We are going for 5-6 days to Europe in August. Was considering London, Paris or Amsterdam. Was wondering if anyone had any suggestions. Thanks!
Laura

Personally I'd choose Paris in a heartbeat! But it helps to know something about what you want from the trip, to answer your question. What are your interests? Where are you traveling from? Is budget an issue? Looking for warm or cool weather? Does the language-barrier matter?

Have you ever been to any of the cities you mention? If not, I would choose Paris. In fact, I would choose Paris under any and all circumstances!

Would depend on what sorts of things you like to do. Consider splitting time between London and Paris or Paris and Amsterdam if you're energetic. I'm of the camp that you should see as much as possible in the first trip. This way you'll also suffer less regret over having to choose only one of three.

Have lots of fun.

Hi Laura,

With less than I week, I suggest you visit only Paris.

Doesn't matter what your interests are; Paris has whatever interests you. My first choice would be Paris and my second choice would be Paris.

Have a great time.

Larry J

London.You won't see many Parisians if you go in august(HOT).Personally I won't go back to Paris until Chirac and his lackey Villipen are gone.

What do you want?

Beaches, culture, what kind of art - do you have any preference, all three will offer a very different experience, do a little research on here, and come back with questions that once answered will help you make your mind up.

Well spoken, m kingdon2.

With no data from LauraD, my suggestion would be to go as far north as possible in August. Amsterdam would have to be the one, and if gets too hot in the city take a train over to Zandvoort for a skinny dip in the North Sea.

My choice would be London. I would submit that whichever city you choose, spend the 5-6 days there and save the other two for another vacation. I agree with MK2 and Suze in that each city is worth a visit but we need more specific questions in order to give you a more complete response.

Thanks so much! I had forgotten that I posted this! (DUH!)
We are only going to be there for 4-5 days. And it will be in August. We live in a hot place, so would love some cool weather!
Have been to Paris and London. Never been to Amsterdam.
Like being outdoors, cafes, some museums, pretty scenery. (OK, dumb question--are the canals in Amsterdam anything like the ones in Venice?) Would love to go to Venice again, but thinking August not a good time. ALso worried about Paris in August.
THANKS!!!

All these places will have a similar temperature, at the moment it's pretty grey over here!

Amsterdam is nothing like Venice - Venice is grand and far too much topshow, Amsterdam is more subtle. I detest both of these places!

Come to London, you'll have to visit it once in your lifetime so why not make it this August?

Laura,
Have you considered Vienna or Prague?

I would think the weather isn't going to make much difference as they are so close. I would probably choose London for August myself. I just think it has lots to do and still a lot going on in August and weather is generally very pleasant. IN fact, one of the main reasons I would is because I like to attend the BBC Proms classical music festival, which is one of the few of those things in August.

I don't care for Amsterdam much but think 5-6 days in that area could be a good way to do it. It certainly has several good museums.

I vote Amsterdam if that's the place you haven't been before. I was there in late July and it was gorgeous weather, cool to warm not hot, sunny and rainy both. Vondelpark is lovely. 5-6 days would be a fair amount of time for the city and even a day trip somewhere. Great outdoor cafes around the Leidseplein district. Of course there's all the museums. The canals aren't like Venice, but quite charming to look at and good to get your bearings.

As an aside I've been to Venice twice, both times happened to be in August and it was fine for me. It was hot but I still enjoyed myself immensely and absolutely loved the place (which I can not say of Amsterdam).

OK, we booked our flight. We are flying into Amsterdam because the reservations for the other choices were cancelled. because of the fares, we had to ticket by last night. had an extra day for this one. SO there we go.
Now. Do we stay there or go elsewhere. Sounds like Paris in August is hot and empty. Although if we had gotten the Paris flight we would be closer to italy...
But maybe we will stay in Amsterdam? We arrive around noon on Sat and will leave Wed afternoon.
Any ideas?
Thanks!

For such a short trip, you should stay in Amsterdam and if you like, go out to the countryside a bit. Any traveling within Europe will take up most of a day: getting to the station/airport, traveling, getting to the next hotel, etc. You'll be jetlagged in any case. (I assume you're coming from the US/Canada?)

Here are a couple of Amsterdam hotel choices you might like:

http://www.canalhouse.nl/index.htm

http://www.fita.nl/

For such a short time I would choose only one place. Jet lag as mentioned takes the first day, somewhat. Last day usually getting an early flight back, subtracts that one. 3-4 days in Amsterdam would be great. Paris is really fine in August but it sounds like it's not in the cards this trip.