Book your flight or book your hotel first ?

Yes- you definitely book your flight first. You do not book a hotel until the second night, because the first night is on the airplane going to Europe. Once you know your arrival and departure flights - you can add hotel accommodations.

I usually book hotels first, but check the cancellation policy. Often the best lodging fills up before the best flight prices become available, and it's pretty rare to not be able to get flights on the days I need.

I do what Liz does. Easy to book lodgings with free cancellation long in advance. Then book my flights as they come available - and if there's a flight on a different day or even week that is much better or cheaper or something than originally planned, I can still change the hotels for no cost.

I've done both - I generally book the flight first, but for our upcoming trip in July, I've already booked our accoms without booking my flight yet - we're going to a popular place at a popular time of year, and I didn't want to wait as pickings were already slim in my comfort price zone when we decided last month. I'm waiting on air miles to have a sale on the miles needed for my flight (I'm about 800 short and waiting for them to have a 25% off miles needed) - if worse comes to worst and I can't get the day I want, we can leave a day earlier since I want to book the flight for a Monday. I booked our first night hotel on booking.com at an airport hotel in our arrival city - I could always cancel it if needed and rebook.

Flight first, unless the particular hotel is either so popular that one must reserve a year in advance (some US National Park Lodges), or extremely important to me. For instance if there were one hotel with something special that I felt would be essential to my trip, then I'd book it and work flights around it. Or possibly if there were a special event in town that could book up hotels early. Otherwise as long as I book my flights a couple months ahed I am fully confident I can get a good hotel in a good location. Maybe not choice #1, but I am not so picky.

Flight first. I want my days set before I make other plans. I stay in BnB's mostly and there is a lot to choose from, so I am not worried about not finding accommodations.

We're very fussy about our flights, always trying hard to get good takeoff and landing times, good connections and prices. This is often a long search and lots of 'back to square one' frustration. Conversely, we have rarely had trouble finding good accommodation, especially apartments and houses, because there are so many out there these days. Consequently, I get the flights locked in first, then commence 'filling in' all the stuff between landing and taking off again!

There are hundreds of hotels. Flights are more limited. We always book flights first and then fill in hotels. Hotels are easy to find, flights not so much.

I always book flights first. After that's done I start making hotel reservations. Doing that I have occasionally had a preferred hotel with no availability, but that's rare.

it can depend for me on how far out I am planning and the popularity of the location at that time.

If a really "hot spot" or booking very far in advance that has a cancel without penalty option I would book lodging before flights though I would at least research what flights may be available so I have an idea what flight I want to take just waiting for a better price on that flight type situation. A flight I would rarely book more than 6 months out.
Later I know I can tweak the dates or find something else for the lodging if the flight I take differs and ends up changing up the plans.

Otherwise yes, flights first and then lodging is more logical. Once the flights are booked the trip and dates are set in stone as I have never to my knowledgeable paid the premium for cancellable plane tickets.

Most places late Sept early Oct is not the most peak time so think getting those flights settled first makes the most sense.
Since you are staying multiple weeks though that likely means multiple places so booking 4 nights lodging now in the middle because you really like the place and fear it may sell out also makes sense ; the exact flight you take shouldn't affect those days in the middle.

I used to book the flight first, and then I would make hotel or B&B reservations. Now I do it in this order:

1. Pick specific dates to catch a local festival or concert/opera, etc. in an itinerary.
2. Reserve hotels, etc. on Booking.com that have free cancellation (this is about 10 months before the trip).
3. Purchase the flight after doing a search on Delta for about a month, entering flexible dates that show the price/miles for a week window around the original dates. For instance, I will be staying in Stresa, Italy an extra night at the beginning of the trip this year because the cost of miles to arrive a day earlier was worth it.
4. During the next two months, I adjust a few hotel reservations and possibly a few mid-itinerary locations and change some to no cancellation conditions at a better price or reserve directly with a different hotel.

Given your conditions, you should book your flight first.

And, to answer your situation directly, I would purchase your flight, first, because you state that you’re particular about your flight. Just a word of caution - make sure that when you’re selecting your flight and are looking for short overall time, that you don’t select a connection time that might make you miss the second leg of the flight, I.e. 60 minutes @ CDG.

Of course, flight first. You always find accommodation (with very few exceptions). Accommodation is usually not much cheaper if you book it well ahead. Flights are.

I book flights first. However, before booking anything, I plan the contours of the trip, so I make sure I book the flights correctly. For instance, on this forum we see people going to Spain who have already booked a round trip flight to Madrid, only to realize as they start planning what they want to see that they would have done better with a multi-city ticket into Barcelona and out of Seville. Or they're going to Italy and are stuck with a round trip flight to Rome, when they would have done better to book a multi-city ticket into Venice and out of Naples.

I now also look at where I'll be on Monday, and make sure enough of interest to me is open. This helped greatly on my trip to Basque country; I was originally going to be in Vitoria or Bilbao on a Monday, when almost everything in both cities that I wanted to see is closed. I had to change my flights to make this work out (into Bayonne and out of Bilbao rather than the opposite); this cost more, but was well worth it.

Look at all airport options and think about what you want to see and when you want to see it, before booking any nonrefundable flights.

Just a word of caution - make sure that when you’re selecting your
flight and are looking for short overall time, that you don’t select a
connection time that might make you miss the second leg of the flight,
I.e. 60 minutes @ CDG.

Jean speaks the truth. In fact, when I start to scout flights through Google & Kayak, I set parameters on my filters with airline choice, time of arrival, and then--very important--duration of layover. I'm usually doing 'open jaw' flights (flying into one place in Italy/Europe, home from another place) so I rarely get nonstops.

At any rate, my sweet spot timeframe for layover (I always connect in Europe, never the US, and always with the same carrier) is 90 minutes to 3 hours. Of course, it's 3 hours when things go smoothly and 90 minutes when you're scrambling like heck, but them's the breaks.

One more thing, from a personal preference standpoint--I am partial to connecting in German airports, specifically Frankfurt or Munich. They (Lufthansa) are spot on, never any BS, they all speak flawless English, etc., how it should be. And then there's Rome Fiumicino with Alitalia--what a cluster!

I have done both, but I also usually book my flight first. Some types of accommodations I book I need to tell them the time I will arrive, so I need to have that information. Also, the time my flight leaves on the way home sometimes determines where I will stay the last night. Finally, I am usually somewhat flexible about when I will leave and return, so I look for the best deals right up to when I buy my flight tickets. The few times I have booked hotels first, I only book when there is free cancellation.

On our last trip, Switzerland, Rhine River and Netherlands, which we just completed, we handled our planning as follows:
1. Booked a specific River Cruise;
2. Determined itinerary before and after the cruise;
3. Booked the flights, a days difference one way or another can provide a better deal; and
4. Lastly booked the hotels.

Ed

Frank, in my opinion, made a great point when he posted "Hotels are easy to find, flights not so much." That's why we do the flights first, but to each his own.

Always book flight first. I just booked Italy and saw the airfare increase $165 each way. I am flying out of Newark to Milan. Leave Sept 25 at 6:30 pm arrive Sept 26 at 8;45 am . That is the first night we will need a hotel room . Good luck and have a great trip

I always book the flight first to ensure I get the airline and connections I want. There are plenty of hotels to choose from, especially off season when you’re going. If I don’t get my first choice I’ll get the second choice. While researching an upcoming trip, there were plenty of flights with only 1.5 hours between flights. Not great if your originating flight leaves late or there are other unforseen circumstances causing you to miss your connecting flight. I’ll always book the flight first.

Great Info ..Boy...you guys do make it clear ! I particularly liked Jay's post - very specific and logical information.