I would rather spend my time where I want to be than to have to allot time to get somewhere just to get home. Don't forget to factor in the cost of transportation to get to that departure airport you chose to save money.

It's easy to fly to Italy from London. I'll be flying Gatwick to Pisa soon. From Pisa it's a short train ride to Florence and the rest of Tuscany. The Cinque Terre is a short train ride from Pisa.

My wife has family in the south of France so our next trip would be to visit them and combine that with an Italy trip.

Someone has also suggested we consider London-> Germany->Vienna-->Prague.. Assuming we spend 3-4 days in London, is 7 days enough for Germany->Vienna->Prague?

How would this compare to London->Belgium->Amsterdam.?

thanks

Skyao --

Re your last question, see my response to your question in "General Europe."

The options are endless. If your first destination is London-Brussels, then that's an easy trip on the Eurostar train, but you should buy tickets ASAP to get one of the better prices. If your first destination is London-Amsterdam, or Berlin, or any further point, then it's usually both faster and cheaper to fly there; see www.skyscanner.com for some "cheap" flight connections within Europe.