Romantic destinations, overwhelmed planning

I have 2 choices. First- Austria. Spend some time in Vienna (5 days or so), maybe a train day trip to Budapest (or spend a night or 3). Then by train to Salzburg. Spend about a week and do some day trips into the lake area, the castles, maybe to Munich, etc. Then Innsbruck. I find it a very romantic city. Spend several days there, then fly home- probably need to go back to Vienna or Munich to do that. Second and favorite- the UK. Fly into London. Spend about a week there and do a few day trips (Windsor, Bath, Stratford-upon-Avon, Brighton, Canterburry, Dover, etc, depends on your interests). Train to York- 1 or 2 nights. Train to Edinbrugh- 1 or 2 nights. Train to Aviemore- 3-4 nights- lots to see and do- nice 'rural' break from the cities. Train to Inverness. Spend 4-7 days. Do day trips. Maybe an overnight to Isle of Skye. Possibly up to Orkney. Train to Glasgow- 2 nights, fly home from there. You could tweak choice 2 and add in parts of Wales if you cut some time from Scotland or London. Scandinavia is also romatic, but VERY expensive. What are your interests? That might help us make some more specific and pertinent recommendations.

What could be romantic than Paris? You could combine it with the South of France and London. You could take day trips from London too. If you were to choose these locations, I would start in London. Less culture shock and language issues, plus one less hour time difference. From there you can take the Eurostar to Paris, and either go straight from there to the South of France, then back to Paris, or do Paris first.

I think of Northern Italy and the mountains and lakes when I think of a romantic trip. Lake Maggiore or Como, then maybe a city like Venice or Verona.

It seems to me that "Romantic" is an adjective that is not very tranferrable from one person to another. Any place you both want to see will be romantic in the sense of a shared experience. My suggestion would be to think long term and divide Europe into sections of similar history. As they say, assume you will be back. Pick your favorite section and start there and shun the temptation to stray out of those bounds. Make a plan to come back every 2-3 years (whatever seems reasonable for your budget) and visit a different section. For us, we started with Great Britain, then did Scandinavia, then France and then Central Europe (Amsterdam to Budapest). Next will be Italy and Croatia in a couple of years. Maybe Greece soon after that. The hard part is that there is always another great city just 2-3 hours drive or train ride beyond whatever your itinerary is. It takes great self control to say "no - I'll see that on another trip".

Paris, Venice and Sorrento are my top choices =)

Summer. Hmmm. Depends on (among other things) your tolerance for heat. Italy is indeed romantic (literally!) but in august? I could be more romantic someplace further north.

Thank you for your good suggestions. Italy had come to mind as a high priority but as you say the heat and crowds of summer may make it, while certainly worth going to, worth waiting or going solo off season. I think you're right about less culture shock in Great Britain for my husband and I think it would be convenient to fly into (good airfares?). The idea of choosing a section and not straying too far makes sense, as tempting as it is to check out places like Prague and Stockholm it makes sense to maximize our time sightseeing not en route. We could fly into Britain and then hit Paris and plan a course through north-west-ish Europe (choosing in France, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland). Then we can plan to hit Austria, Germany, Czech, eastern highlights on the next trip and Italy/Spain when off season is an option. I'm a huge Mozart fan and my husband is a musician so Austria is definitely a must for next time. In regards to our interests we would want to spend most overnights in cities and do some day trips to smaller towns. 2-3 nights in each place (we can always go back). We are more interested in big city landmarks, cute villages, and walking around outside than in museums. We like museums but they take a lot of time and we want to be out in the streets absorbing the culture, so just a few museums for us. We also want to sample great cuisine. If we go to Paris plus another area of France which would you recommend more: Normandy or Provence? Or a different region? And is Edinburgh worth an excursion before we head for Paris? Thanks again.

Personally, I would begin by looking at airfares, find the best fares and then work from there. It does not help to choose an Italian vacation and then realize that the cost is so much more than a French vacation. Does that make sense? I go at it by having a whole bunch of places on my wish list and when I find my dates I start searching fares. So - can you go early in the summer (VA schools get out early to mid June, yes?). If yes - choose June. I would skip the UK - but that's me. Places I loved were Lisbon, Krakow, Paris. I would love to see the south of France.

I agree with the poster abovego as early in June as you can. I'd still avoid the most popoular destination, since it's still going to be high season. Stick to northern Europe, avoid the most popular cities, and don't try to cram that whole itinerary you put in your last post into 2 weeks. Whilrwind travel isn't romantic. Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Switzerland are all good choices. If you love mountain landscapes, you can't do better than the Berner Oberland or the Salzkammergut Lake District. Very romantic, in my opinion. As much as I love Paris I'm not sure how romantic it will be waiting in line for 2 hours to climb up the steps at Notre Dame in summer.

Heather: I see you are just down the road from me. That means you will fly out of Dulles Airport, as my wife and I do. I strongly urge you to fly into London on United's daytime flight. It leaves Dulles about 9:30 am and gets into London around 9:30 to 10 pm. The airport is deserted, so by the time you clear customs & take the train into Paddington & get to your hotel, its about midnight. We were sleepy, but if not, pop an ambien, and when you wake up the next morning you have zero jet lag, none. You are fresh and ready to explore London.
London can be pretty romantic too...stroll along the Thames at night, spend time during the day in Hyde Park or Kensington Gardens. Do some walking tours and plays in the evening. Of an 18 day trip (2 1/2 weeks), I would spend them as foillows: Day 1 Arrive London late. Days 2, 3, 4 London. Day 5 Eurostar to Brussels, quick visit, then short ride to Bruges. Day 6 Bruges. Day 7 Train Bruges to Brussels to Paris. Days 8, 9, 10, 11 Paris. Make sure you go up to the top of Montmartre and look out at Paris lit up at nighttime. Make sure you have a picnic in the Luxembourg Gardens (but dont sit on the grass). Day 12 TGV bullet train to Avignon. Pick up a rental car. Basing in Avignon, Arles, Isle sur la Sorgue, or St Remy, see Provence. You will be there in lavender season, when Provence is at its most breathtaking. Days 13, 14, 15, 16 Provence. Day 17 Drive to Nice, return car and have a sunset dinner on the beach. Day 18 fly home from Nice. If you have a few more days, add them to Nice and the Cote, which are like a taste of Italy. Have a great time!

Thanks again for the help. Good tip on Dulles; we will definitely be flying out of there. The more I think about it I agree we are trying to do too much. I did some more research and there is more in England that we would probably enjoy than I realized. I think now that we should spend 4 nights each in London and Paris and use Rick's formula to do day trips to see more than just the city, and 2 nights each Amsterdam, Brussels/Bruges, and Switzerland. I realize we lose a day flying there but since it won't cost a hotel room shouldn't be a problem. We are flexible if we need to allow another day for travel. Bath, Stratford, Oxford appeal to us as London day trips. If we do 4 days Paris will want to consider a good day trip/trips and open to suggestions. I read in a guidebook Mont St Michel is doable by train if you leave very early in the morning but seems like a lot of travel for a day trip. I agree that England is a little bit mild and I have been there before but I think it would help my husband acclimate before moving on to more "exotic" cultures; he's quite a homebody.

I was in the same boat as you two summers ago. It was my husband's first trip, and I wanted it to be romantic too. We ended up flying in and out of Paris, and did a loop through Burgundy, then to Switzerland and the Bernese Oberland. We then did Bavaria, and up the Romantic Road in Germany on our way back to Paris. It was an amazing trip, and very romantic. We spent our first 4/5 days in Paris, and then did 2/3 nights all along the loop. We rented a car, and it was wonderful! We loved the freedom of stopping anywhere we wanted, we even did "lunch in Liectenstein"..... It was a wonderful trip, and we enjoyed the different areas, cafes in Paris, winery in Burgundy, hiking in Switzerland, castles in Germany.......

Here is the webaddress of an article I wrote about doing day trips out of London by train http://www.aaacarolinas.com/Magazine/2008/Jan-Feb/britain.htm?zip=28105&stateprov=nc&city=matthews You might find it interesting. Personally, I'd stick to just London and Paris and do more day trips. Save the other for when you can spend more time there. London is very romantic to me (I don't personally like Paris, but understand that most other people do). Hubby and I have been there more than 40 times. We love to walk around the city- being alone in the crowd, so to speak. Kew Gardens is especially nice to wander, also. Let me know if you want other ideas.