First Timers Need Help

I've been to all the places you are trying to go to.
Buy the long distance trains as soon as they become available 90 to 120 days in advance and you get the lower price.
London to Brussels (on the way to Brugges)
https://www.eurostar.com/
Brussels to Paris
https://www.izy.com/en/homepage
or the more expensive
https://www.thalys.com/de/en/

Paris to Munich
https://www.bahn.com/i/view/index.shtml
Fly back Munich to London

Your instincts are correct: you are spreading yourself too thin; you will not be able to comfortably go to Normandy, Amsterdam, Switzerland, or Scotland on this trip. And you might want to cut out Munich it is too far too much time on the train not unless you fly.

Your itinerary is ok, I'd add an extra night in Munich if possible. The problem is you can't enjoy yourselves and also do all these excursions. It's just to much for the time you have. I recommend to just stay in the cities and plan to go to these other places on next trip.

You are spreading yourselves very thinly! I too would drop Munich, as London and Paris are big hitters and you will lose half a day each time you change destinations.

If you haven’t already booked your flights, open jaw tickets would make more sense to avoid back tracking to London and thereby losing a day.

With only 3 days in London, you will not have time to see Scotland or the Cotswolds, unless you don’t want to see anything in London.

Since the numbers you give don't add up to 15, I gather that they don't include your travel days? So you're spending four nights in London (for three full days), then a travel day to Bruges, then three nights there, etc.?

If so, I don't think you're necessarily spreading yourselves too thin, although different people prefer faster or slower paces of travel. You could even work in a day trip or two if you really wanted to, although some of the ones you've suggested are not realistic. It's more than 300 miles from London to the Scottish border, and London to Edinburgh is a 4 1/2 hour train trip each way. Better to save the farther flung places for when you have more time to do them justice.

You ARE spreading yourselves too thin. You state "This will be our first trip overseas." Everything will be new to you. You are also travelling on your own, no guide or organized tour to instruct you or for you to follow. You will be spending a lot of your time getting oriented and figuring things out as you go. A LOT of first time activities, events, places, processes. These will all take a little more time for a new traveler than for someone who has travelled to your destinations before or to anywhere overseas.

Forget the side trips altogether unless you really want to see Normandy; if you do, cut Bruges and Munich and add those days to Paris/Normandy.
If you want to see three very different places, cut Bruges and save it for another trip. Add one day each to Paris and to Munich.
If you want to cut the travel time in Europe, cut Munich and add the time to Paris.

You will enjoy your experience so much more if you don't try to rush yourself getting from place to place. It's not the travelling from place to place that's important, it's being there.

Relax and enjoy. There is plenty to do and to see in London and Paris for a whole trip.

I'd say WAY too thin particularly if you want to do all those day trips. Some do Normandy as a day trip but to me it's better done with 2 nights in Bayeux with a full day tour of the area on your day there. If you want to do Normandy, I'd skip Bruges this time out. Scotland is a 4 hour train trip so not really good for a day trip.

To me 3 days = 4 nights, how about you?

I'd cut Munich as well and add those nights to Paris and London.

Remember, Rick always says You'll be back so you don't need to see ~everything~ the first time out. You might be overwhelmed because you are trying to see too much!

Are your plane tickets already set? If not, in to London, out of Amsterdam could work.

Thank you for all of your responses. We have been wondering for a while if we need to remove Munich from our plans. We have already purchased our airfare so we are locked down as far as that goes. We definitely want to spend time in Belgium so that part of our itinerary is not being canceled.

We are open to suggestions for places to visit near London and Paris. I am a huge Beatles fan so I’m wondering about a trip to Liverpool. Just saying!
Thank you once again!

Suggestion:

People here could offer better suggestions for day trips possibly if you put you trip format into something like this -

Day 1 - Fly into London (arrive after 8 pm)
Day 2 - London
Day 3 - London
Day 4 - London
Day 5 - Is this a day in Bruge? Or is this a transit day between London/Bruge?
Day 6 - Etc.

I also find that that format helps me when I want to figure how much time I actually have in each city.

Hope your trip is amazing!!!

London, Bruges, Paris will be much more manageable without Munich. You could do Normandy from Paris and a Cotswolds Day trip(I think there's one called Go Cotswolds and London Walks also occasionally does them) from London with the time you save skipping Munich.

If you are going to London and are Beatles fan, you should stop at the British LIBRARY and visit the Ritblat room.

https://www.bl.uk/events/treasures-of-the-british-library

The have "Ticket to Ride" original lyrics on a napkin, I believe, plus THE Original Magna Carta, and Gutenberg Bible, and Handel's Messiah, and Alice in Wonderland with doodles, and on and on. Truly impressive. Free. Even my teens were impressed. A very short walk from St. Pancras/Kings Cross tube station.

Our Itinerary is as follows:

September 18: Arrival in London at 8:10 PM
September 19 London
September 20 London
Sept21 London
Sept 22 London
Sept. 23 depart London for Bruges
Sept 24 Bruges
Sept 25 Bruges
Sept 26 Depart Bruges for Paris
Sept 27 Paris
Sept 28 Paris
Sept 29 Paris
Sept 30 Paris
Oct 1 Return to London for flight to US on October 2.

Hope this helps with ideas for day trips!
BTW we definitely have Versailles on our radar.

Thank you again for all of your ideas and help.

I wouldn't try to do Liverpool on this trip, as there's enough Beatles stuff in London to keep you busy. And I don't really think a day trip is warranted as there's SO much to do see and do in London. Trains in England are expensive and slow (compared to Europe), driving is difficult for people due to the opposite side of the road thing, which pretty much forces you to take a coach tour to see anything countryside-ish, at least for a beginner.

Bruges is a better option for a day trip. There's really not that much to see/do there. Ghent is an obvious choice, as are the WWI battlefields of Ypres, but even Brussels is day-trippable from Bruges.

4 full days in Paris and fast TGV trains means a day trip could be advisable, but I'd only do it if you feel very strongly about something particularly (like D Day beaches in Normandy, cathedral and champagne in Reims) and you're also not planning on doing Versailles, which is something of a day trip unto itself.

I think 4 base cities in 14 nights is fine; two cities per week. The key is what you plan to do when you get to each base city. Enjoy the base and if you get bored, then take a day trip, but I wouldn't commit to the day trip as, other than Bruges, you have plenty to see at your base cities. Personally, I wouldn't make Munich a first visit city, but that is just me and I've not seen it yet...so for me it will be at least somewhere after a 25th visit to Europe...lost count. That being said we all have our own interests and should chose accordingly.

How about this London Beatles Tour.

http://www.beatlesinlondon.com/#publictours

Hits the highlights, and you don't have a veryexpensive 2 1/2 hour train ride to Liverpool.