10 days....advice?

If your ten days includes coming and going I would suggest you visit London and Edinburgh and leave the rest for another time.

If it's your first time to Europe, I would recommend London, Paris and the Swiss Alps. However, that's one of the more expensive European itineraries.

Another idea is to stay in London about 5-6 nights, and include some day trips to Windsor, Cambridge, and Bath (one night in Bath is preferred). Then, take a Ryanair flight out of Stansted airport to Ireland or another country that interests you. Rome is a wonderful destination. You could even fit in Florence or Pompei on a speedy itinerary.

Hi,

Great that you are a student and planning this ten day trip. For 10 days no more than 3 cities. You need to choose two more since London is your number one priority. London is expensive. The best way being on a tight budget is to stay in a hostel, numerous good hostels in London depending on which district you prefer. If you choose Berlin (I would and did on my first trip as a student), then I say fly from London. I suggest staying in hostel at all three places you end up choosing. Most students stay in hostels not only for budget reasons but also meeting others of the same age, overwhelmingly.

If you decide on two cities for this 10 day trip, I'd pick London and Paris, or London and Berlin, depending on your specific priorities and what you want to track down to see and experience.

Having just 10 days probably including travel I would fly open jaw (to London, from Paris). Spend half of my time in London, go by Eurostar train to Paris (less than 3 hours), spend the other half time in Paris and fly back home from there. If you have netto time in Europe 10 days and think you could get bored with London and Paris in 10 days find some discounted flight connection and go to Berlin or Prague. Both are party towns, Prague being more of eye candy and having cheaper (and IMHO better) beer. Nevertheless Berlin beer is quite good, too, albeit more expensive.

Have you considered staying in one place for the 10 days? You'd save a day (or more) of travel and save the transportation costs. You might even be able to save some on lodging by staying in a dorm room- many London universities rent unused rooms to tourists at very reasonable rates. London School of Economics is one. Check out their website ( just be aware that their site sometimes shows no vacancies, but it is really just a problem with some browsers- just call or email them directly)
[www.lsevacations.co.uk/‎][1]

London makes a great base. You could do some day trips if you wanted (check out advance train fares to save some money). Here's an article about my favorite places in London and my favorite day trips by train:

[http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g186338-c176673/London:United-Kingdom:London.And.Day.Trips.html][2]

Hi,

As a student you must be under 26, I assume. If you choose the flying option, there are student discount flights. Check with STA. The difficult factor with your time constraint is to resist the desire to see everything, however you define it. With ten full days, the max cities where you stay, visit, track down the sights based on your priority list, is three. In that case I recommend London, Berlin, Paris in that order, (if the departure is from London), ie, London to Berlin by flying. Then Berlin to Frankfurt early morning ICE train, Frankfurt to Paris on the ICE, you'll be in Paris by 16:50. That means practically all day on the train unless you choose to fly from Berlin to Paris. Then take the EuroStar Paris to London, if you are returning from London. If not, where are you flying back from?

I would agree with the suggestion to do London and Edinburgh. I spent four days in Dublin and found the best thing to do was a day trip out of Dublin. The core of Dublin can be seen in a day via the hop on/off bus tour, but in Edinburgh you can spend at least a day just visiting the Royal Mile and the castle. Then there are many other sights in easy walking distance if you don't mind the hills. Calton Hill, Arthur's seat, Hollyrood house, and museums and parks right down town. I spent 6 days in Edinburgh and would happily go back. Day trips are also easy to get, and there are many cheaper B&Bs close to down town that are a better option over hotels. You will also find the pace of Edinburgh slower after the hustle of London. I found Dublin to be a typical busy city. It has its interesting historical sights, but I much preferred Edinburgh. 3 days in London won't be anywhere near enough time! Double it at least.

I would also suggest getting an open jaw flight into London and out of Paris (or vice-versa, 5 days in each city, with day trips from both.
London to Paris is easy by Eurostar, and cheap if you book far enough in advance (= book yesterday!).
Restricting yourself to the UK is not good, you need a touch of mainland Europe as well.

One way to save money is to limit (or not have) travel days. They cost time as well. You could stay in London the whole time and do day trips to see other areas. Cardiff Wales, Bath, Winchester, Windsor, Canterbury, Dover, Stratford-upon-Avon, York, and many other places are easy to reach via train and 'do' on your own in a day.

If you REALLY want to 'do' two countries, then I'd either add Paris or Amsterdam. You can reach both via the Eurostar train. But you have already missed the best time to get cheaper tickets. Best decide fast and buy ASAP if you insist on this option.

Thank you all so much for all the suggestions and advice. As of now, I am going to spend at least 4 days in London, with one day in Edinburgh. My return flight is from Copenhagen, so I figure I might want to spend some time there. I'm leaning twards spending my last three days there. I did not book my flight to Copenhagen from London yet; I'm not sure if I want to spend the extra day in London to make it 5-2. Ten days includes transportation(so I really only have 8 days touring). I do appreciate all the suggestions and helping me narrow down my trip iternerary. Thanks!

You are young, strong and indestructible ........ and on a budget. You can enjoy London when you are 50 and can afford $15 hamburgers. Fly direct to Istanbul, then overland to Budapest or Bucharest. 10 days is just enough time.

Hi,

Decide first whether you absolutely want to see London on this first trip as a student on a budget (I would and did). Then decide if you want to fly within Europe, consult STA, as mentioned above. Then narrow the list: Prague, Berlin, Paris, Copenhagen, Brussels, maybe Rome or Vienna. If you fly, then choose the cities, keeping in mind your departure city. Some good planning would help.

First.. she has already purchased her plane ticket.. into London and out of Copehagen.. so no point telling her to fly into other cities.

Second.. it is impossible to see Dublin in one day.. sorry .. riding around in a hoho is not really seeing much of a city.. there are several excellent museums.. its not all pubs and breweries in Dublin!

Lastly.. kyorkie.. unfortunately Copenhagen is super expensive.. I would spend bulk of time in London and Paris.. but you would then have to find a cheapo flight to Copenhagen to get your flight home right.

Purchasing airline ticket for Copenhagen and your Eurostar ticket ( to Paris ) should be done as soon as you are decided.. as the cheapest tickets sell out first.. months in advance.

"Lastly.. kyorkie.. unfortunately Copenhagen is super expensive.. I would spend bulk of time in London and Paris.. but you would then have to find a cheapo flight to Copenhagen to get your flight home right."
Actually Copenhagen is not significantly more expensive than London, which is super expensive. Picking a city based on living expenses there might be the wrong way to do it, pick a city if you are genuinly interested in seeing the place. Also what is going to push your costs up are transportation and (especially in Copenhagen) eating out and alcohol consumption. However there are ways to limit your expenses, like cooking yourself in a hostel, making you own sandwiches for lunch, buying your beer at a supermarket, frequenting student bars instead of the more touristy places along major sights and in the city centres.

Reagrding the idea of spending one day in Edinburgh i would personally give it a miss if iot is only for one day, though i have never been there myself. The cost and the hassle of getting there does not seem like it is worth it for only one day and there is plenty to see in London and Copenhagen if you also include day trips to places like Helsingør or Roskilde. Personally i would go with 5 days in London and 3 in Copenhagen if you have 8 full days.