Europe itinerary

We’ve been to both cities and I think Amsterdam has more to offer. We’ve been there twice and would definitely go back again. Not so sure about returning to Munich.

Is this your first trip to London and Paris? Do the 12-14 days count your travel days on either end? With 12 days I would just keep it to Paris and London with maybe one day trip out of each city.

Otherwise, Amsterdam is very easy to get to from Paris using the fast train at www.thalys.com The trip takes about 3h20m.

From London to Paris, definitely take the Eurostar which is a 2h16m or so journey. You lose an hour traveling east.

Hopefully you'll book open jaw plane flights so you are flying in to London and home from Amsterdam or the reverse.

I would agree with Pam. With only 12 nights actually in Europe, sticking to just London and Paris (with or without day trips) makes a huge amount of sense, and you certainly wouldn't run out of things to do.

With 14 nights actually in Europe, Amsterdam would be a good 3rd city choice because the travel time is relatively short, and it has good connections back to North America. Lots to see there, with many options for day trips. An alternative might be Belgium, staying in Ghent, Antwerp, or Bruges and returning home from Brussels. Like Amsterdam, easily reached by train from Paris.

Not only is Munich the outlier Amsterdam is a beautiful city that I like more than Munich. What makes Munich a popular choice is that it’s a great jumping off point to explore Bavaria and its alps and you need more time for that.
Consider flying into and out of London and Amsterdam so you won’t have to back track. This way you can take direct trains between London and Paris and Paris and Amsterdam or vice versa. After you buy your airfare buy your Eurostar tickets that continue to go up in price the closer you get to your date of departure.
Furthermore, while in London consider taking a day trip to Bath (1h 30m) by direct train: https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ldb.aspx.

With 12 to 14 days including travel days, I would stick with London and Paris and really see the area and spend time there. Include day trips from each respective city so you can really see the area and culture you traveled so far to visit.

Amsterdam! Unique, wonderful, easy to get to from Paris. Have a great trip!

Amsterdam- easy train access, goes well with London/Paris

Of course you know my recommendation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e10pVhxNOco

Here are three flights one out of each of the 3 Paris airports on a random day in October. Add maybe $50 each published fare if you want to bring luggage LOL.

2:40 PM – 4:50 PM
Ryanair
2 hr 10 min
BVA–BUD (Budapest)
Nonstop
$35

1:05 PM – 3:20 PM
easyJet
2 hr 15 min
CDG–BUD (Budapest)
Nonstop
$47

9:30 PM – 11:40 PM
Wizz Air
2 hr 10 min
ORY–BUD (Budapest)
Nonstop
$58

I‘ll join those saying you could find plenty in London and Paris to fill your time, especially if 12-14 days includes travel time. If you are of US or other western heritage and interested in WWII, you may consider a few nights in Normandy. Great history. Nice small cities and villages. Allows you see something other than large cities. If not Normandy, maybe some other smaller area of England or France for a few nights?

I have been to both Munich and Amsterdam. If you are committed to that choice, I would strongly favor Amsterdam. I find it to be more visually appealing than Munich and to have more interesting sights and museums than Munich. It makes more sense in terms of proximity, too.

My 2 cents on a couple of other places that have been mentioned… Berlin is my favorite city, and there are fairly inexpensive flights on Transavia from Paris Orly to Berlin. Budapest is a great city, too. But I would probably save them for a future trip so that you can give them (along with Paris and London) the time they deserve.

Stick to London and Paris. You will need 5 days in each city for sure.

Use the other days to visit outside the cities.

London, places to visit:
Cambridge, Canterbury, Salisbury, Stonehenge, Oxford and Bath.
Paris, places to visit:
Normandy, the Loire Valley (both would not be day trips since you would need to spend at least one night there).

If you insist on going somewhere else, consider somewhere closer like Strasbourg, France or from London, York.

I agree with London and Paris, as there's plenty to see in both cities for the time allotted. The 2.5 hour Eurostar is the way between them.

If you had an extra couple of days, Amsterdam would be a good one. Another great city to visit would be Barcelona since there's a fast train from Paris (6.5 hours.)

Munich is best to see when you visit Salzburg & Vienna. (I also adore the Austrian Alps and area around Innsbruck.)

When we travel, we like to take in 3 cities in 2 weeks. After traveling as far and fast as we could go, Italy has made us appreciate traveling "Slowly"--where we actually see more.

I would suggest Berlin or Munich since you don't have ample for both. With 14 days you can easily include Berlin, likewise with Munich. My preference between the two is Berlin.

If you must go to a third city, I would definitely go to Amsterdam since its relatively close to Paris and easily accessible to London. I definitely would not add Germany. Personally, I would want to go to York, maybe Cardiff or even Edinburgh which is easily accessible by train from London.

Edinburgh

We're going to London in April, I already have 8 full days in the city alone (add Bletchley and it's 9) and I have a few others places that will have to wait until (hopefully) another trip ... toss in an easy 5 days in Paris (again, not counting day trips to Versailles, Chartres etc...) and there's your 12-14 days ... but if you set on another city, while Amsterdam is closer, I love Munich ... but as mentioned, that's better with adding Salzburg and Vienna, and the rest of Bavaria.

Amsterdam would be my recommendation. It's unique and 3 days there would make a nice stay. I'd say your route depends on your best open-jaw flight options. There are Eurostar trains from London to both and Thalys (French) from Paris to A'dam. You can see schedules on bahn.com. For prices, check the Eurostar and Thalys websites.

I would only include a 3rd city if you have 14 days on the ground. You'll lose at least 1/2 day each time you move and as others have said, both London and Paris need more than 3 days.