Europe 12 Days

My vote? Fewer cities, more time... come back later to see the rest.

Make that 2 votes for more time, fewer cities.

Absolutely, Seeing fewer cities for more time. Otherwise, the only thing you will be seeing is train stations and airports.

At the very least, plan on having a couple of stops of 3-4 days in one city.

A few cities, more time.

Pick a couple of cities at the top of your priority list and research what is available to do and see. Then determine how much time you need in that city. If you have time left over, add another city or area. Yes, there are cities you can easily spend 3-4 days in, but I have also been to cities where one full day was plenty. I know myself very well, and I would prefer to leave a city wanting to come back and do more than have a day where I am bored and feel I stayed too long. Also, When I plan a trip, I try to add time outside the city as well.

IMO most experienced travelers will recommend less and slow as have nearly everyone before. That is our normal pattern along with the attitude, "We will see that next time." Fortunately we have had the opportunities for the next time although there was nearly 15 years between the 1st and 2nd time.

Having said all that, we have just returned from a four city (maybe five depending on how you count), nine day tour of Spain. It can be done but it is brutal and exhausting and requires a great deal of advance planning to make it work well. And recognize that you simply will not be able to see everything. But you need to keep you travel time down. Our longest train ride was 3 hours. Don't be afraid to do a quick highlight of severals cities if that is your interest. You can always come back later and visit in greater detail.

I vote fewer cities and more time. First time, I would likely choose a combo of fly into London, 2-3 days, then Eurostar to Paris, 4-5 days, then fly to Rome 3-4 days, then fly back to London, or get an open jaw international flight into London out of Rome.

Flights inside Europe can be very cheap, and so can Eurostar if you book ahead. I flew one way from Paris to Rome this past sumnmer for 80 euros, you could get it even cheaper,, but must be booked well in advance. For cheap air try Vueling or Easyjet, there are more choices of course, just be sure they actually use main airports, some of the cheap airlines say they are flying into "Paris" but really the airport they use is 100 kn away,, ( Beauvais), not a disaster, but remember public trains and buses may not run there if your flight arrives really late or arrives really early.

In 12 days you can't do anything like a grand tour. You can't see and do all the things you're "supposed" to see and do.

So, forget about all that and pick a few places, then spend enough time in each to justify the trouble and expense of getting there. Expect to return someday to see the other stuff. Make sure the place you spend the most time in Europe isn't the place known as "in transit."

If you do a little research and approach it in that spirit it's hard to go wrong.

pick 4 cities and maybe do day trips by train from them. you will get very tired if you dont. vienna-salzburg-munich-innsbruck