BEST places to go?

Ooh! That's pretty general. You didn't say how long your trip will be. All the great cities of Europe are great for different reasons, as they're all different. Many first timers just try to take on too many cities and try to hit all the tourist sites. It's just not the best way to do it. I've been many times to Europe, and I'm drawn again to Amsterdam, Munich, Salzburg, Vienna and Innsbruck. I'm also big on Venice, Florence and Rome. But for the first time traveler, I'd suggest doing the touring London are and taking the Eurostar (train) down to Paris. Fly into one city and out of the other.
April and May are great times to go. Less expensive and less crowded than Summer.

Need some more info, what do you want to see, do, cathedrals, museums,hiking, etc. Do you have any countries in mind? Question is too vague to give you any help, in my opinion.

Sorry!! I meant beginning of April to end of May. We like to do almost anything! Natural sights mostly. I heard there are mineral baths in Tuscany, Italy. Things like that would be fun. Beautiful cities, old cathedrals, nice people, festivals, ANYTHING that someone who has been backpacking would recommend. We are going to try to hit: England, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy. Cities: London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Frankfurt, Paris, Annecy, Madrid, Barcelona, Athens, Parta, Rome, Florence, Venice. Thanks guys

Hello Courtney. I usually do not reply to a question like "Plan my whole trip to Europe for me". But I decided to try to help you. The destinations that you wish to go to are scattered all over the map. And that is too many places to go to in 57 days. I suggest that you do not go to Spain and Portugal in this trip. A direction of travel that I think would be satisfactory is : Fly from Oregon to Amsterdam. Fly from Amsterdam to London. Ride in a EuroStar train from London to Paris. Train from Paris to Aix - les Bains (a hot water spa resort town, near Lake Bourget) located south of Annecy. I think Aix - les Bains is a better place for relaxing than is Annecy. One of the best places for experiencing the healing qualities of the local warm sulphurous water is Les Thermes d'Aix-les-Bains. On the internet at www.thermaix.com. Read about Aix - les Bains in the book THE ROUGH GUIDE TO FRANCE. I think it is the best travel guide book on France. Train to Paris. Trains from Paris to Saint Goar at the Rhine River in Germany (via Koblenz). Read about that part of the Rhine River, in the book RICK STEVES' GERMANY AND AUSTRIA. Trains from Saint Goar to Berlin (via Frankfurt train station). Fly from Berlin to Athens. And fly from Athens to an island of Greece at the Aegean Sea. I prefer the Cyclades islands group. Return to Athens. Fly from Athens to Rome.
Train from Rome to Florence. And day trip to a Hill town. Train from Florence to Rome. (I think travelling to Venice is not worth the time and energy). Fly from Rome to the United States of America. I highly recommend that you read part of the book Rick Steves' EUROPE THROUGH THE BACK DOOR. It has wonderful information and advice for planning a trip to Europe. It has a chapter on train travel, and a chapter on flying including flights within Europe

Please share a little more - how many in your "We"? Adults? Seniors? Children (how old)? You say you are going for 2 months. Is there any chance you will run the trip into 3 months? What sort of a budget are you looking at? With all that running around, the travel part of the budget will have lots of zeroes at the end. We have a lovely nice who year to help you plan. What sorts of research have you done so far? Welcome to our little circle of friends.

Hi Courtney, Welcome to a place where everyone is always excited about European travel! Thanks to Rick Steves, we have a forum where we can share our love of travel with others. You may want to start watching Rick Steves travel videos right away. You can use this page to get started : http://www.ricksteves.com/tvr/tvr_menu.htm His videos can be found on You Tube, or you can possibly rent them from your local library. You can also go to the Travel Store on this website and buy the videos on the countries you'd like to visit. Settle in on a cold winter night or Saturday afternoon with a cup of hot chocolate, or a glass of wine, and start watching. Take notes during the video, and choose your own favorite things to see on your upcoming trip. That is the best way I know to get started. That way you will know what you want to see. Someone else's list may be full of stuff that will bore you, but if you watch some videos, you'll know what sights really interest you. Then come back here and ask more questions. You will definitely get more out of your trip that way.

Hi Guys, Ron...Dude! That itinerary is awesome! I printed it out to keep for later. Just a few tweeks, fly from Athens to Florence, then train it to Rome.
Take day trip from Paris to Versailles. Hit Siena on the way from Florence to Rome.