where to go?

You can go to any country. It depends on your interests and what you want to see. I visited all of them except Scandinavia and all of them were worth seeing. It is subjective to rate them but OK: Italy, Austria, Netherland. Even if you want to see it all, in that short time you would not be able.

Well it doesn't matter where you go, if its cute, if it has some interesting sights, there will be other tourists. Unless you plan on camping and just driving around the countryside you better not hold on to the "not touristy " thing too hard,,you will be dissappointed . Why not Paris and Rome, the flights between them are only 1.5 hours, and can be had cheap if you book in advance.Look at Easyjet and Vueling. You can book an multi destination flight and fly into one city and out of the other. Both cities are easily worth a week.

I really don't get the "we don't want touristy". What actually do you mean? Do you mean that you won't go to Rome or Venice or Florence or Sicily or Milan or Amsterdam or Cobenhaven or Vienna or Brescia or ... because other tourists (you're one too) go there? Tuscany is out. I guess you must have missed London, the Cotswolds, Munich, Frankfurt, and most of Germany. Maybe it would be easier for us if you would say which not touristy places you went in those three countries you did enjoy, then we can try matching their style up for you...

Narrowing down where to go can be one of the most difficult decisions! We often go through the, "but if we go to xxx, we're so close, we should also go to @@@@. Or I've always wanted to go to%%%%, why can't we fit that in?" That first decision can be the hardest!
Since you have been to Germany, Ireland and England, how about a country totally different? 2 weeks in Tuscany (w/a car) and Umbria would be relaxing. It would be difficult to be in Italy though and not go to Rome, Florence, Venice, Siena, Volterra, the Cinque Terre...etc, etc and all those places are touristy.

when do you plan to go? what are your interests?
you're a tourist, don't be anti tourist :)

marie, are you still there? Can you give us a bit more information?

Amsterdam - Delft - Ghent - Paris Taking train - something like that ^. OR spend the whole time in Portugal. We drove all over (EXCEPT LISBON) and loved Portugal. Inexpensive, beautiful, great food, good weather. We didn't make it up to Porto but I hear it's wonderful

Hello Marie. If you decide to go to the Scandinavian countries, and you will be at Europe a maximum of 14 days, I recommend going to Scandinavian countries, only. I was at Copenhagen in Denmark, and I travelled across Norway and Sweden. I liked and loved being at those countries. (But food is very expensive at Copenhagen and in Norway, and overnight accomodations are expensive at Stockholm). I know the meaning of the word "touristy". A touristy town, or street, is a place in which all the businesses there are for tourists. An example of that is Rudesheim in Germany. It is loaded with stores selling picture post cards and souvenir art junk. A place that is not touristy is Balestrand at the Sognefjord in Norway. I recommend going to Balestrand, in the summer, via a fast boat from Bergen or Aurland. I recommend that you read the book "Rick Steves' SCANDINAVIA". And more places in Norway are described in the book "Rough Guide to Norway", written by Phil Lee.

What time of the year do you want to go? If it's summer, you can pick something north of the Alps (Scandinavia, Netherlands, Austria). If it's between late fall and early spring, stick with Italy.

Its been a week now since marie from boise posted this question. She's never been back to give any further information or enter into any dialogue.

marie, Any of the countries / regions you listed would be great. With two weeks, you could spend a bit of time in two countries, as long as the transportation links are reasonably short. You could easily spend two weeks / 10-days just in Italy, as there's so much to see. It's difficult for any of us to know what is too "touristy" for you. Just about anywhere in Europe can be "touristy" at times. Everyone is there to see much the same things you are, and especially with travellers from other parts of Europe, they tend to get to the "off beat" locations. Idaho Public Television seems to have quite a few of Rick's TV shows on this month. You may get some ideas by watching those. Good luck with your decision!

I would spend the time in Italy -- the Tuscany countryside and hill towns are wonderful, as are Venice, Rome, Florence -- and other cities and towns. Choose an itinerary that interests you.

To expand on my previous comment regarding Mainz. There is a new museum there devoted to the history of printing. Johannes Gutenburg invented the process of moveable metal type printing, and that is the centerpoint of the museum. There are several copies of early metal type printed books including a copy of the famous Gutenburg Bible displayed in a valult. If anyone is interested in books, printing, including the history of printing around the world this is The Mother Church. The town of Mainz is interesting too, and a good two day stop. We didn't see very many tourists there and the ones we did see appeared to be German.

Excuse me. Although this may have a loose fit on this thread I really meant it to go To The West thread Other Places To Visit In Germany.

I would recommend Portugal. A beautiful country, definitely tucked away from "touristy" Europe. I think Lisbon is my most favorite city in Europe! So much ambience...reminds me of Paris/Helsinki/San Francisco. Then you could spend a few days in the algarve, go to Sintra, and Porto or Coimbra. Perfect for 2 weeks. US Airways flies to Lisbon, too.