2 weeks (or more) in Europe.Need help with building an Itinerary. Blank slate to work with here

You could spend 2 weeks in London, Paris, and Normandy.
Doing a couple of day trips from London, and a couple from Paris.
You would connect with a tour to do the D-Day Beaches.
A car would not be needed.

London (optional), Paris, Normandy, Bruges/Ghent (optional), Netherlands

Should have added: extend, extend, extend.

Maybe your friends would consider meeting you in Paris for a few days. Except for the Alps (in France too), for breath-taking views of nature the North American West beats Europe hands-down for scope and variety. Normandy may be better by car (haven't been yet). If you do take a car, plan to return it in France. There will be huge drop-off charges in another country and the trains in Europe are the best way to travel from city to city.

Where you fly into and out of may be influenced by the airlines that serve your area and your destinations. Something else to consider is that you can get from Paris to many other wonderful destinations in 1/2 day with a cheap flight. Europe is your oyster: Munich, Florence, Barcelona, Istanbul, Prague . . . .

Why not spend two weeks or more in France? Paris and Normandy can easily take up more than a week, and there are so many other beautiful areas in France. Take the train or fly to southeastern France for breathtaking Mediterranean views for a few days, stop and see some chateaux or cathedral towns (Reims, Rouen, Strasbourg, Amiens) along the way.

London (with a couple of days trips to Avebury, Bath, or ?? depending on your interest) for 4 or 5 days, same with Paris, and 2 or 3 days in Normandy. Go in the late spring. No need for a car as that can all be done by train. TC

thanks for the responses so far.

So......May or September? Which would be preferred?

Did you decide where you want to go? Destination might drive time of year for me.

not really but for sake of argument let's say we will stay in Paris Normandy and london.

for the sake of a second argument lets say we will stay in Paris / Normandy and the southern part of France

May is sooner, and I like instant gratification :-) That's about 3 months away, so you'd want to start making hotel and train reservations now. If you use the Eurostar and/or TGV trains, they start selling cheap tickets 120 days in advance and they usually go pretty quickly. The longer you wait to book train tickets, the more expensive they get. The tickets are no-change, no-refund so you need to have your itinerary set.

September is a very busy month in Paris for trade shows, so there's high demand for hotel rooms. If you're going then, you should start looking for hotels there pretty soon. Tourist sights won't be more crowded than usual, just fewer hotel rooms available.

I have the impression that you are more likely to get rain in May than September, but I have nothing concrete to go on. Weather is generally mild in both months, not much likelihood of either hot or cold days. You can check historical data at wunderground.com in the trip planner section.

Vick,

I dont see any reason you can fulfill both your wants on this trip. It will come down to how long you want to stay in each place.

On my first trip the place i went to included London, Normandy and Paris. I gave London and Paris both 4 full days and Normandy 3 full days, but wish i would have gave Normandy more just due to the fact is so spread out and i could have spent more time wondering around and slowing down to read and see more of the out of the way memorials and museums. Just a note, i spent 1 full day doing the shuttle to Mont Saint Michel so that chewed up one full day, but it was worth it to me and one other day i did a half day to Caen. I stayed in Bayeux since it was an easy train trip from Paris and many Normandy tour companies worked or was able to grab you from there. Also, i wanted to see Caen and it was an easy 30 ish minute ride from Bayeux. One awesome thing about Bayeux was that it wasnt touched by WWII so the town is like it was and you get a feel for the cuteness and how compact the streets. Caen had the snot bombed out of it so its more modern and you can see/feel that too.

As far as food goes, i feel that each place has something to offer, it will depend on what floats your boat and if youre willing to try different things.

as far as when i went, it was a March and the weather was great. Normandy was overcast and the Mont had drizzle, but i guess thats "normal" for it.

happy trails.

Ok, I have been giving a lot of thought to this. First, I should have made it clear. We are looking at either 2016 or 2017.

I'm thinking that we will skip London. The thought is, we will return some day and when we do, we will do London, Ireland and Scotland.

So, I'm thinking Paris and Italy.

The rest of the trip is an open canvas so my initial thought is to start in Italy.

Rome 3 or 4 nights and then at least 1 or 2 other Italian locales. Venice? Florence? Naples? Milan? Help me pick!!

Then from Italy, we can make our way to France. Maybe spend some time in southern France and work our way to Paris.

Probably 4 nights in Paris and 2(at least) in Normandy.

So.....maybe some recommendations with that basic itinerary in mind?

I would buy Rick Steve's Europe Through the Back Door, latest edition; and then his Best of Europe Guide; and then sync his suggestions with your interests and start planning from there. Maybe check out his Italy and France guidebooks for further reference. Lots of great info for those with a "blank slate."

And no, I don't work for the company......

If you are going to eliminate London, consider flying into Venice since it is a very low key, laid back, easy to get over jet lag and acclimate. Spend 4 nights, move on to Florence for 4 nights, and finish up in Rome for 4 or nights. TC

Hi,

I'm addressing your visit to Normandy to which I'm sure you will allow ample time. See both museums on the war and the battle for Normandie in Bayeux and Caen to compare and contrast their portrayal and presentation. From the Caen train station you have to take the bus, walk to the Bayeux museum. If you're motorised, I suggest driving around the Caen. Keep in mind that the British after D-Day had expected to take Caen by D+1, the Germans held them off until 9 July by which time the city had been plastered by the carpet bombing.

If it were only 2 weeks for me, I would concentrate only on Paris (with Normandy) and London.