Direct flight plus train, or connecting flight?

What are your interests for a final destination. Xmas markets, perhaps? What makes the most sense is the route that gets you to where you both really want to go.
Have a great mother-daughter adventure!

It's 50-50--totally depends on the ultimate plan. Either one of those would be fine, but it might make your life easier to get to your ultimate destination.

You don't sound like you want to go to London so go somewhere else and have her meet you. The London area has 6 different airports and all kinds of carriers the best options in the world flying just about everywhere and trains going so she would not have any problem getting wherever you decide to directly.

2-4 hours by train would limit you to Paris or one of the Benelux countries. Decide which city you want to visit, and go from there. Perhaps your daughter has a preference, as well. If you want to maximize your time in that city, then book a connecting flight and have daughter meet you there.

The Benelux Member States of the European Union (EU) are: Belgium (BE), the Netherlands (NL) and Luxembourg (LU). The term "Benelux," formed from the first two letters of each country's name, originally referred to a customs union established in 1948.

Doubt you would make Luxembourg in 4 hours and most of the others would be a stretch given you are starting at LHR.

If you have no starting point, go to Google flights. Put in the travel date, one way, your home airport to Europe, 1 stop, 2 to 4 hour layover, and see what pops up.

What airport are you flying out of? I wouldn't expect any flights to Europe to original from an Oregon airport other than PDX, which has KLM flights to AMS, Condor to FRA and Icelandair to KEF. If you're looking at booking tickets for December now, you might be too early. Or you might be looking at the wrong day of the week. Condor and Icelandair don't fly those routes every day. Not sure about KLM.

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the input thus far. I am originating from PDX. I forgot about the AMS direct flight (I'm pretty sure the Frankfurt and Iceland direct flights are seasonal, but please correct me if that is wrong). This has given me some great direction. As I kind of suspected, "it depends" seems like a logical answer. I am going to have my daughter and I research Benelux countries. Paris is definitely high on the list of possibilities.

Our interests are old beautiful architecture, art, casual but delicious food, history (more me than my daughter), my daughter likes vintage and unique shopping (nothing high-end). If we were near a Christmas market, we might visit but it isn't a priority. I am a huge nature/outdoors person, but I'm not expecting those opportunities with a mid-December Europe trip. We have only been to London as far as European countries go. You can see my trip report I posted from Dec 2023 if you are curious.

I was thinking of flying direct to London, meeting her and then taking the train together.

I would not plan the train as the same day you land at LHR. December weather, at both ends of your flight, can make a mess of timely flights.

Planning to meet at your destination hotel is in my view the simplest way to plan it.

If you plan to spend time in London, then taking a train to somewhere together makes sense.

You can always take the short connecting flight to Seattle which has a lot more options than Portland.

I don't think the Frankfurt flight is seasonal. I have taken the SEA-FRA last summer and again last month, even though neither trip was really about going to Frankfurt or even Germany. The first time, I used my Alaska miles to get business class seats. This time, I was able to get premium economy with tons of legroom without breaking the bank.
That said, I would recommend Amsterdam if you can get a price you like. I visited AMS again last month (previous visit September 2018), and I was really struck by the charm of it. There was a huge, outdoor vintage clothes market. Great art, architecture and food. And it's so quiet there. Lots of smaller cities and towns to visit for a day or overnight. If it's just going to be you and your daughter, take a look at sweets.com. These are bridge houses you can stay in. They just have one double bed, so they didn't work for me and my friend traveling together. Instead, we stayed at Hotel Nadia near Anne Frank House. I wrote a review of it that you can find on here.

As mentioned there is always Paris. Fly multi city into London meet your daughter there for a couple of days to see Christmas decorations then Eurostar to Paris. You can then fly home.from CDG and your daughter can either fly back to London or return via the Eurostar.

Thanks for the additional info! I would certainly consider connecting via Seattle. And, good to know about that direct flight to Frankfurt being year-round.

I'll admit that I originally had discarded Amsterdam as an option. I really do want to visit there at some point, but I had always envisioned going in the spring time. But your description sounds lovely and I will consider it!

When we our done with our week, my daughter will not be returning to London. We will travel home to Oregon together, if that information helps at all.

if you are travelling home together does that mean heavy luggage to schlep around on this excursion?

Have you considered Scotland, Wales or Ireland?

No heavy luggage. We plan on shipping most of her belongings from her college program at the end of her visit, and then she will travel with me "carry on" only in terms of bag size.

I hadn't considered Scotland, Wales or Ireland. She will be making excursions to at least one of those countries as part of her college program, and I kind of thought it might be a bit dreary in December (??).....but I don't mind being wrong. :)

I don't think the Frankfurt flight is seasonal.

The Portland - Frankfurt flight is definitely seasonal and Icelandair sometimes decides they don't want to fly in winter due to low demand (they canceled my PDX flight and I was re-routed through Seattle, which they considered "close enough"). The KLM flight to Amsterdam only flies a few days a week but is a good option for connecting to other parts of Europe. Flying via Seattle does open up more flight possibilities, and if you fly home via Seattle there are a lot of SEA-PDX flights every day so if you miss your connection you have plenty of options.

Ask your daughter if there are places she wants to see that she won't be getting to while she's doing her studies. Since she will be on a one way ticket home, the flight costs may be a deciding factor in what you choose (one way is sometimes not cheap).

I would just add that the further north you go, the less hours of daylight (and less likelihood of sunlight) you will have. And yes, the word 'dreary' does come to mind, IMO Christmas lights only go so far to brighten up our dark, northern countries. I would meet at the destination and not take the train, unless you choose England. And suggest daughter's name is on the reservation so if you're delayed, she can get into the room. Sounds like a great adventure, what fun!

After you choose your destination, another travel option is to make your connection here in the US rather than in UK or Europe. For example, fly from PDX to SFO or Denver for a direct flight.

Great additional information/ideas! Thanks everyone!

There's TAP Air Portugal that has direct flights from SFO to Lisbon, a few times a week in the winter. If you want to consider Portugal as an option. I once spent a few days there before Christmas as part of TAPs stopover program. There was a bit of drizzling rain for a few hours, but otherwise the weather was very pleasant. Sweater weather.

Ooooh, I definitely want to consider Portugal. Thanks for the flight tip!

I would just add that the further north you go, the less hours of
daylight (and less likelihood of sunlight) you will have. And yes, the
word 'dreary' does come to mind,

If you go to a location that celebrates the winter, dreary doesn't describe it. Some cities come alive in the evening hours and winter is the cultural apex. Paris, Vienna, Budapest come to mind.

Some places, usually great summer places, only survive the winter, which isn't worth it for 2 hours more sunlight. Save good warm weather locations for warm weather.

Becky - For another point of view on Amsterdam in December - We were there this past December and, although we enjoyed Amsterdam and want to return someday, we found it to be cold, windy and miserable. We didn't have any rain to speak of, and one day was even sunny, but it was too cold to do anything outdoors. We headed to Rome after Amsterdam and it was delightful! Since you're from Oregon and will probably return home to grey and chilly weather, you may want to also head to a sunnier place for your break.

Without doing any research at all, I would say our list includes Paris, Spain, Portugal and Budapest (the last three would definitely eliminate the train option even though I am leaning against it anyways). But, since I haven't done any real research all of that could change. We are unlikely to travel in the UK since my daughter will just have spent 4 months in college in London with planned long weekends in various places around England and Ireland. She would like to do something that feels different, and I'm ok with that since we were in London somewhat recently. The feedback provided has been so helpful!

becky, i will help with your Budapest research:

Favorite Tourism Video of Budapest:
https://youtu.be/1nd5AtZIrTk?feature=shared
Anthony Bourdain describing how visually pleasurable Budapest is:
https://youtu.be/0nd9DuDGCz0?si=aa0c19KaJHEtabkX
Winter:
https://youtu.be/GK1_kPkLxtM?si=2RtIgkK35koCIlZf
https://youtu.be/dFJB-n-5Yqg?si=VK-oX4m-jupRPtgv
https://youtu.be/ju_RPbXMV7E?si=IYDIILGkc1Gq6pLx
Christmas Market
https://youtu.be/A2aSB25SBdg?si=2GBjP964YpjYF8s7
https://youtube.com/shorts/PCgmLIw3PqY?si=wZk8DA677pmx9uCw

My second choice would be Paris. Spain and Portugal would be so good in warm weather that if you do it in the winter you might not get back when they are at their best. Paris, well, people always return to Paris.

Spain and Portugal would be so good in warm weather that if you do it in the winter you might not get back when they are at their best

And this is where I would disagree, but that is what makes this forum fun, different opinions. What Mr E considers warm, I would consider HOT. But that is from the perspective of someone who lives by the ocean with a more mild climate. I've been in Portugal during the summer and found it too warm for my tastes. The heat reflects off of the sidewalks in Lisbon, and with all of those hills, it can be a bit much. Now winter or spring, perfect (visited in Dec, April, and August). I also really enjoyed the Andalusia region of Spain in February. I think Seville would be a good place to visit in December. Haven't been in Spain in the summer, so can't speak to how warm it gets then, but figured if I had a hard time in Portugal, I don't think I would manage Spain very well during the summer months.

Now what I like about Portugal, the color and vibrancy of the place. Lots of street art and azulejos (tiles) on the buildings.
Portuguese are friendly and most fluent in English. If you stay in Lisbon, you can google Sintra, Cascais, Belem to get an idea of easy day trips.

I really enjoyed Seville in February and I can see that as a great place to visit in December. And Paris, I was there in February too, a different year. I also very much enjoyed Paris, but while Portugal and Spain I would return to in the winter, I would most likely not return to Paris in the winter, but would pick the spring. While wandering around Paris, I thought, I'd love to see the place when there are leaves on the trees and flowers in the parks.

Paris fits the "mother-daughter December trip" brief, IMO. I spent Christmas there in 2018, and I thought it was great. It was cold, yes, but it wasn't that damp cold we get here in the PNW. I don't remember it raining at all. And the cold didn't keep us from walking all over the city. Also, there is lots of indoor stuff to do in Paris, plus easy side trips. Maybe fly into London to help with move out and shipping, Eurostar to Paris, fly home from CDG via AMS or SEA/SFO/LAX?

Lynn, good points. There is no wrong but our preferences sure do color our thoughts on things. Talking about me. I was thinking June or September for warm weather. I'm from Texas but if I wanted to cook in zJuky or August, I would go to Texas. I guess my poorly delivered point was that when I do get to Spain and Portugal I want to do it at a fairly prime time, because I doubt there would be a second trip. Just not that interested in either. On the otherhand December is a prime time in Paris or Budapest. For both I would avoid January and February for a first or only trip.

Such a wealth of information! I really appreciate hearing everyone's perspective. I hate very hot and humid weather! When the kids are older, we can travel during nicer times of the year. Now, since we want to include them, we generally do our "big" annual trip during winter break.

Did you mention your dates in December? As long as it's not over Christmas to NY day, things will be a bit quieter. If you are traveling over the Christmas holidays, you may want to factor that into your decision making about destination, as the crowds flock to all the major cities and it can get jammed, but depends upon what you're looking for. And be sure to pack appropriate clothing, the wet causes the chill to seep in!

I disagree with the other poster about how a good city 'celebrates' the season. No one celebrates holidays better than Scandinavia in December, but hey it's still cold & depending upon how far north you go, DARK by 3PM. Hope you have a fabulous trip where ever you decide!

As the mother of sons only, I have always thought Paris is the perfect Mom - Daughter break. (Obviously, this is in my day dreams....)

I have a couple places I would have enjoyed with a daughter:

Fragonard Perfume Museum and Perfume-Making Workshop:
https://musee-parfum-paris.fragonard.com/en/perfume-creators/

Galerie Dior:
https://www.galeriedior.com/en

The great thing about Paris is that if the weather is Inclement, there is no lack of indoor activities for all interests.

Fly direct to London, spend a day or two to recover and meet up with daughter, take the EuroStar to Paris, fly home from Paris. That's they way I would do it, but that's me.

The actual transport, as others have said, is probably best dictated by your final destination.

Another destination idea - I did a meet-up with one of my then college-age sons in Madrid in mid-December. Madrid was great and we easily took day trips to Segovia and Toledo. Weather was definitely better than home (Chicago).

The dates would be in the 2nd week of December, for around 7-10 days.

The dates would be in the 2nd week of December, for around 7-10 days. Ah, that's perfect, all the Christmas lights should be up, but the crowds not as large as over the holidays.

Paris seems like the perfect destination based on the logistics and your interests. I would go so far as to say it is a no brainer. I think you will both love it!

You can meet your daughter there. You can also fly direct to London then onto Paris, but make sure both flights are on one ticket, so if the first flight is late or cancelled, the airline is responsible for getting you to Paris.

Piling on (forgive me - I can't resist giving you ideas that you didn't ask for!), if you picked Paris:

you could do a day or overnight trip to Strasbourg for a different "look". Check dates for Christmas markets - scenic.

Or, Tours (or Amboise) for a couple days as a base for Loire Chateau visits - several fine day tour companies that make chateaux visits easy.

Agree that your dates should be great.

Piling on is most welcome!!