Thank you everyone this is great advice! Very Helpful(:

I have tried to map out the days
day 1-flight to paris
day2- paris
day3-paris
day4-paris
day5- travel to Amsterdam later in the day ( most likely taking train)
day6-Amsterdam
day7- Amsterdam
day8-flight to venice
day9-venice
day10-Venice
day11-venice
day12-travel to rome early in the morning
day13-rome
day14-rome
day15-rome
day16-flight home

any suggestions on cheapest transportation options?
-Ashley

My recommendation for 16 days:

London 6 days (less half-day afternoon train to Paris)
Paris 6 days (less half-day afternoon flight to Rome)
Rome 4 days (maybe with a day-trip to Florence)

If you must add a fourth place:

London 4 or 5 days (less half-day afternoon train to Paris)
Paris 4 or 5 days (less half-day afternoon train to Amsterdam)
Amsterdam 3 days (less half-day afternoon flight to Rome)
Rome 4 days (maybe with a day-trip to Florence)

ssander

Have been to all of these cities several times, some many times. Venice is a 10 and Munich is about a 5 or a 6 - so unless you have a strong reason to pick Munich, Venice is an o brainer.

If it were me I would do London, Paris and Rome as they are very different and have by far the most to see and do.

Amsterdam is charming but I would put more as a 7 or 8 - where the 3 above are all 10s - and incredibly important in the overall history of western civilization.

Caveat: I am a history buff and want to see every castle/palace, museum and cathedral - as well as other historic sights - wherever I go. The 3 cities above have sights and atmospheres you can't match anyplace else.

Agree with ssander and nytraveler. London/Paris and Rome works well time wise and simplifies things with Eurostar between London and Paris and economy airfare between Paris and Rome. Plenty to see in the three big tourist destinations of Europe.

Arf2716: your layout of days/nights timing seems very feasible, and you picked the cities you were most interested in, so I would stick with that!

Just a reminder that if you utilize an overnight flight option, Night 0 if you will, you do gain a full day/night in your first location, albeit jet lagged and groggy for some travelers if you don't sleep on planes or don't do well with time change, etc.

You gave four nights equally to Paris, Venice, and Rome: I would consider moving a night from Venice to Paris or Rome, because both are much larger and filled with sites and could warrant five nights. Also adding to Paris could help with jet lag, since it could take you sometime to transition to the time/reduced sleep on flight.

Maybe get a list together of what you're trying to see in each city, and then see where you might want to allocate more time. And it may end up there's so much you want to do in Venice that it's worth it to keep the four nights each place. Just something to consider.

Sounds like an awesome trip!