Hello!

This is my first trip to Europe. I am flying in and out of London. I was planning on seeing London, Paris and Brussels via Eurostar. Any suggestions as to how many days in each place; and if I should explore other cities/areas in the 3 countries? I am traveling alone and only speak English. Also, any suggestions for accomodations in Paris and Brussels? I would like to be centrally located and walk to see the sights if the weather is permitting.

London and Paris are more interesting than Brussels. How much time to spend in each city really depends on what you want to see.

Try to visit Brugges in Belgium, it is about an hours train ride from Brussels.

hi enjoyinglife,

lol - a thread whwere someone is proposing to do FEWER places than they could - must be a fodor's first.

in 18 days you could definitely see a lot more than London, Paris and Brussels. Brussels??? Given the time of year, it would be a good time to head south - Spain [andalucia would be a good choice in November - we went to Granada in November and spent most of the day-time in T-shirts] Italy - you could go to Rome and/or Sicily - or Greece.

but please, for our first trip to Europe, NOT Brussels!

PS - millions of people visit France, Spain and Italy every year without speaking any of the relevant languages. although it would be a good idea to learn some basics, don't let that put you off.

alternatively, if you're feeling less brave, spend your first week or so in London, then eurostar to Paris, spend a few days there, then TGV to Nice, and get some sun - you can then fly straight back into London for your flight home.

If that's where you want to go then spend your first week in London take Eurostar to Paris for 8 nights and then move on to Brussels for 2 nights. Return to London for last night before your flight home.

In November (due to weather and shorter days) I think it might be best to spend all your time in these cities unless you have an uncontrollable urge to see 'more of the country'. There's plenty to keep you occupied.

It is very seldom that we have a chance to suggest that you do more rather than less!

With 18 days, you might visit London, Paris and someplace in Italy. For your first trip, I think Rome is a great destination. Skip Brussels this time - the days are short in November and Brussels is a very grey city. Why not spend 6 days in each of the three cities and get a gret overview of each

IMHO I think 18 days is just right for 3 cities - that will allow you to do several day trips and not be rushed off you feet. I would allow 9 days for London, with 2 as day trips (Windsor, Bath or a host of other places) and divide the rest of the time between Paris (again spend a day in Versailles and consider one other day trip) then on to Brussels - from which you could see Brugge, Ghent and/or Antwerp.