Help with May-June 2014 itinerary planning?

Congratulations on finishing school & have a great trip. It looks like you're planning on hitting many of the top destinations the first time out, and each is worthwhile. Many single places would make for a great 3-week visit on their own, but there's a lot to see and do and wanting to hit some highlights is understandable for a first visit to Europe (with hopefully more to come, to see some things in more depth and to encounter new places). With each of your Versions, you're covering lots of distances. Are you planning on a Eurail pass, or using the cheap, quick, inter-Europe flights that have deveolped over the past few years? Greece in particular can be a long, relatively slow distance from the other locations you mentioned, and travel time, including check-ins and transfers, can take away from your sightseeing/relaxing time. Since beaches are available along the Costa Brava and you're planning on Barcelona anyway, get your beach time in Spain. If you visit Nice (where you can get killer deals on Mephisto shoes compared to in the USA), you'll have pebbly (not sandy) beaches. Venice is a fabulous place, and has its own Lido across the lagoon, a beach where a lot of visitors stay, but it's not in the heart of the magic of Venice.

You're probably already using Rick's Europe Through the Back Door or his other guidebooks, but they are packed with info that's helpful for first-time visitors to know what to expect and how to operate. In big cities, the museum passes and/or transit passes are convenient and can save you money, depending on how long you're there and how much you use the pass. They may not all work for you if you're there for just a couple of days. Are you using hostels for any lodging? They come with a source of instant friends and traveling companions, who can offer advice and information on where they've just been or are just going. You may have more specific questions on specific locations you're considering.

Your last three itineraries look better than the one including Greece; save it for another trip, you'll have beaches in Italy, France and Spain.

You should research the cities you list least often (you are great at research, I'm sure, congratulations on your degree) and decide what is most important for you to see on this trip, and what activities you want. Your next draft may be different from all the others so far.

Well I would choose version #3 or #4, but take 1 night off of Florence and add it to London. It's good that you are energetic because you will be spending a lot of time navigating train stations and/or airports. You have your nights figured out on paper, but what about the time spent traveling between these cities? Personally, I would do less cities, and spend more time in them. You should have places to stay and your European travel booked or figured out by now!
But whatever you do, have a great time!

My personal preference would be version #3, but I agree with BG to take one night from Florence and add it to London. Also, Venice is somewhat of an 'outlier' but I think it's worth it. Definitely skip Greece this trip.

As for the foodie aspect, while big cities can offer a large volume and variety of places and dishes, some can be overpriced and touristy, and our best dining experiences have been in smaller towns and in the country away from the capitols. We sometimes wind up eating "ethnic" (Middle-eastern fare is affordable and good in Paris, Thai in Belgium, Greek in Austria), but definitely have fish & chips in England, duck confit in France, tapas in Spain, gelato in Italy, etc. For a "local" flavor, look for restaurants that don't feature a big menu out front with photos of their food and descriptions in English (and maybe 6 other languages), as these are catering specifically to tourists. Find out how to ask for tap water (agua del grifo in Spain, carafe d' Eau in France), unless you want pricey bottled mineral water.

Our travels lately are spending more time in a smaller area, allowing some time (never enough) to visit smaller towns and the countryside. For a splurge, research restaurants in your destinations with one or more Michelin stars. Some of them require reservations a month or more in advance, but you won't be disappointed. On our last trip, starting in Madrid and ending in Barcelona, we linked those two with a trip to San Sebastian (a/k/a Donostia) in the Spanish Basque County (see Rick Steves' Spain book), where food is an art. We had lunch at 3-star Martin Berasategui a few km. south of town, and it was an incredible meal - expensive, but fabulous. Even the "regular" places had wonderful food. Don't pass up baked goods!

akg,

too much homework for me.....

happy trails and good luck.

Hello akg. For a total of 22 nights, I recommend --
London : 4 nights.
Paris : 5 nights (including day trips).
Rome : 3 nights.
Florence : 4 nights (including a day trip to a hill town in Tuscany).
Barcelona : 4 nights (go to a beach one day).
London : 2 nights. (for you to have one full day of non travel, before the day you fly away).
If you travel to more places than that, I think you would use too much of your time for travelling between destinations. And, travelling frequently would cause a person to suffer from anxiety and mental tension.

1 leave
2 arrive London
3 london
4 london
5 train to paris
6 paris
7 paris
8 paris
9 fly to venice
10 venice
11 train venice to milan
12 milan
13 train milan to florence
14 florence
15 florence
16 train to rome
17 rome
18 rome
19 rome
20 fly rome to London
21 london
22 london
23 london to home

You don't have time for Greece and don't need to go that far for beaches - each of your other countries has them. I would also save Spain for another time to allow a few smaller French and Italian towns in the mix. Their atmosphere and beauty is different. If you do go from Italy to Spain, then of course you would fly to save time and money (try www.skyscanner.com). It's no use trying to compare the value of a railpass until you do get the plan nailed down. See the Train Time & Cost map for a short-hand version of how many hours it takes to get between these big cities.