My wife and I, both in late 20s, are planning on taking a trip to Europe the last week of October. We are thinking about 7 days, and want to hit the major spots such as,

Paris
Spain
Amsterdam

This will be our first time going to Europe. We will most probably take a flight till Paris.
Our area of interest is Shopping, Nightlife, party, clubbing.
We do not want to visit parks, museums etc.

Please suggest. How should i divide my days? If 7 days is too short, then we can drop either Spain or Amsterdam, or even drop both and include a new suggested city/country.

Hi ij,

Your question is much too broad.

Try doing some research in guide books and websites.

You could start by looking up Paris, Amsterdam and Spain under "Destinations".

You might want to look up train schedules at www.bahn.de and plane travel at www.whichbudget.com. It does take time to get from place to place and you only have 1 week.

Amsterdam and Paris are cities. Spain is a country.

If it were me, I would go to Paris for the week.

Crack open some Fodors Gold Guides they would help you a lot.

Not enough time make more 1 week around Paris for me or

Split your time between Paris and Amsterdam

www.thalys.com nice fast train between the 2...

www.booking.com for hotels of quality at discounts

www.eurocheapo.com Paris Amsterdam good city guides

Spain Madrid Barcelona would be fine if you could add 1 week

Happy Journey,

Welcome to Fodors ijasjit. What research have you done so far? Sorry, but 7 days is not long enough for Paris, Amsterdam and some city in Spain. And if you mean 7 days in total -- it isn't really long enough for just Paris an Amsterdam.

One full day/night is spent getting to Europe. One day is normally lost to jet lag/getting acclimated, and one day is spent flying back home. So 7 days quickly becomes 4 and a bit.

Or - if you mean 7 full days 'on the ground' in Europe (plus 2 travel days), then you could spend 4 or 5 days in Paris and 2 or 3 days in A'dam. To make that work, you'd have to book open jaw flights -- in to Paris and home from Amsterdam.

If you're just going to Europe for the night life I would check on the thorntree site as the folks there are much younger than on this board and are into backpacking and partying.

For shopping you should specify what type of shopping - books, clothing, jewelry, shoes, etc. That may determine which country you choose.

I would limit myself to one major city since you only have a week.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/index.jspa

With only 7a week I would go either to Paris OR to Amsterdam. You definitely do not have enough time to go to both those cities plus Spain!

Where are you coming from? If you're starting in the US or Canada, also you need to factor in your flights, jet lag, arrival logistics, etc. A "7 day" trip is really more like 5 days actually on the ground in Europe.

Agree you need to be more specific about what type of shopping you want. Most things are cheaper in the US than in Europe - although if you want truly high end designer goods you can find styles in europe that haven;t reached the US yet.

If you are talking moderate things - US is definitely cheaper unless yo go for the sales (and in europe sales are largely limited to specific times of the year - unlike the US when stores have sales all year - and whenever they want.)

Agree that 7 days ( if that's total) is enough for only one major city. If it's 7 days on the ground I would probably do into Paris and home from Amsterdam.

Since shopping & nightlife are key, how about Barcelona?