Can you help with trip ideas?

I think you should tell your friend to get a good guidebook like Rick's Best of Europe and Europe Through the Back door, and start reading. Only she will know which cities will appeal most to her.

I would suggest your friend get some guide books and read them and see what countries (or cities) sound interesting to her. Start with a general guide book on Europe to maybe narrow down the countries. Or at least do some research online to get an idea of what locations/destinations are well known for architecture or good food. A lot will depend on what type of architecture appeals to her - art deco, empire, baroque, etc. Italy and France are famous for their food, but with a 2 week trip I would pick one and visit a few different regions/cities. A first visit to Europe for Americans usually includes London, Paris, or both. Not wanting to rent a car may make some regions (like Tuscany countryside, or Provence, etc) a bit more difficult, but in general public transportation is excellent in most places in Europe and especially in the bigger cities.

It's a pretty vague question which makes it difficult to answer.

Sorry the question is so vague. My friend has just heard me rave about our trips to Italy for years. She went to Italy once in August and had a pretty miserable time, due to the crowds and heat. She’s not opposed to Italy again, but wants to avoid Rome. Trying to think of another area she might like. She’s mentioned Spain or Greece as possibilities. Just thoughts I’d throw out the question to see if any unexpected ideas come in. Thanks again.

October is a lovely time to be in Italy, and it isn't necessary to include Rome.

October can be good weather in Europe, but you as likely to hit plenty of cold, wet weather too. I wouldn’t risk Greece in October.

Interesting architecture and good food doesn’t really cut out much of Europe!

Instead of being overwhelmed by guide books, do a few internet searches to see what appeals, as a picture paints a thousand words.

My suggestions would include Lisbon and Porto in Portugal; Madrid, Barcelona, Toledo and Granada in Spain; Italy; Paris and Amsterdam; London, York and Edinburgh.

Spain of course has great architecture and food.

1. ARRIVE Madrid (4N)
2. Madrid
3. Day to Toledo
4. Day to Segovia
5. Train to Seville (4N)
6. Seville
7. Day to Cordoba (for the Mezquita)
8. Seville
9. Train to Granada (2N)
10. Granada (book the Alhambra well ahead)
11. Fly to Barcelona (4N)
12. Barcelona
13. Barcelona
14. Barcelona
15. DEPART Barcelona

Thanks for the great ideas. I’ll share them with my friend.

Based on this info alone, smaller cities in Spain could work. Portugal also may be an option; people seem to rave about it more these days than Spain.

Some general tips for her on how to approach this:

If hot weather was a problem, she should check Wunderground's website of historical weather data for any place she is considering. This is better than someone's impressions of "the weather was nice" or "the weather was lousy."

She should also remember that it's not only latitude which affects weather, but also elevation. For instance, in the mountains it's not nearly as hot as at lower elevations - even at the height of summer.

One should never go to a place just because it's cheap, but money is a great tie-breaker. She can look at some airfare websites and see if some place comes up cheap. For instance, for totally unclear reasons, last year I was seeing fares of $350 from New York to Zurich nonstop (not a typo - three hundred and fifty dollars, all in!). Of course, you have to take ALL costs into consideration. If you don't want to see Switzerland, or any place nearby, you have to add the cost of transportation to the place you do want to be. And a night in a Zurich hotel can eat up any airfare savings (I stayed in Winterthur for this reason - my very nice hotel was about half the Zurich hotel prices, and it's almost as close to the airport as Zurich is).

Watching videos is a good way to get inspired. Rick's are here: https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/video/tv-show

On the subject of airports, cast a wide net; don't just look at the biggies. For instance, when thinking of UK travel, everyone thinks of flying to London. But there are also nonstop flights from some US cities to Manchester, Glasgow, and Edinburgh, which make it much easier to see northern England and southern Scotland than starting at a London airport. And with a plane change, she can get almost anywhere (assuming she is starting from Seattle; of course, from some US origins she will have to make more plane changes). Looking at alternate airports can give you ideas about alternate destinations.

Remind her that when people say "museums," they often mean "fine arts museums" like the Louvre, and even more specifically "museums filled with paintings" like the Prado. But there are all kinds of museums - cinema, design, city history, military history and war, cars, Beatles - even architecture! If she has a specific, non-fine arts interest, building a trip around a museum visit tailored to that interest should be great.

Now, specifically, for "interesting architecture," does she have a style she prefers? And what kind of food does she like? For instance, while many rave about food in Spain, for me it's a negative to be worked around (I like other aspects of Spain just fine, so I work around it - but it's certainly not the highlight others find it to be). On the other hand, if she likes Modernista architecture, she'll love a trip to Barcelona (one other poster here complained about the architecture there - showing we all have different taste).

I think the Rome, Florence, Venice corridor would be just right for you. October is perfect for Italy and their is a variety of architecture from Roman to Renaissance to Venetian. Food is good to great if you allow yourself to get a little off the main tourist roads and ask a local for recommendations (otherwise it can be fairly bad).

Thank you all again. Thinking about the Veneto region of Italy. She can fly Condor Air Seattle to Frankfurt for less than $600 then fly Frankfurt to Venive for less than $100. Seems like the cities around Venice may be lovely. And I’m sure the food would be great!

Becky, why not have your friend sign onto the this RS site so she can ask questions that might help folks here drill down to good suggestions? This forum (and a guidebook) would be a great tool for helping her learn to plan her trips and it might be easier on you as well! Sounds like you're having to play a bit of "Telephone" here, if you catch my drift? :O)

I'm going to throw Belgium into the mix. Loved it. Bruges/Ghent/Antwerp all have some wonderful architecture and we ate VERY well. Lots of English spoken, and efficient, inexpensive rail between cities. She could fly into Brussels.

I agree with Kathy about Belgium, all of the cities she mentioned are full of interesting architecture. Maybe combine Belgium and Amsterdam also since it's a 2 week trip. Or combine Belgium with the Alsace area of France, a mix of German, Dutch, and French architecture and food.

However, since the trip is in October, I think I might agree with the northern Italy idea -maybe Venice and the lakes area. We had wonderful weather there in late Sept/early Oct.