First time to Europe in March and looking for advice

I'd start with the biggies - London and Paris. They might be chilly, but crowds will be down and that's good!

It's, of course, impossible to predict the weather this far out, and even closer March can bring anything from sunshine to showers to downpours or even snow in the higher elevations.
For your first trip, I would strongly recommend London. It's huge with lots and lots to see as well as very interesting day trips.
There are lots of indoor attractions should you encounter really bad weather.
You can also hop on the Eurostar for a day or two in Paris.
Check your library for guide books, Rick Steves, but others as well, to get ideas of what you would like to see and do.
I think that others here might suggest Italy, which would also be a good idea. However, with London as your first European trip, you won't have language difficulties (or only a few).

How about starting in London for a week hitting all the popular tourist sights and museums?

Then, take the Eurostar down to Paris for the next week. Paris in the Spring is simply glorious.
From Paris, you can take EasyJet (budget air carrier) to any of these popular places: Barcelona, Belfast–International, Bologna, Budapest, Copenhagen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Kraków, Lisbon, Madrid, Milan, Nice, Prague, Venice.
I would prefer to go to Venice for 3 days and take a fast train (with reservation) down to Rome for the balance of your time. The Rome FCO airport has convenient flights home.
There's also a Paris-Barcelona fast train (6 1/2 hrs.) that just started running, and it's another great city and airport to fly out of.

Eric, we took our first trip last year and spent a week in Ireland, three nights each in Florence and the Cinque Terre, then five in Paris and four in London. It was a great appetizer! CT probably not the greatest in March, of course.
Have you taken a look at some of the tours here on the RS site, such as the 21 day Best of Europe? It would give you some ideas to start from. There are also Trip Reports you can read. Don't cram too much into your itinerary!

Note that we flew into London and out of London last year, which worked fine, but you do have the flexibility to fly into one city and out of another if that works better for what you want to see. We returned to France this year, coming into the south and leaving from Paris. You'll want to have a good look at Paris...

Have a great trip!

Lots to see and do in London, including lots of things indoors, which would be good in March. A strategy sometimes for folks who can travel at times outside of the big summer tourist rush is to go to places in southern Europe (southern Spain, Sicily, etc.) which get extremely hot in July and August - unless you enjoy heat, and save more northerly destinations for those summer months.

In addition to easyJet, mentioned above, there are other budget airlines that fly within Europe, including Vueling. Flying is more and more, a fast, relatively cheap way to get to multiple locations on a trip, but you have to deal with airport check-in times, luggage policies, airport security, etc, with each flight. If you're looking at taking the train, a bus, a day tour that uses a bus or van, or want to have a go with a rental car (driving on the left while sitting on the right side of the vehicle), day excursions from London could include Bath, Oxford, Cambridge, and/or Grenwich.

ericjul,

i took my first solo trip in march and the weather was great for what i had and what im use to.

the places i went were, in order:

Dublin > Edinburgh > London > Normandy > Paris > Amsterdam.

it took me about a month and spent from 3 to 4 days in each city.

if you go to London or Paris, each is about 2 hours away by train. Also, the train goes from city center to city center so no problems with having to get from an airport into the city. if you havent had any chance to ride a nice fast train, you should try at least once.

With regards to your 7 to 9 days of travel. if you mean back to Europe, to me its as waste of $$$. for one, you loose one day traveling there and you usually spend alot of $$ to get there. Then theres the jet lag issue. by the time you can get acclimated, you are going back home. Its your $$$ and time, so take my opinion as you see fit.

happy trails.

March may be a bit too early, but I went to the Kukenhof Gardens outside Amsterdam in early April this year and they were in their glory. (They had had a mild winter. The year before the winter was more severe and the flowers didn't come out until May, so keep an eye on the winter weather pattern.) If you enjoy 70 acres of flowers and 7 million bulbs, this is a feast for the eyes. I believe the garden is only open 8 weeks out of the year, so check that out.

Congratulations on your very sound instinct not to try to jam too much into a short trip. I think that the people who are suggesting lots of different locations have not paid attention to your stated time frame, 7 - 9 days. If it's 7, I suggest sticking to London, with some possible day trips out. Especially if the weather is good, there are many wonderful possibilities; e.g., Hampton Court (fun to go one way by boat), Windsor, Bath, Oxford, Canterbury, etc., etc. If 9, you could add some time in Paris; but I would still recommend sticking to UK locales.

Oops, my bad. I just noticed that the 7 - 9 days is future trips; and that this first one will be 3 weeks. I would still advocate staying mostly in the UK. Adding one more location, like Paris (via Eurostar) would make sense. There are tons of things to do, for any taste, in London and nearby. You could add more daytrips, or actually spend some days based in a town like Bath or one in the Cotswolds. March might be pretty rainy and cold in Scotland and the north, where the lush outdoors is a big part of the attraction. A week in Paris would be lovely frosting on the cake. Lots of daytrip possibities there, too. Be sure to do open-jaw flights if you do go into one city and fly home from another.

The first trip you have to do the holy trinity (certain regulars here now have to get up off the floor): London, Paris, Rome. With three weeks you could expand a little by doing London/Bath or any number of smaller villages and towns, then the train to Paris, again with a side trip out of the city. Look at http://parisweekender.com/weekend-itineraries/ Then Rome with Florence or the Amalfi Coast and Pompeii.

Cities are the way to go in March, perhaps with a day trip or 2. With 3 weeks, London > Paris > Rome would be great choices and you would not be bored.

Could you do something else? Yes, and if you have a yearning you should heed it. But these are GREAT cities and you would have no regrets on such an itinerary.

The fabulous gardens at Keukenhof won't be open until the 20th of March. If you will be returning frequently, the best time at Keukenhof tends to be mid to late April.

If I had three weeks, I would do a week in London, Paris & Rome, with a day trip in each city. We've been to London & Paris for a week each and there is plenty to do in both. Will be in Rome next May. Enjoy your first trip to Europe!

Putting in a plug for Italy. I went to Venice-Florence-Rome in March this year and it was delightful. We had 65-70 degree days and the crowds were light.
Cynthia