My husband and I are trying to plan our 10 year anniversary trip for September 2015 and are thinking of going to Europe. The last time we were there was in 2005 and we went to Munich and Salzburg. Although we love Bavaria, we don't want to repeat that trip. We will have a total of 10 days, not including arrival and departure days. We both enjoy history, but don't necessarily want to spend days in museums. We were thinking about France, Belgium and northern Germany. Being that this will be our first time in this area, I want to hit some of the "tourist" areas and maybe some off the beaten path areas as well. Any suggestions about these areas or other cities would be greatly appreciated!

Besides not liking museums, there is little here for guidance. They all have what broadly qualifies as history but that is a span of 1,000's of years. Cities, towns, hiking, mountains?

Your criteria still leave the choices pretty much wide open. I find online and book guides pretty good for narrowing things down to a few places and from there it might be useful to ask which "of these" do others enjoy.

So have you pinned down any of the "tourist areas" that strike your fancy? That would help with, as Rory Stewart says, the places in between. Ten days is not much time so if you can more give guidance with the big picture, you might get the help you need with the smaller.

Ten days isn't very long, especially if it includes travel days. I suggest you narrow the scope of your trip to two areas. For example, you could spend five days in Paris and the remaining time in another area of France: take the train to Provence and rent a car there; or Normandy; or the Loire Valley, or Alsace. Get a good guide book and see what piques your interest the most. Also get a good map.

If you'd like an idea of what independent travel is like for seniors, check out my blog for our 2010 trip. I was 63 and my Mom was 87. This was a five week trip with three home bases plus Paris, and road trips through Burgundy, and Normandy.
Www.daytripper-franceadventure2010.Blogspot.com

Concur with CJT re your lack of time to see a lot.--I'd spend three full days (four nites) in Paris and the rest of the time in some combination of Belgium--Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp--and Normandy to include Mont St. Michel. That way you could see two of the three countries you're wanting to see.

IMDonehere - I didn't say that I don't like museums. I'm aware of the amount of history in Europe and know that a lot of time could be spent in a multitude of museums, and I would like to visit some of them, just not a lot of them.

CJT - the 10 days does not include travel days.

Because we are just starting our planning, I was hoping to just get some thought on what other's have done on previous trips. I know that I haven't provided much info but we're just starting our planning.

What if we were to concentrate our trip to Belgium and northern Germany? Would 10 days be enough time?

"Would 10 days be enough time" for Belgium and northern Germany? That's still an open-ended question. "Northern Germany" is a huge area. Belgium is not that big, but it would be easy to spend ten days there alone.

I suggest, before asking any more questions, to do some homework. Browse the numerous trip reports posted here. Browse some travel books and see what you like. You can even watch Rick Steves's travel shows on Hulu for free, and he has several on Germany and Belgium, among other places. See what appeals to you, then start narrowing it down and deciding which places you might like to visit.

"CJT - the 10 days does not include travel days."

I believe travel between 1 location in Europe and another is the question.

"Would 10 days be enough time?"

The answer is still "it depends". Impossible to answer when your intentions are still so vague. As you say, "just beginning" so proceed and do the work of narrowing down that only you can do for yourself. No one is evading answering, there just isn't enough to go on to formulate meaningful replies.

If it were me, I would go to Paris and another part of France, but that's just me. I find Paris to be the most beautiful and romantic city and spending 5 days there in September, and perhaps 5 days in ONE other region -- for example, Dordogne, Normandy/Brittany, or Provence -- would be a perfect way to celebrate a special anniversary.

I have not been to Germany, so can't speak on that; enjoyed Brugge & Belgium, though have no strong urge to return, but would return to France in a heartbeat.

<<I was hoping to just get some thought on what other's have done on previous trips>>

I've probably done 10-12 trips around that area, but have no idea which of them might appeal to you, as you are being so vague. Before I waste my time, I think you need to do some homework and narrow this down. It's not like you're planning a trip to Rhode Island - you're talking about a LOT of territory here.

Lack of specifics in your initial post limits aid you will receive in response (nor did your follow-up help much).

You could make a very good trip out of Paris and Normandy (plus Mont St Michel) in that amount of time. Budgets and your ages would help too - if you're in your 80s, a lot of traipsing around would be difficult.

From my experience: our first trip to northern Europe was around two weeks including air travel. We rented a car at CDG and drove through Reims and Metz (overnite in Metz) to Trier, Germany, where we stayed a couple of nites. We then drove to Aachen and through the Ardennes to Ghent for a nite. Saw Ghent and Bruges and stayed a nite at the Hague where we spent a nite. Got up and drove to Delft, then back down into France.

Stayed in Amiens one nite then drove to Mont St. Michel where we stayed a nite in a BnB on the mainland. We saw some of the Normandy beaches and the Bayeux tapestry and then drove to Chartres for the nite. Got up the next day, saw the Chartres Cathedral, then drove to Paris where we dropped the car and had four nites.

So what you're thinking of doing is probably doable. Looking back on it what we did, it seems insane, but at the time it felt fairly slow paced. The key is that this a fairly small part of Europe, the roads are good and, aside from the area east of Rotterdam and around Paris, the traffic was not bad.