Going to Europe August 3

If this is Tuesday, it must be Belgium!!!!!
You must be kidding! Cut this at least in half...you will see nothing but trains! The Riviera is jam-packed in August I would skip it. Where are you flying home from?. I would also skip Barcelona..it is too far from everything else you want to visit. I would do at least 3-4 days in Paris
and the go to either to Switzerland and Milan/Venice
OR Paris, then Frankfurt,Vienna and perhaps Venice.
Actually, there are lots of possibiities but with the time you have, you would be better off limiting
your cities to about 3. You have to allow for travel time and some of what you mentioned involves big distances.

I am sure that others will chime in with their suggestions and more info on trains. There are great
experts on this board.

Waaaaay too ambitious a journey. You'll be lucky if you have time to change trains in your destination city before you have to head back out again. If you're going to start in Paris, spend a few days each in, say, Munich, Bruges, and Amsterdam....you'll find more than enough to see and do over 11 days. For an itinerary like that, point to point rail tickets will be far cheaper than a railpass.

Thanks so much for the input guys. I am definitely willing to compromise my itinerary (I thought it crazy).

What if I did Paris, London, and a Germany city? (4 days each)? Is it a pain to go to the British Isles from Paris?

From those of you who are travel veterans, would I just be better off staying in France for 11 days?

Reminds me of driving trips as a kid. "We've been to Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky..." when really we were only driving through. Will you even have time to see anything, given this schedule? If I had just finished preparing for the bar, I think I would spend all 11 days in one country and take time to relax.

While staying in France for all 11 days is an option, I would suggest at least a couple of additional cities in other countries to get a brief "flavour" of Europe. Since this is your first trip, that'll give you a chance to see what areas you might like to explore further in the future. Getting from Paris to London is easy on the Eurostar train under the Channel. But heading back into Germany would be back-tracking. Maybe Paris-London-Scotland? Or fly into London, then Paris and Germany.

Getting between Paris and London is quick and easy via train.

You should keep in mind that you will probably need a day to reciver when you arrive. Speaking for myself, I always arrive wiped out, because I do not sleep in anything that moves (it's a curse...), and I typically am so excited (and trying to get last minute stuff done) before leaving that I'm exhausted by the time I get ON the plane for the long flight....so my first day is generally spent in a fog. Since this is your first time in Europe, I'd suggest scaling back your travel plans significantly. Maybe Paris and a couple of trips to other places in France (it's nice to get out of the city, you get a different view of the country). Good luck!

Scaling back sounds good. Since I have never been to Europe, I think one country at a time might be best.

France only. 11 days in France. What would you recommend. It will be my brother and I. We are in our twenties. My only concern is that the trip should not be just architecture type stuff.

What clubs and stuff are there to do. How is Monaco? What if we spent 3 days in Paris, and the other 8 around France?

Sorry, I meant that I am going to be IN Europe for 11 days (excluding travel to and from).

I like the idea of a trip to France for a week, than a dedicated four-day side trip to somewhere else (Switzerland, Benelux)

Rags, always think that you WILL be back. There's no need to cram all of Europe in such a short time.