How about Sicily? Fabulous Greek, Roman, Baroque architecture. Lots of scenery and outdoor sites, and a volcano!

Maybe a "taste" of Paris for two days to try it and then on to Loire Valley or Burgundy?

I wouldn't rule out Ireland. We were there for a week in early March and really enjoyed it; hiking and archeologic sites, music and storytelling.

Have fun planning! SusanEva

Perhaps consider the black forest, baden baden (spa is great), small villages, beautiful scenery and not crowded that time of year. Strasbourg would be another stop - neuschwanstein, lake constance, etc. paris or brugge would also be lots of fun - it really depends on your stamina, how much time you want to spend travelling between cities, etc. in nine days, two locations would be the most to try in my opinion. assume you'll lose a day on each end travelling to and from and if you go far from AMS, you'll need to consider the travel time back to schipol for the flight home.

I still would opt for warmer climes, even though you are used to the cold. Being a tourist in the cold is not the same as being at home in the cold, where there are all sorts of activities that you carry out within your normal life that you might not have as a tourist. Coming back to a hotel room is not the same as coming back home. If you can change your tickets to a London round trip, you can get some cheap flights from London to southern Spain. From Amsterdam, the flights tend ot be more expensive. Check out:

http://www.whichbudget.com/

Archeological sites???? Greece, without too much question and check out www.transavia.com..all KINDS of discount flights from AMS.

For what it's worth, I'm not much into museums, either, but I love Paris. It's just a beautiful city, like a wonderland, and most of the fun is simply wandering around the streets. It's also an easy train ride. I have been to Brussels only briefly (several hours off a train between Paris and Amsterdam) and wished I'd have spent more time - seemed like a neat place.

Depending on how flexible you are, you could plan parts of your trip at the last minute if you are doing it by train. You'll be in Europe off-season so the hotels shouldn't be too busy and you should be able to get some deals. Maybe you can fly somewhere warmer from Amsterdam for a few of the days and spend the rest closer to Amsterdam/Brussels/Paris or somewhere in between.

Andrew

Hi J,

>DH is not sure about Paris, never been on his top 10 list.<

Now is his chance to learn how wrong he is.

It's about 4 hr from Amsterdam Schipol to Paris Nord. Tickets as low as 29E pp each way.

See www.sncf.com