Where to start?

I've been to Rome several times in the winter and it has been wonderful. Lots to do, and not too crowded. The weather was similar to San Francisco – 50s and 60s, with some light rain when I was there. You could start in Rome and then venture south, maybe to Naples/Pompeii or on to Sicily.

Here's a second for Sicily. One of our trips there was in late December/early January. It was mostly sunny and not terribly cold. You could easily spend your entire two weeks there. It offers great historic sights - - ancient, medieval, baroque - - fabulous food and wine, and natural wonders like Mt. Etna.

You don't say where you'd be flying from, so I'll just say fly out of Boston's Logan Airport.
I too vote for Rome on your first leg on Alitalia.

Then fly inexpensively to Barcelona on Vueling Airlines--a budget European airline.
You can then fly back to Boston through connections in Paris.

I'm thinking that there is a lot to consider, and probably a lot of negotiation to follow. However, I think we're probably not ready for seriously adventuresome travel this time.

Can you think of anything that would recommend against Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Venice or Stockholm except the weather in early December?? And has anybody been in Bilbao that time of year? Chilly and damp sounds just about universal all over the map, so maybe it's not worthwhile trying to avoid it...

I'm going to suggest a totally different area. We used to be able to take a week in late Nov./early Dec. and we loved going to London! The weather there is very similar to the weather here in Charlotte, NC- so no where near as cold as Maine. With 2 weeks, you could also include a second destination, or do some traveling around the UK. I'll toss out ideas for both.
UK
London- use as base for entire time and do day trips by train every third or fourth day. Possible day trips- Windsor, Cardiff Wales, Brighton, Stratford-upon-Avon, Winchester, Canterbury, Dover, York.

UK- London for 4-7 nights (with 1 or 2 day trips from above), train to York for 2-3 nights, train to Edinburgh for 2-3 nights, train to Aviemore for 2-4 nights, train to Inverness for 3-4 nights, train to Glasgow for 2-3 nights, fly home from Glasgow or Edinburgh.

London + - stay in London for 5-7 nights, then fly or train to any of the following for 5-7 nights: Dublin(fly) (maybe 'tour' Ireland), Paris (via Eurostar train), Amsterdam (via Eurostar or plane), Salzburg (fly), Vienna (fly), Oslo (fly), Rome (fly), Barcelona (fly)

We only visited Paris for a day, and didn't like it, but plenty of folks LOVE it. We haven't visited Rome or Barcelona, but they are 'major' destinations that it sounds like you might like.

I would second Toni's suggestion of London for that time of year combined with one other destination, my choices would be 1. Paris, 2. Amsterdam, 3. Edinburgh - based on ease of travel. Although with budget airlines many other cities are easily reachable - Budapest, Vienna, Prague, Berlin, Rome, Barcelona - the list goes on. Big cities are not so weather dependent so are probably the best choice for this time of year.

Hi,

If I were going in Nov., I would start in London, as recommended above. The weather is similar to that in SF, overcast, foggy, gray, except colder than that in SF for Nov. I've never been over to Europe in Nov., ie, never experienced the weather at that time, but London would be the place to begin. Besides, it's a direct flight from SFO to Heathrow, and flying with the wind at your back, you'll arrive earlier than the stated scheduled arrival time, ca 10 hrs.

We are heading to Southern Germany (Munich, Salzburg, Stuttgart, Frankfurt areas). We will sight see and hit some Christmas Markets, which I am totally stoked about. I am looking forard to photographing the lights and drinking the hot glühwein (spiced wine) and doing some Christmas shopping.

Enjoy planning!

I am a huge fan of Pinterest and Virtual Tourist when trying to find a new place to go.

We've been to Scotland in late Nov/early Dec several times. The weather was not really bad. Damp, some cloudy days, snow one year (less than 2" accumulated in the higher areas, dusting in rest). The highs were usually in the 30s (F) to lower 50s, with lows in the upper 20s to 30s. Yes, the sun does rise late (probably similar to Maine or Canada) - around 8:00ish, full up by 9:00 and set early - around 3:00ish with full dark by 3:30-4:00ish. But we didn't mind. Much of what we were doing was inside, and it is really more about how you dress than anything else (other than full down pours or heavy snow). I usually took a light weight cardigan or heavy 'big shirt' to layer over a long sleeve T or turtle neck and wore my winter coat with an attached hood, a hooded scarf and gloves. Usually wound up taking off the coat at some point, or removing the sweater and putting it in my day bag. It's not like you are going to be hiking the wild moors in the highlands, far from pubs, stores and coffee shops to pop into (LOL). Take comfortable waterproof walking shoes, good inner soles (with some spares), and comfortable socks.

Marion,

You mentioned Barcelona and Bilbao. Others have mentioned London. Can I ask what draws you to Bilbao specifically?

I found London completely special the first week of December - all dressed up for Christmas!

Airfare within Europe can be very reasonably priced... Iberia and it's subsidiary Vueling, operate many flights all over.

You can arrive in Barcelona, spend 4 nights, fly/train to Bilbao (or San Sebastián) & spend 2 nights.

Then fly from Bilbao (or San Sebastián) to Malaga. Spend 3 nights.

Then fly from Malaga to London. Spend the remaining nights there. Maybe even take a daytrip by train to the Christmas market in Bath. This would imply planning to be in London in early December and would gear you right up for the Christmas season!

Fly home from London.

If you saved Bilbao for another, later trip (in better months), then Bilbao could be combined with a future trip to France, Portugal, or Madrid/Sevilla (if you liked Spain this trip.)

Then you would start in Barcelona, take the AVE high-speed train or fly to Malaga, then fly to London. This would be easy to plan, easy to arrange for the overseas flights, and a very nice pace for a 2-week trip! :-)

Leverage every situation for the greatest return on your effort and funds. That means that while the south of Spain is “warmer” than Nuremburg in December; its still too cold to appreciate it as it is at its best. So, its winter, its cold. Work the season to your advantage, don’t fight it. Look at the Christmas Markets in Germany, Prague, Vienna and Budapest. You aren’t adventure travelers, but do you appreciate theater and music?; because winter is when it’s at its best; especially in Central Europe. Do a little research and find concerts, opera, musicals, Christmas markets and festivals that you might enjoy and then work your trip around one of those. Most of the Christmas markets open mid November and there are still a few, a very few, great seats for the Wedding Dance at the Budapest Operetta on December 14th. http://www.operett.hu/operett.php?pid=show&rId=24&mId=6389&evad=11 and there are a few, again a very few, tickets left for the Nutcracker on various dates or Die Fledermaus (The Bat) for New Year’s Eve at the opera house http://www.opera.hu/ If you are going to be a little cold, wouldn’t it be better if cold looked like this? http://1drv.ms/1L9kgrs

Great ideas, thank you all so far! I really agree that there is no reason to go to warmer locales when it's not going to be really warm. Playing to winter's strengths sounds right to me, and I'm loving the London ideas. Of course, like I said, negotiations will proceed. Updates as they occur to me!

Our two weeks trip in early December 2014:

6 nights in London = daytrip to the Bath Christmas market + special bus tour of the Christmas street lights one night + gawking at the Harrods Christmas window display + Hyde Park Christmas fair + wandered, sightseed, shopped the charity shops.

Cheap BA flight to Munich from London, picked up rental car and drove the highway straight to Salzburg. 3 nights in Salzburg = Christmas concert in one of the churches + daytrip to the Christmas market in St. Wolfgang, the Salzkammergut and Hallstatt + saw the fun, fun, fun Krampus run in Eugendorf!

Drove back to Munich, with a small detour to Bad Reichenhal, and returned the rental car. 2 nights in Munich = Christmas Market + Nativity Scenes section of the Bavarian National Museum (Bayerisches).

Took a cheap Air Dolomiti flight from Munich to Florence. 3 nights = Christmas market + Vestri hot chocolate! + 'Ribollita' => yum! Flew home from Florence.

The order in which we did this had everything to do with the availability of cheap flights that 'connected the dots', the earliest dates that the Christmas stuff started, and the date of a small-town family-oriented Krampus run in Austria.

We are planning on returning to London again for the first week of December 2016.

As James said, It's winter, don't fight it, just be prepared.
You mention Stockholm. Why not start in Helsinki, then Stockholm and Copenhagen.
Four nights in each. Rug up. Enjoy.

Just for perspective, Maine is on about the same parallel as Barcelona, Marseilles, and Rome. The UK, Paris, Germany, etc. are all farther north. That means less daylight during the shortest days of the year. If you are going in that direction, head for cities with lots to do after dark. The UK, Paris, the Low Countries are somewhat warmer than the US Northeast in winter, you are more likely to have rain than snow. If temps aren't as cold, it'll feel pretty cold if the humidity is high. And remember that you'll be out in the cold for much of the day, every day.

Can you go over Thanksgiving? That would give you a couple extra days?

Southern Spain and southern Italy are hardly tropical, but they do have more daylight hours, temps in the 50's and 60's rather than the 30's and 40's, and more sun than rain.

With 2 weeks, you could enjoy urban and rural Italy, or combine Barcelona with Andalusia. Moorish Spain is beautiful, the food and wine are great, and it's still one of the cheapest destinations in Europe.

If you're ready for the cold, how about London > Paris > Southern Germany's Christmas markets. Fly open-jaw London-Frankfurt or Munich. The main markets start up at the end of November. By the second week of December everything is in full swing, so book hotels early. There will be lots of European tourists then.

Weatherwise, most destinations will be warmer than Maine in the winter. The daylight will be less in the north and similar in the south.

I would suggest one of two things:

-go to major cities farther north - you can spend a lot of time inside in museums, theaters, etc when the weather gets unpleasant. London, Paris, Amsterdam come to mind

-go south. I love southern Spain, but if you aren't drawn to it, your Barcelona/Bilbao idea is good. Also consider Southern Italy, maybe Rome, Naples, Sicily.