First Time to Europe - Sept/Oct 2025

Couple of thoughts:

1. If you can, go for at least 10 days, if not 12. We did 7 once and vowed to never do it again. It just wasn't long enough. It was a childcare issue that led to the 7-our daughter was in study abroad and we roped my brother in law to stay with younger two. So if you can only do 7, still go but that makes number 2 even more important.
2. Prioritize flight times. I don't know where you are coming from but if you can fly direct, I would. if not, two flights only. We can fly some places direct including Madrid which is where we flew to for the 7 days above. It simplifies things and will save you time you can spend in Europe or at home with your kids.
   3.If you go to England and Scotland like you are thinking, fly into London and out of Edinburgh. That is called multi-city on most websites. Search on goggle for flights but buy from the airlines themselves.
3. Don't try to move too much wherever you go. It takes time to move from place to place. You certainly can not see all of England and Scotland, for example, in the time you have so don't even try.
   

I am not well traveled and I am planning my third cruise to Europe this October. My last cruise was from Southampton to Lisbon last October..

I spent 6 nights in London pre-cruise and 4 nights in Lisbon post cruise. Both are truly fabulous cities. While London was crowded, it never felt crowded. Lisbon did feel crowded and this was the end of October.

6 nights in London was not enough. 4 nights in Lisbon was not enough. As said, they are truly fabulous cities. You could use either as a home base and then take excursions out of these cities. The excursions could be off of the beaten path but they might also be crowded in September / October.

Europe is going to be crowded in September / October. How crowded depends on where you go.

What a wonderful plan for celebrating your 10th.

I suggest you make it 12 days and limit your trip to England and Scotland. Fly in to London and out from Edinburgh. A basic plan would be London (4 nights), York (2 nights), Edinburgh (2 Nights before flying out) and the rest devoted to an off-the beaten-path experience In Scotland your “splurge” plus hiking and fishing.

Consider including something like this, which offers stunning scenery, nature, hiking, fishing, and a very nice hotel (scroll down past the scenery and fishing guides to see the hotel). I found this (from a link on one of the Rick Steves Monday night Travel Talks) for my son and his wife, who are your age with similar interests, and we hope to meet them there sometime in 2025.

https://www.igot2travel.com/northuistfishing

Congrats on your anniversary and first trip! As you're planning, keep in mind that you lose a day going over, so you lose one "day" of your plans, and your last day is travel home. If you're trying to work in vacation days from work, see if you can maneuver a long weekend (e.g. Labor Day). Also be sure to check holidays for the places you are going - bank holidays in UK make attractions and airports busier. Jet lag is very real thing, both coming and going (mine is usually worse coming home). Since you have young children, be sure to give yourself some cushion and grace on the return end of the trip too. Every time you change locations you lose about a half day to travel and logistics - longer if you're traveling farther. If you haven't already, you might check out RS's Europe Through the Back Door travel skills book (any recent version is fine, check your library) as well as the relevant guide books for the places you're interested in going. You have a lot of time yet to plan.

Only you will know what interests will be satisfied by various locations, but if you're wanting a comfortable first trip you can't go wrong with the UK, though set your expectations realistically that you will NOT be able to see everything (or even a lot) in 7-12 days. Another option could be London and Paris with some day trips - fly in to one city and home from the other. That was my first Europe trip (14 days though, and it wasn't enough). When planning, be sure to plot out your days including travel time. For example, a London/Paris trip might look like this (and not suggesting this is perfect amount of time or what you should do, it's just an example):

Day 1 - flight / travel day from home
Day 2 - arrival day London (many flights arrive morning or mid-afternoon); get to hotel and plan a light activity afternoon/evening (jetlag)
Day 3 - London
Day 4 - London / possible day trip
Day 5 - London
Day 6 - London to Paris via Eurostar train in morning, arrive Paris afternoon check in hotel, explore in evening.
Day 7 - Paris
Day 8 - Paris / possible day trip
Day 9 - Paris
Day 10 - fly home from Paris

I think Lola may have just planned the perfect trip for you katie. Uist is one of the places my avid fly fishing friend is hoping to get to soon. Lola's suggestion would give you a great mix of big city, mid-city and rural. And the Outer Hebrides (Uist is an island in the Outer Hebrides) are pretty magical.

I would fly to London, then go to Lake District(probably best in Sept) and consider HF holidays Country House for accommodations, then to Edinburgh only if you have 12 days. Fly home from Edinburgh unless London is a lot cheaper.

September is our favorite time to be in London—-the weather is usually very nice, and the whole month has a festival celebrating the Thames in art, music, cultural events, walking tours with an historical focus, and more. The program changes from year to year and 2025 events won’t be scheduled yet, but you can keep an eye on this website:

https://thamesfestivaltrust.org/

Any time we are in London we like to stay near the river so we can enjoy walks on the pedestrian path that lines the riverbank.

The HF Holidays Lake District offerings mention by Cala include these and more:

https://www.hfholidays.co.uk/holidays-and-tours/3-night-northern-lake-district-guided-walking-holiday

Scroll through the Gallery to see photos. We stayed with them at this place in a lovely lakeview room a few years back. The accommodations and meals were very good, the hike leaders were excellent, and we really enjoyed the camaraderie of the other guests—-mostly British but a few Canadians and a young Frenchwoman. No others from the US.

In September, at least this year, they offer a special program at this location, focused on ascending Scarfell Pike, the highest summit in England (but not in the UK). My husband did this hike/scramble when we were there but i opted for something a bit easier due to vertigo.

https://www.hfholidays.co.uk/holidays-and-tours/scafell-pike-challenge?format=pdf&vid=2391

You've been given a lot of good advice and suggestions.

IF you want to be "daring" and splash out to Italy (and truly I understand your wording here because my first trip to Italy felt very daring to ME) AND can do 12-ish days with the kids being cared for by others....Consider doing Rick's Heart of Italy tour. It's a wonderful taste of 2 big cities, 1 hill town and 1 seaside, so a lot of variety. It was my first RS tour and my first trip to Italy. I traveled with a family group of brother, SIL, their 2 young adult sons and me and it worked out perfectly for us. I didn't have to worry about doing planning (I am the planner) or getting the guys going in the AMs.

You could also consider one of Rick's Best of London or Best of Paris tours if that sounds like fun to you.

Remember that coming from the US you'll generally leave one afternoon or evening and arrive in Europe the next day so that shoots 2 days out of the gate. If you decide on a tour I do recommend you arrive at least the day before the tour starts to give yourselves some flex time for travel delays.

You've been given some great suggestions. But I'm going to offer an idea of a trip we did (granted with our kids) a few years ago for their first time visiting. It was a great mix of 'comfortable' and 'daring'. We had 11 days (including travel days) we spent 5 nights in London (non-stop flight) then took the Eurostar from London to Paris for another 5 nights with a non-stop flight home. The only activity you won't be able to experience with this itinerary would be the fishing. Starting in an English speaking country eased the kids into foreign travel. Then, with 5 days under their travel belt, they felt confident to tackle a non-English speaking country. You can definitely experience eating (delicious!), drinking (so many good choices), history (everywhere!) and even hiking (or even biking!) with this itinerary.

I have traveled to Europe 6 times so far. The first time was for a summer Yiddish class in Lithuania that I got college credit for. The other 5 times were me getting time off work to travel for my own edification. One trip was to parts of the Netherlands and northern Belgium. The other trips were each to only one country at a time.

Why don't you just go to England and possibly also Scotland? There is too much to do in most countries in West and central Europe to justify traveling to the biggest cities in each of more than one country in one trip.

You don't need to talk to most employees most of the time. It is an embarrassment to civilization to just talk your version of English in another country and expect somebody to understand, to be impressed or to give you something, and so on. England is a language barrier if you don't speak British English. In Scotland a lot of people might switch between Scotts and British English depending on the audience and environment.

I have an advantage in learning phrases in other languages because I can pronounce foreign sounds like a native speaker because I had a phonology class in college. An accent is when somebody hears a word which is not a word in their language but it is so similar to a word in their language that they (might, hopefully) perceive it to be a "different version" of a word in their language. Without knowing about phonology, you pronounce foreign words in a distorted way substituting the nearest phonemes and sound patterns of your version of English, while perceiving that you are pronouncing something "the same" as a native speaker.  

I have had good luck finding hotels on booking.com. Or you could try the competing hotel reservation sites, but before you make a reservation through one of these sites, see if the hotel has a way to book directly with the hotel and see if there is a big price difference between booking directly or through a hotel reservation website. To me a hotel is just a place to sleep.

I caught a horrifying virus that affected my digestive tract, in Spain in March 2022. I don't have any way to know exactly how I caught it but I will never drink unfiltered tap water again.

We like to eat, drink, fish (fly and sport - him more than I), history, and hike.

With fishing and hiking it sounds more like Scandinavia is a perfect match than Italy and France which are in wide parts very "beaten path", also on the landside.
Without children I recommend to go for the full adventure by breaking through the language barrier which is not so high in Scandinavia as well.

But if you want to avoid autumn temperatures and fell already in love with the idea of a kiss below Eiffel tower then go for it!

Have a good journey.

remember that Paris will have just held the Olympics so even as late as September things may well still be in a state of flux and confusion there. The base of the Eiffel Tower is already fenced off as is the surrounding area and this is only May - they may be as slow pulling it down and it may not be as romantic as hoped.

A castle in the highlands with the full treatment may well be the splurge you are looking for, and it probably comes with fishing rights. And incomparable scenery.

Happy anniversary. I've just seen that we are talking about NEXT year - disregard the Paris comments..... still not the Highlands tho....

I just returned from fly fishing in Bosnia. Excellent, an amazing off the beaten path place for sport and tourism.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/fly-fishing-bosnia-herzegovina

It pairs well with Vienna and Budapest and all three somewhat warmer than the Baltics at that time of year. Some city, some nature.

https://youtu.be/1nd5AtZIrTk?feature=shared

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/who-will-be-in-budapest-thru-july-thru-december-and-events-in-the-city

Make it 12 days if you can, as long as possible. I'd suggest London and another "quaint countryside" location in England, like the Cotswolds, Dorset, Yorkshire, the Lake District, or elsewhere -- you want good rail service from London, not too much travel time, and things to see and do nearby. You may find some ideas here. Consider renting a car for your days outside London if you're willing to deal with left-side driving. Keep it simple, not too many moves, no language barrier. Nonstop flights if you can do them.

After this first trip you'll hopefully want to return for something more "daring," maybe with the kids when they get older.

Okay, everyone likes what they like. I read your description and it reminded me a bit of my trip this past two weeks. So with some modifications …. Its active, but you are young.
Dont worry about language, its never a limiting factor. In the cities you will have trouble finding anyone who doesnt speak English. In the countryside you generally have a guide.
This is 12 days split between a city and a brave new adventure.
On the cost scale its way down at the bottom. Especially if you choose Budapest (prettier too LOL)
It should be easy to plan because the forum has a lot of help for Vienna and Budapest and the Bosnia leg would be 100% arranged by the guide service. You just have to show up.

Big City 1: Depart US
2: Arrive Vienna or Budapest. Look at both and decide your style. Like night and day.
3: Vienna or Budapest
4: Vienna or Budapest
5: Vienna or Budapest
6: Morning flight to Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina – hire a guide for the day

Nature Day 1: Morning Transfer to the country. Stop for sightseeing in Travnik and Jajce
https://youtu.be/klFmMtTMZuY?feature=shared
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWVj5BmpQWI
Arrive Hotel Kraljevac in Ključ
https://youtu.be/QNpUWXV3RkI? feature=shared
2: Husband fly fishes with a guide in the morning. Everything he needs can be rented at the hotel. Afternoon, tour of the area, castle, etc
3: Husband fly fishes with a guide in the morning. Everything he needs can be rented at the hotel. Afternoon, tour of the area, castle, etc
4: Transfer to Zagreb, Croatia by way of Banja Luka
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flnFRUEQ9ac
5: Day in Zagreb with a guide
6: Fly Home.

If you like the idea of North Uist that is not as hard to reach as you might think- Loganair have a daily flight to Benbecula airfield. There are buses and of course taxis from there to Lochmaddy, but there is also a rental car facility there.

Is a long time off. Hopefully your research will bring you to the conclusuon that this aint rocket science even though a few of us try and make it sound that way.

So, despite the language and political issues Scottland does ring most of your bells. BethL is correct. World class fishing too; but a wee tad coòl. Only downside for a guy like me is cost .. and maybe language.

Lots of 20-something young adults with skulls full of mush travel far and wide across the world and with few exceptions they all get home. You are an edgitated professuonal, so you got it made. What we try and do here is make it seem harder than it is or make you a little nervous so you will ask more questions about stuff that really doesnt matter that much so we can occupy our time.