Help us choose a destination

Oh, if you could go in late April, you could have canals and tulips and windmills! We had a fantastic trip in the NL and Belgium, and then there's the chocolate.........

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/the-netherlands-belgium-april-2024-brought-the-rain-pants-needed-the-rain-pants

Whatever you decide, have a great trip!

If you'll be driving, three ideas., assuming landing in Paris.

Strasbourg via Reims, then as far down through the Alsace wine route as you have time/inclination for.

Troyes, Dijon, Lyon.

Loire and as far towards Bordeaux as you fancy.

We lived in Germany four years and have visited 80% of Europes countries.
All are good, but my favorites are as follows:
1) Italy
2) Great Britain
3) Tie France, Spain, Germany, Austria, Norway, Switzerland and Greece
4) Netherlands, Hungary, Poland, Denmark and Turkey

Some tips, don't just visit the big cities like Rome, Paris and London, visit some of the smaller cities and towns.
Cost- Switzerland and Norway are the most expensive countries. Large cites tend to be more expensive than smaller cities and towns.
The trains are great in Europe. Many countries have very fast high speed trains.

Renting a car can be good, but parking can be expensive in large cities and hard to find even in small cities. Also, gas runs about $7 a gallon. Further, except for Germany many countries have tolls that can be very high for their equivalent of our interstate highways.

You can save by booking B&Bs, and you usually get a free breakfast.
Plan each leg of your trip, including transport and time between places. Use TripAdvisor.com to find great things to do in a city.
Tours can be great if you don't want to worry about the details, but compare different companies for what you get for $$. We love Gate 1 Travel.

geovagriffith is spot on and he usually is. But this is one of the questions that is fair to ask, but impossible to answer. You did good with telling the month and the duration.

May is the most unpredictable month in a lot of Europe. Last year here it was hot, this year cold and wet. So, I would rule out an expectation of getting the most out of most coastal destinations and be prepared to dress warm if you head too far north.

If you are going to put the money into a plane ticket to Europe, get the most out of it and make it 16 days (two weeks plus the extra weekend). That gives you a real two weeks there.

You loved Rome and Florence, which is sort of a traditional European holiday so that says you might also enjoy Paris.

Of course, Paris isn’t terribly inexpensive so you might want to balance it with something else to get more enjoyment for the dollar. And Paris is more of what you enjoyed in Italy which doesn’t give you a clue of what else you might enjoy if you tried it.

So, two thirds of the time in Paris and one third of the time for something totally different to see how you enjoy it. Lets look at geovagriffith’s list (I tried to compile my own list and I just couldn’t do it):
1) Italy: naaaa, time to explore.
2) Great Britain: not G.B. per se, but London yes. But $$$$$$$ But I would set up in an Airbnb in London and then do at least one overnight out of town.
3) Tie France, Spain, Germany, Austria, Norway, Switzerland and Greece. SPAIN!!! But not Barcelona. I’m thinking of Seville, Cordoba or Toledo. Much lower key and I suspect the Spain experts here have other great ideas. Low cost, some similarities to Italy and Paris but different enough to give you a larger sense of Europe.
4) Netherlands, Hungary, Poland, Denmark and Turkey. Budapest is also a possibility as is Istanbul. Both are inexpensive, culturally and visually stunning. Plan your flights right and Istanbul would be an extended layover on the way to Paris. Great choice.

See the small towns? Well yes, but there are reasons that the main tourist destinations exist. You need to check out those reasons and not skip one for the possibility that you might enjoy more a place no one ever heard of. But I do think setting up in an apartment in one or substantial tourist destinations (like the ones mentioned above) then doing day trips, over night trips and even two night trips to other towns is a great idea. Here the one night stay isn’t a burden because you are not traveling with all your luggage, just a night bag. Its fun.

And watch a lot of tourist videos. Not just RS shows. By the way, look at the date on the RS shows. Some are 15 years old.

Being unashamedly biased here are two to get started with:

Favorite Tourism Video of Budapest** https://youtu.be/1nd5AtZIrTk?feature=shared
Anthony Bourdain describing how visually pleasurable Budapest is** https://youtu.be/0nd9DuDGCz0?si=aa0c19KaJHEtabkX

Which brings to mind, you should also look at some videos on Vienna as that sort of works for you I think. The guy that did the one on Budapest above also did a very good one on Vienna too. Either Vienna or Budapest pair great with Istanbul (or with each other) and Istnabul I think would be brilliant.

You could do worse than picking any RS- itinerary and self- driving. My gut says fly into London for the first week and visit London for 3-4 days and then excursions into the countryside (Bath, Cotswalds, etc.) and then take Chunnel to France and visit Loire Valley, MSM and Normandy etc. and end in Paris for 3-4 days and depart from there. Two large cities and as many country villages as you desire. Enjoy.

Thank you for your input. I am intrigued by the thought of Belfast and Istanbul, but also France wine country. And we would definitely enjoy driving out of the cities to explore lesser-known locations. I'll continue to read and check out some more videos. Thanks again for being so gracious to share your knowledge!

One of the things that works well with Istanbul is that Turkish Air flies to more locations than anyone else.