Europe Recommendations for March

Ashley: You should be glad that you're going to Paris first. That makes London's budget air carriers available to get you to your bohemian destination. EasyJet.com flies inexpensively out of Gatwick to: Amsterdam, Budapest, Kraków, Prague and Munich. You couldn't go wrong with any of these cities for young people. We've always enjoyed Amsterdam and/or Munich area. We're going to Prague, Vienna and Budapest April, 2014. Excellent travel guides for specific cities can be found at:
http://travel.usnews.com/Destinations/Europe/

With only a week to spend, and you already being in London, I would go on to Ireland and Scotland. I have done that trip before. Also, if your group only spent a week visiting Paris and London, you could easily spend your additional week revisiting those two cities. I have spend a week in both several times and always seem to find new things to see.

Obviously, everyone is going to have their favorites, and less favorites. You should read books and look at travel videos (Rick's are on Hulu and YouTube) to see what interests you. In addition to the places you listed, I would put Berlin at the top of your list (you get "Eastern Europe" and "Western Europe" in one city that way, plus it's a great place for all kinds of sightseeing, nightlife, and food). Amsterdam or Prague or Istanbul are also great choices (although it's hard to imagine three more different places, which gets back to my point that you have to go to a place that excites you, at this time, rather than to a place you feel you "should" see). And while I'm not a fan of Brussels, Bruges and Antwerp should be great for your interests (they also have the advantage of being a pretty short train ride from London, so no plane needed). continued..

continued.. Do look at the flight and train costs and schedules before committing. I'd never go to a place just because it's cheap, but it can be a great tie-breaker. And you'll want to book an open jaw flight (into Paris and out of your last city) to avoid time-consuming and costly backtracking. To find these, don't look for two one-ways (very expensive); instead, use the "multi city" function of Kayak http://www.kayak.com/. To check flights within Europe, use Skyscanner http://www.skyscanner.com/. From London, trains will be useful to Scotland, Belgium, or the Netherlands, and less useful to farther away places. To check train schedules, use the Bahn (German Rail) website, following Rick's tutorial: http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/db_tips.htm. This will not have prices for trains outside Germany, so if a train interests you, ask again here how to check the price and buy tickets. Beware that for both trains and flights, the prices start low if bought well in advance, and go up sharply closer to travel.

Thank you all so much for your valuable feedback. I will explore all of the suggestions you have given me and look forward to any additional insider information.

look for celebrations, special holidays, performances, etc. For instance March 15 is a sort of independence day in Budapest.