Looking for a Couple Travel Itinerary Ideas

You will travel 2.5 days (assuming you are coming from the states). Figure the first day is travel and half the second day is travel and the other half you could be jetlagged (its real). Then the last day is all travel. That leaves 7.5 days.

London, Paris and Rome are sort of the mirepoix of travel. But with the time you have, and because its your first trip I would do London and Paris.

I would fly into London because its one of the shorter flights to Europe and there are a lot of direct connections. That gives you more time on arrival day and leaves you less pooped out. I would do 3.5 days in London, then take the train (a half day event) and spend the remainder of the time in Paris.

While in London I would spend one day on a day trip or even an overnight to Bath or Winchester or something similar that interests you.

Want more active? Prague 2.5 days, Vienna 2 days, Budapest 3 days; in that order.

I agree with London & Paris. Count by the number of nights you will be IN Europe rather than days to figure out how many full days you have. You might think that 8 days seems like a long time, but it will go by fast. If you can add any time it would be well worth it.

Assuming you have 9 nights I would fly into London. It will be less culture shock since they somewhat speak the same language. Spend your first 4 nights there. You will find much to do in London, whether you like museums (most of them free), shopping, nightlife or whatever. Since you are interested in WWII you will want to visit the Imperial War Museum and the Churchill War Rooms. Then take the Eurostar train to Paris. It takes 2:15 and takes you city center to city center. If you can manage more time you would probably be interested in going to Normandy. After arriving in Paris you can go from your arrival train station (Gare du Nord) to Gare St. Lazare to take the train to Normandy. I suggest basing in Bayeux. There are many recommended D-Day tours going from there. Spend 2 nights there to give you a full day for a tour. Take the train back to Paris and spend your nights there, then fly home from Paris. When you buy your airline tickets look for the multi-city option.

If you have only 9 nights and Normandy is a must see, I would spend 3 nights London, 2 nights Bayeux and 4 nights Paris. If you can add 1 more night, add it to London. If you can add 2 more nights, add one more to Bayeux. Remember that this is your first trip, but it doesn't need to be your last. Expect to return some day.

look.. is there any way you could add a few more days to your trip.. its such a long way to go.. and airfare is so pricey.. it really pays off to make it a two week trip,, giving yourself a full 12 days...

If not.. you ve got ten days.. Paris and London.. or Paris and Amsterdam are easy to do together..

Book an open jaw ticket. into one city out of another, when pricing out you look for a multi destination ticket. It saves you time and money this way..

So , for instance.. fly into London.. spend 3-4 days there.. the Eurostar ( train ) to Paris 3-4 day.. then you can take Thalys to Amsterdam.. spend last 2-3 days and fly home from Amsterdam.

You can combo cities however you want.. fly into Paris.. spend 4 days.. then fly to Rome , 4 days and fly home from Rome.. the choices and combinations are endless.

With your shorter period of time 8 days.. I would only do 2 places.. if you can tack on an extra 2 days on your trip then add a third.

Go back and read Andrea's post again. The only addition -- if you can find some extra time -- would be Caen for the WWII museum. If you can't find extra time then fly into London and fly home from Paris. It's a great graduation gift and I'm sure it'll be something you'll never forget. The folks on this forum have a wealth of knowledge to share so feel free to pick our collective brains.

Although more is better for all the reasons Pat mentions (and a few more), I don't think you should beat yourself up about "only" having 8 days free and clear on the ground. I also don't think you should try to shoehorn more than 2 cities into those 8 days.

London, or Amsterdam, plus Paris, will make for a fabulous trip. You will not exhaust the top sights in any of those places in the time you have, but you will get a nice taste.

Have a blast!

I agree with attempting to stretch the trip. The expensive single item is the airfare. The per day price really drops when you add a second week. If 8 days, stick with two destinations. I like Paris and Rome.