general europe

Come on, give us a little more to go on...interests, type of city/village, outdoors, museums, art...you get the picture.

Any suggestion? Ya, Europe is a big place. Put a map on the wall and throw a few darts. Gee, need a little assistance.

Well there is the rest of France, one could easily spend 6 weeks in Germany.

Oh and about 45 more countries - a little more info would help.

BTW - I lived in Falmouth for 9 years.

If you really have no current draw to a specific place, start by reading travel books and watching travel shows (Rick's are on Hulu and Youtube via this website).

Some other things that may help you narrow the trip:

Do you have any special interests that could act as a travel focus (car museums, cooking, Art Nouveau)?

Do you want to rent a car, want to NOT rent a car, or could go either way depending on the destination?

Do you speak any languages other than English (even a bit)?

Is there a place you've seen in a movie or read about in a book that draws you? Is there a person's footsteps you want to follow? I actually went to one of Paris's less salubrious suburbs, because a housing project there was used in the film Brazil. And on my upcoming trip to Switzerland, I plan to make a pilgrimage to Audrey Hepburn's gravesite. There have been recent posts about seeing Jane Austen or Downton Abbey sights in England. The New York Times has printed several stories about famous people in Europe (like James Joyce in Trieste; of course, you can see many Joyce sights in Dublin). Etc.

Is it important that your friends will recognize the places you've been to, or is this irrelevant? One of my office mates really wants to visit what one travel guide called "brand names" - the places everyone has heard of, like the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Stonehenge - and really doesn't want to visit other places, no matter how much I tout them to her. I don't care if my destinations ring a bell with others or not. But it's your trip, not mine.

Speaking of friends, where have they been? You can get ideas, even if you don't duplicate their trips.

How important is budget? While it's true that you shouldn't go to a place just because it's cheap, and that there are ways to economize and ways to splurge everywhere, it's also true that Portugal, for example, is substantially cheaper than Norway or Switzerland.

Agree with others that your question is really tough to answer. Six weeks in summer I would start in London, make my way north into Scotland, and then head over to Ireland and fly home from Shannon or Dublin. Or, I would love to do a Germany through eastern Europe jaunt. Greece! However, these are really based on my personal preferences, where I have already been, and my interests.
Do you have the entirety of the six weeks, or some time within that? How many folks? Are you looking for a extended stays in one or two areas, or are okay with moving about every 3-5 days?
If it were me, I would grab a big guidebook of total Europe, and start penciling in an itinerary on a calendar with a map on hand. Spend a few months revising and see what comes up.

If I could go anywhere I wanted for 6 weeks, I'd go to Italy. Its got everything! Mountains, lakes, coast, history, culture, art, architecture, great food and wine.

Hi,

Great that you have the six weeks. What type of budget are you using to finance this trip? shoestring, conservative, modest, etc. You could spend the whole six weeks in one country, very easy to do. I can well imagine myself doing just that...the entire 6 weeks in France (with or without Paris), or all of the time in Germany, or divide the time just focusing on Berlin, Leipzig, greater Hamburg area , and Vienna, These are the weeks in July and August I've mostly been over there.

It is all a matter of imagination, will, and priorities to track down the places and sights you want to visit and see, ie, keeping focused. Bear in mind that July/August are normally the months for hotels in Germany and Austria offerring their cheapest rates for the year, esp when booked early.

Fly into Amsterdam and out of Rome (about right time of year for both). Lease a car and create your own itinerary.

We did something similar with four weeks and three kids in tow. We went through (southern) Germany, (western) Austria and (northern) Italy.

I would spend time in just a few places and not try to "do" as many as possible. One to two weeks in each. My personal choices?
The English Lake District
The Dolomites
A big city such as Rome, Prague or Amsterdam
Hike hut-to-hut in the Alps
Go somewhere at the seaside in the south of France or along the coast of Croatia
Explore Tuscany or Umbria
etc., etc,. etc. I could go on and on...
Too many options to choose from! You need to narrow it down based on your interests.

Look into local festivals. I'm spending 3 weeks just in Tuscany for local festivals like the Palio in Siena, the Bravio in Montepulciano, a jousting festival, a sepereate medieval festival in Volterra, and a wine festival. i'm gonig to ask folks when I arrive if there are any food festivals in the villages nearby I can attend. I saw an artichoke festival on Rick's tuscany show.

This is a pretty general idea, and weather can vary from one place to the next and one day (or hour) to the next, but it's usually going to be hotter to the south (Spain, Portugal, Greece) and cooler to the north (Germany, Poland, Scandanavia), and, of course, generally a few degrees warmer in July than in September. So if you're looking to avoid extreme heat, of if you're seeking warmth, perhaps plan accordingly.