Where should I go? (First-timer solo Europe)

I would add more nights to both London and Paris (at least 4, perhaps more), and take short trips out from both of these cities to the many interesting areas that surround them. (Bath, Stonehenge, Lyon, Chartres, Loire Valley, Normandy, etc -- lots of history to see.)
With this amount of time, taking longer trips wastes a day of sightseeing.

While I love Barcelona, it is out of place with this trip, too far.

I would concentrate on one to two stops that are a half day or so within the London/Paris axis.

Bruges/Amsterdam (with a few hours in Brussels) is very doable and a nice contrast to London/Paris that would be my vote (drop Ghent). Train transport would be very quick, Eurostar to Brussels in a few hours from London, do a few hours or an overnight, then to Bruges, then to Amsterdam, then a quick train to Paris.

I only say drop Ghent due to time and the need to add another stop, smooth out the travel, you could do a day in Bruges or Ghent and stay in the other, but plan only one place for lodging.

All are great for the things you are looking for, Belgium and Amsterdam better for biking...they are unreal biking cultures.

Oh...and language...not to sound too American, I have always found that the Dutch and Belgians(Walloons) figure no one understands their native language, so they rarely have any problem with English and usually have a good handle on French and German. I have never had a problem in any of these countries.

London and Paris are both worthy of a week each and both have many day trips. I would have at least 5 nights in each, then take the Eurostar to Brussels for a day and then Brugges for another two days.

I would save Spain-Barcelona for another trip.

London 4 N
Bath 2N
Fly Bristol Airport to Amsterdam, Easyjet $150. (there is a bus from Bath to the Airport)
Amsterdam 3 N
Ghent 2N
Paris 4 N

You are very wise to select 2 main destinations in your time frame. Then just take easy daytime train trips out ie. Loire Valley or versaillles.
From London ie Cambridge, cotswolds, Greenwich.
Travel takes alot of valuable time. If u must select 1 more town select Amsterdam easily reachable and quite diff from London or Paris and also has great daytrips out ie. HAarlem, Delft, Einsheim.

Ditto for staying in Northern Europe. I could easily spend the entire trip in either greater London or greater Paris. Although a train ride can be very entertaining and contemplative, don't spend your whole vacation just getting from from point A to point B. That being said, I've enjoyed both Amsterdam and Bruges, and hope to get back to both. And they're not too far from your start and end cities. I'll add that, although I love cities like London and Paris, my preference is for more rural areas. Consider the Cotswolds (lots of walking opportunities between towns) or Normandy (my favorite) for a break from big cities and a more diverse overall cultural experience. Enjoy whatever you do. Sounds like a wonderful trip!

Day
01. Arrive London - 4 nights
05. Fly to Amsterdam - 4 nights
07. Day to Haarlem or The Hague
09. Train to Ghent - 3 nights
10. Day to Bruges
11. Day to Antwerp
12. Train via Brussels to Paris - 4 nights
16. Depart Paris

As this is your first trip to Europe, my first suggestion would be to read Europe Through The Back Door prior to your trip. That has a lot of great information on how to travel well in Europe, and covers topics like transportation, money, travel with technology and I believe there's also a section on solo travel for women. After you've read that, use the country or city-specific RS guidebooks to plan hotels, sightseeing, etc.

I'm assuming that the time frame you've mentioned includes your flight days. Your profile doesn't indicate where you're from, but keep in mind that you'll generally arrive in Europe the day after you depart from home.

In terms of "where to go", there are all kinds of possibilities and you'll get lots of suggestions from the well travelled group on this forum. As you like hiking & biking, it occurred to me that the Berner Oberland of Switzerland might be a good possibility. Would something like this work for you.....

• London
• flight to Zürich (easyJet has flights from 2 London airports with prices currently as low as £40.49 PP) - train to Lauterbrunnen Valley (4 nights?)
• train to Burgundy (4 nights?)
• train to Paris (using the high speed TGV, which travels at up to 300 km/h)
• return flight from Paris / CDG

Good luck with your planning!

Probably should have mentioned that I'm from Seattle, taking a direct red-eye into London (arriving at 11am) and leaving from Paris at 10am 16 days later (so really have 14 full days, one half-day) . I have less interest in typical tourist sites, unless they are truly must-see. I live in a big-ish city now, so it would be nice mix it up and see smaller, quaint towns and have the opportunity to get to know some locals/other travelers. I'd also be willing to forgo London entirely and just use it as a stop-over, if there's other destinations that are more my style.

Your first option may present you with chilly, damp weather in the fall. If you're looking for something a bit sunnier, I head farther south.

London is a must see. I wouldn't skip it. I just came back and wished I had more than 5 days.

I feel your pain :-) Am currently planning a trip with the family, and it's so structured because the goal is to let the children see as much as possible in 13 days. We're spending four days in Paris and 2 days in Normandy. We're trying to figure out how to divide up the other six days. Some good advice I got recently - mostly applicable to solo traveler:

• go where you speak/know the language

• go where you have an interest (tank museum in the Loire Valley, or Tulips in the Netherlands?)

• interested in "theme" excursions (DaVinci Code sites)?

I'd pick 1 or 3 and save Spain for another time. If you select 1, note the train system in Belgium and Netherlands is good and to minimize packing up and moving a lot, you should establish your base city for lodging and just take day trips to the others. Ex, base in Amsterdam and day trip by local train to Rotterdam.