LemmingoftheBDA

My sister and I are in the early stages of planning a girls only trip to Europe for next spring. I've already been to London and Paris, but these are destinations my sister (who has never been to Europe) really wants to see, we're planning on going for 15-16 days with travel time included and I want to add one other location to somewhere that will be new to me. Ideally this would be a place that we can realistically do in 3 days and not feel totally rushed, so we could have around 5.5 days each for London and Paris. I'm trying to decide between Berlin, Barcelona, Dublin or somewhere in Italy, also I'm open to other suggestions. I've also been to Brussels, Bruges, Zurich and Amsterdam so I would also like to avoid those as well.

Thanks!

janisj

IMO Three days would be great for Venice or Berlin.

Edward2005

+1 for the Monty Python reference in your screen name.

Kathie

Would you consider a couple of day trips to new places? There are so many options for day trips from both London and Paris. Or perhaps 3 days in Burgundy or Alsace?

MmePerdu

I suggest you put a map on your wall, look at it often. Do some investigating when a place piques your curiosity and don't listen to a thing we say until you've made a decision based on your own desires, not ours, then ask pertinent questions. Also, consider smaller towns, not just cities, for a completely different experience.

nytraveler

You don;t say how old you "girls" are. If young then I would head to Amsterdam - easily doable in 3 days and a great city for young people. Also this is minimal travel time with easy train connections.

But, to make an informed reco it would help to know what your major interests are.

jpie

I would try to do it as part of an open jaws ticket if possible to get that third place. Where are you flying from? Barcelona is the first place that came to mind for me, but other thoughts:

I am really enjoying Dublin these days-many of the pleasures and shopping of London on a little cheaper budget since the euro has been weaker.

Iceland could be fun that time of year and makes a good stop in transit, although since this is a first trip for your sis, she may prefer other more common choices on the continent. But like Dublin, those are pretty easy stops coming or going to the US at least.

Love Berlin but it definitely makes more sense to fly and try to do open jaw. Lyon is nice especially if you love good food and it has great train access to Paris and Nice is a good choice as part of a open jaws ticket from the US depending on city.

If you prefer to do trains, then you might think about the third place being connected by train to either London or Paris and being either a smaller city or point of destination small town, For example:

Edinburgh 4 hours from London and really a great city. Depending on interests, a lot of the norther cities in England are also kind of "hot" these days in the travel press at least; Liverpool, Manchester, etc.

From Paris by train, we are loving spending some time in Bordeaux these days-nice time of year to go, and as my god daughter says, they even have a drunk bus to take you to the vineyards in Saint-Émilion. Super accessible by foot and tram. It is three hours by train. If you don't want that long (there and back is really almost a day of your trip), you could consider, Chartres (although you seem to be leaning towards bigger places) or Nantes (2 hours). Both worth a visit for 2 nights or so IMO

LemmingoftheBDA

Thanks for all the replies, it's so far been really helpful. We're going to be 31 and 28 when we take this trip, so not too young, but not overly old. We'll be coming from Chicago and usually enjoy our vacations to be in major cities, that's kind of where we were leaning.

I used to live in Denver and found going up to the mountains for day trips to be painfully boring, but I still understand the appeal of them. I'm not sure if straying too far from more urban areas is where we want to head, but we both took 6 years of French and have an affinity for the culture so maybe seeing more of France would be an option. Generally my sister loves art and I love history and we really enjoy hitting all the touristy spots but also just walking around the city and enjoying the atmosphere.

bilboburgler

Barcelona and Venice are both easy to access from London and Paris. Use cheepo airlines and probably some of the duller airports around L and P.

MmePerdu

Given your interests, why not plan to stay in just the 2 cities and take day trips if the spirit moves you, plan as you go. There's a great deal of interest within an hour of both and plenty I'll bet, you who have been there before, haven't yet seen. Not mountains.

Jennifer_Travels

Think about heading down to Provence as well. Easy train ride from Paris. You could end in Marseilles or Nice and fly home from there.

jpie

Also meant to add a good link for budget airlines:

http://www.whichbudget.com/

HappyTrvlr

Also look at Skyscanner.com to flights within as well as outside of Europe.

theecoquest

Venice & Berlin for sure. But have you thought about Budapest? So many Thermal Spa's, coffee halls, funky bars, it's perfect for a girly three days.