Best cities for a first-timer?

Two weeks equals fourteen days. Minus day of arrival and day of departure leaves twelve days. You need four days for Paris, four for Rome, two for Florence. Plus two for travel between the three cities already picked. You have no more time. None of your other places line up with your original three. Were are these extra days going to come from?

As Ed so succinctly put it, how many days do you really have? The day you leave is an overnight flight, so a big chunk of your 2nd day is a write-off (1st day in Europe). Your last day is gone too, as you leave for your flight home. How many full days do you have available in total? Which cities are you arriving in and leaving from? We can then target our suggestions better... For example, if indeed 12 days is all you have, and it is your fist trip to Europe, you should stick with with Paris, Florence, Rome. Split the extra nights between Paris (do a day trip to London?) and Rome. If you have 14 days in Europe, you could easily add Venice.

I am not a huge fan of the big cities. The smaller villages are what I prefer, but Florence is wonderful, just keep a good eye out for pick pockets. Orvieto is really nice as is Assisi in Italy. Very nice little towns. Assisi is very beautiful and lots of fun restaurants and shops.

Thanks everyone for your tips! We have an open jaw ticket to fly into Paris Day 1 and Leave Rome Day 15, so have 14 days to see the sites. I will defineltly be reading my reserach on the cities we plan to visit! Looks like I'll need to limit the travel time where possible. I like the suggestion of adding time to Florence and taking day trips from there to alterante places, or possibly manuevering through Switzerland. Thanks! My husband and I are young with no children, so are planning for this to be a jam-packed site seeing event! Thanks all!

We found Paris a great place to get adjusted to Europe. That was our intro. London might be easier because of the language issue. But most Parisians speak English and the Paris metro made getting around easy. But as others have pointed out; you have only 12-14 days. And will likely lose time getting from Paris to Florence. (Fly) Florence - Rome is only a couple hours. Excluding time spent at the train station, and checking in and out of hotels. Paris and Rome can each easily keep you busy 4 or 5 days. But rather than losing more time relocating. You could also extend Florence. And take day trips to places like Siena or San Gimignano. Or even head there for one night. IMHO Europe is enjoyed and experienced more when you see it slowly. Rather than when you rush through checking off a check list. Have fun.

For the first time I would chose Paris,Amsterdam,and London using trains. Second choice would be Paris,Rome,and Venice. I would not even consider Brussels or Nice for my first visit.

It is always difficult to recommend a trip for first time exposure without a good understanding of your sense of adventure and prior travel experience and style. You really need to do some homework and time is short if going this April. And look at a map. It is a big jump from Paris to Rome and/or Barcelona. We anticipate losing at least a half day when changing locations and more if the distance is great. For example your two weeks is really 12 days. You have id three cities (2 changes) and want to add a couple more. At a min that is 2 lost days to travel maybe three to four with the distances involved. Now your 12 days are now maybe eight or nine. You will spend a lot of time check in and out of hotels, train stations, etc. which is pretty boring. Second you not indicated your air travel. Obviously an open jaw ticket would make a lot of sense but that may be too late for consideration. My recommendations is always concentrate on an area and do it well. The earlier suggest of London, Paris, Amsterdam with some stops in between is good. For the average first time traveler London is good introduction = speak the same language. Paris is nice, easy but Rome can be pretty intense if not prepared. Hope you have spent time with guidebooks and DVDs so you have some ideas of what to expect. And pack light.

Depending on what type of cities you want to see, I would recommend smaller more relaxed towns to balance out the hustle & bustle of the larger cities already on you itinerary. Having spent more time in Italy, I may be a bit biased, but I would recommend looking into Siena (can be done as a day trip from Florence), Cinque Terre (I would recommend staying at least 1 night), and any of the other smaller hill towns in Tuscany.

I agree with Antuany. Don't concentrate all of you time on big cities. Hopping from one big city to another uses up money and travel time, both of which for most people are limited. And big cities are the most expensive places to stay in. I would suggest that you forget Paris for this trip. Fly into Rome. See Rome and Florence, and Venice. Add less expensive rural areas like Tuscany. Do some research. See Paris on another trip when you tour parts of France. If you already have plane tickets and have to go to Paris, pick something in between Paris and Italy, like Switzerland, or Turin, or Milan.

I would recommend an overnight stay in a smaller town in Italy, such as Sienna. Or just extend your time in those cities, perhaps doing day trips. To get from Paris to Florence, consider the overnight train. That way you do not waste a whole day getting from place to place. My wife and I took the overnight train on exactly that route in 2001, and it was kind of fun with our own private sleeping compartment.

young with no children, so are planning for this to be a jam-packed site seeing event With the greatest respect, no matter how young you are, and children or no children traveling between cities takes as long as it takes (unless you have a time machine) and getting from the airports or stations to the hotels and checking in, as well as getting checked out and onto the trains and planes can only go so fast. If you jam-packed site seeing event it you may find you don't see so many sites. Just sayin'

Close do Florence? Don´t forget to go to San Gimignano! A World Heritage City!

Katie, As this is your first trip to Europe, I would highly recommend reading Europe Through The Back Door prior to departure (if you haven't already). It will provide you with a lot of good information on "how" to travel in Europe. Read the "Rail Skills" chapter carefully! Regarding your proposed Itinerary and the short time frame, I don't believe you have time visit too many other locations. My suggestion would be to leave your primary locations at Paris, Florence and Rome. In order to get more "small town" experiences, you could perhaps take one day trip in each location. Some examples - in Paris, Versailles would be a good choice and in Rome, Orvieto or Ostia Antica would be good as the travel times are minimal. When you leave Florence, one option you might consider is to spend one night in Siena on the way to Rome (try to leave reasonably early, so that you have the better part of a day in Siena). I'd suggest travel by Bus from Florence to Siena, as you'll be dropped in the centre of town rather than the bottom of the hill where the rail station is located. Don't forget to Wear Money Belts, especially in crowded situations (on the Metro or whatever). Finally, the two-day Paris Museum Pass might be a worthwhile investment (depending on what you're planning to see while in Paris). Happy travels!