1st time traveler to Europe
 

In October, my husband and I will be flying to Zurich then taking the train to Paris and London. We welcome suggestions on lodging, dining, sight-seeing, etc. during our 2 wk visit. Should we purchase airline tickets now or wait until after the summer rush? AA is posting tickets from DFW to Zurich and Gatwick to DFW for around $860 -- any suggestions on when to purchase?

I just went to aa.com and got a cost of $724.00 round trip - open jaw: DFW to Zurich and then LGW to DFW. And these are direct nonstop flights.

I live in the DFW area and I tend to book my flights (always AA) when the price is "good enough" and the seat selection is the best - i.e., two to three months or so ahead of time. I find that the price doesn't change too much. If it goes lower, at least I got the seats I wanted (I only fly coach so the "best" seat is worth it for me.

If I were you, I'd book that flight soon. Can't get much better than nonstop for $724 including two cities and have wide open choice of seats.

For example, in Feb. I booked open jaw DFW to Amsterdam then Munich to DFW - with a change at LGW for a May flight. I paid about $680 each I believe. I only saw the price go up and the seats go down!

My husband and I are going to Ireland in Oct and will be booking within the next two weeks.

ttt

Those seem like decent prices if the routing is good (i.e., make sure it they are both nonstop flights as aggiemom mentioned above). It's an individual thing but I like to get my ticket a reasonable time in advance, then start planning the rest of the trip!

As far as lodging, dining and sight seeings goes, we need to know your budget for hotels. Also if you look at the top of this page and click "destinations" then find London and Paris you'll see a basic 3 or 5 day itinerary to help you get started as well as getting a couple of good guide books will help. You should also do a text search on this page for "London restaurants" or the same for Paris.