7 days in Europe

If you are going to Paris from Amsterdam, I'd just take the train there and back. There is a train station below Schiphol airport.

I'd not go down to Bordeaux unless you've been to Paris a number of times and just want that for a landing point.

editing to add: IF your goal is Bordeaux, there are non-stop flights from Amsterdam to Bordeaux on KLM and/or Air France (they are SkyTeam partners).

Welcome bmenear, with your first post to this newsboard.

We might give better answers if you tell us roughly where you live, and in what sort of way you have been to Amsterdam for daytrips many times. Have you been anywhere else in Europe before? What airport will you be flying from? Do you know the term "Open-Jaw Air Ticket"?

We are flying in from Atlanta Ga, USA. My husband has been to Amsterdam for work many time. I have been as a 16 year old and again a couple of years ago from Brussels. I think we both wanna spend at least 2 nights in Amsterdam to enjoy the night life together.

Neither of us wanna spend a ton of time in Paris, we want to see the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre. Interested in Bordeaux for the wine.

He hasn’t been to Switzerland or Austria so those are also options. We really want to maximize our travel while giving ourselves time to actually enjoy each location.

There are just so many options and fairly short/inexpensive flight options. So we are struggling to narrow down our choices.

Skip Switzerland because it’s further away and Oct is not the best month to visit Jungfraujoch. You need a clear day so you can see something. Furthermore, it’s best if you allow five nights during the summer in case the weather doesn’t cooperate.
Can you fly into and out of Bordeaux and Amsterdam? If you can you can take a train to get around. If not, fly into and out of Paris and Amsterdam then fly between Bordeaux and Amsterdam.

This looks very rushed in my opinion and it's not entirely clear what you are trying to do. You can spend a week in Amsterdam and surrounding areas without a problem. You can of course add other places, but I think you trying to do too much in the time you have available.

But if you're still insisting on going to Switzerland, don't fly there and back. Take the overnight train, that will save you time. And as mentioned, if you're heading to Paris, take the train.

We don’t really have a clear idea of what we want to do, which I guess shows. We are just thinking since we have both done Amsterdam (it is one of our favorites) before so 7 days there seems like too long. Maybe we should consider using it as a home base and take day trips to closer cities and maybe Paris.

We really want to maximize our travel while giving ourselves time to actually enjoy each location.

Yep, that's the tricky part isn't it? First, I only count SIX days on the ground once you arrive on October 11th excluding departure day, and in all fairness don't count the arrival day either, so that's FIVE days of perhaps not being too blurred to enjoy local delights. How about a trip to the library to research ideas on Bordeaux & Paris?

Agreed, skip Switzerland it's just the wrong time of year to reliably count on good weather.

Have you been to Paris? I could imagine open leg into Paris, out of Amsterdam, train between & maybe squeeze in a day-trip en route to vineyards, but now we're talking a day to travel between the 2 cities and you're down to FOUR days on the ground...

Personally, I'd pick someplace to spend 2 nights in Bordeaux, if that's where H wants to go, & fly RT to Amsterdam. Try to get the furthest on the arrival day, maybe a connecting flight or train to Bordeaux, and that's more than enough for only 5 days.