Check out EF College Break! They had decently priced trips at about 12 days. I've looked into trips out of NYC and the one I am currently planning on doing in August is about 3700 - so really not much over the budget you're planning now but it doesn't include spending money. Not sure if you were talking full travel budget (flights, accommodations and spending) at 3500 each - that's a very tight budget if that is the case, and I'd suggest Eastern Europe - Prague, Budapest and Vienna maybe, as the conversion is super friendly in our favor. Of those three cities, I'd maybe swap Vienna for Amsterdam. Amsterdam was more expensive than I expected it to be but it was not terrible; it's a gorgeous city, lots of history and nightlife is great.

If you are set on Italy as part of your first trip, Rome is very hot in August (as noted above) but you will survive, there's a lot to see and everywhere I ate had the most amazing food and house wine. I also did not find it very expensive (March 2011). If you are set on Paris as part of your first trip, it's expensive and you're on a budget - get the Paris pass and weigh out what you want to do wisely. Plan out the things you want to do as part of your budget. I went to a ballet at Palais Garnier - very cool experience and beautiful theatre, definitely not a cheap night. The Moulin Rouge show is a cool experience but its 105 euro pp (march 2012, not sure how this changes). Montmartre was my favorite area in Paris - make it there even if you're pressed for time!! I spent ten days in Paris and that was my favorite part. I have a friend that skipped it the first time he went and made it there this past time and it changed his perception of Paris - he really enjoyed it. Things in Paris are also time consuming - the Louvre is huge and takes several hours to really explore it (I think I spent about 7 hours there), Musee d'Orsay is smaller but I went twice because I loved it. I also really like Monet, so I made sure I went to Musee de l'Orangerie which was exclusively designed to showcase his water lilies.

Great advice and suggestions so far! Thank you very much. Figured I could Red-Eye after work on a Friday night to get one more day. My friend is pretty set on seeing one of the cities in Italy so does this itinerary look doable?:

Day 1: Red-Eye flight - Tennessee to Paris
Day 2: Arrive in Paris around Mid-Day
Day 3: Paris
Day 4: Paris
Day 5: Morning flight - Paris to Rome/Venice arrive Mid-Day
Day 6: Rome/Venice
Day 7: Rome/Venice
Day 8: Rome/Venice
Day 9: Morning flight - Rome/Venice to Barcelona
Day 10: Barcelona
Day 11: Barcelona
Day 12: Barcelona
Day 13: Morning flight - Barcelona to Tennessee

Really having trouble choosing between Rome and Venice. Also wondering if my route and order seems optimal. Thanks again for all the input

I'd add a day to Paris at the expense of any of the others.

But looks sweet - if Venice then 2 days could suffice as it is much smaller than other places you are heading to.

If you do Venice, then put it at the beginning. Fly from there to Barcelona, Barcelona to Paris and home from Paris.

If you do Rome, then go to Paris first, Paris to Barcelona, Barcelona to Rome and home from Rome.

Or Barcelona first, Barcelona to Paris, Paris to Rome.

Won't go into all the reasons I think these plans work best, but look at flights between them as well as your international flights.

Book multi-city, into one city, out of another.

I would add a night to Paris and subtract a night from Barcelona. Then you have Paris(4),Rome(4),Barcelona(3).
Choose Rome over Venice.I like your sequence. Are you flying to/from Memphis?

Have you thought about Budapest. It is as beautiful as Paris and half the price. Here you can enjoy all the Thermal spa's (very Cheap), get addicted to Exit games and take a day trip to the wine region Eger for cheap good wine or out to thermal spa regions. From Budapest you are easily connected to Bratislava, - cheap and close on the train, or you could go up to Prauge. Think about night trains, they can save you on accommodation and save precious day time. This would be one good way to get from Hungary across into Germany.
Also in central and western europe because public transport is expensive lots of people car share, sign up to blablacar and see if you can share a ride on long distance journeys to cut your cost.
Venice can be done on the cheap, i did it when i had little money and had a great time.
Paris is the most expensive city (outside Norway) in europe.

Paris is the most expensive city (outside Norway) in europe.>

ever been to Switzerland or Swiss cities - WAY more dear than Paris and I'd wager London is also.

"Paris is the most expensive city (outside Norway) in Europe"

This is such a bogus statement it is ludicrous. I can stay in Paris cheaper than in my home city in the South. I have often called Paris the bargain of Europe--and as with any bargains, you have to plan.
London is expensive, let alone Switzerland.

Michael2727
At your age and budget I hope that you are checking out some of the websites oriented to young backpackers ...
... they can offer a good counterpoint to fodors and give you good ideas for travelling on a shoestring
http://www.thebackpacker.net/
http://www.intrepidtravel.com/
http://www.letsgo.com/
http://www.travelpunk.com/
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/

I'd choose Rome, and agree with dugi in taking a day from Barca and adding it to Paris.

I don't equate a lot of these cities with budget travel. Google the backpackers guide to get an idea of what locations are affordable and fun. If I were you I would look at the Czech Republic, Poland, etc. Beautiful and culturally rich, but a better value. Good luck and whatever you choose-have a blast!

Even a cheap country can be expensive depending on what you do - cofees at cafes every mile or so will add up - discretionary expenses can make the difference in a low budget or high budget.

Instead of eating at restaurants all the time try picnicking - super markets now have all kinds of deli take out stuff at a cheap price - compared to restaurants. Eat a lot at the breakfast buffet.

Michael,

most everyone seems to be concerned about your ambition but I hope you will have a great time although planning a trip for 12 days in three foreign countries - on a limited budget -is not exactly a cake walk . If you traveled on a budget to NYC, Vancouver, Montreal, etc. you know what I mean.
Finally, Paris-Rome-Barcelona seems a little awkward to me. Why not Paris- Barcelona-Rome?

2 cities w/ day trips, 3 cities no day trips. Really any of these being discussed are interesting and could work for you...

London/Amsterdam/Paris
Paris/Venice/Rome
Berlin/Prague
Rome/Barcelona
etc.

Here's a bit of a different suggestion for you, and something similar to what my daughter and I did a couple of years ago.

Spend say three days in Paris, then train to Trier, Germany. Stay at a hotel that will allow you to leave your bags for a few days. Rent bicycles and travel with reduced baggage for four days along the Mosel to Koblenz, staying at youth hostels and/or cheap guest houses. It's entirely flat and almost all on dedicated bike paths. You can then put your bikes on a train and return them to Trier.

Go to Munich, spend one night, then take a day train to Venice, spend three nights with a day trip to Padua. Have fun.

If you are on a budget, plan to have lots of picnics. They sell mayonnaise and mustard in tubes over there, so put them in your pack so you can buy bread and meat and have a picnic. Buy a sturdy plastic wine glass so you can buy a cheap bottle of wine and enjoy in in a park. It's okay to do so. If you like liquor, get a flask and sneak a drink to save money.

I'm an Italian woman, I hope I can be of some help...
1) Each European county is a world of its own, you could easily spend all your time in just one of it... expecially (hope not to be too parochial) Italy!!!
2) Rome, Venice, Paris, Prague, Barcelona... all wonderful cities, hard to choose between them! The problem is, the more you consider, the more you would want to see! Anyway... Venice in a rush can be done in just one day (without museums), for Paris or Rome you have to consider museums themselves are very big and take a lot to visit (same thing in London), I advise you to skip a lot, otherwise you will end up with some sort of "pictures salad" and your feet really aching
3) Lot of nighlife everywhere, if you're tired and on a budget you can just enjoy "evening life"... staying at a cafè/bar or just in a square and watching people... and lots of tourists... come to Italy and you'll see...
4)About budget: if you want to save, there are plenty of MacDonald's, and you could stick to one "real" restaurant per day. In Italy, only the South (Naples...) is very cheap with good quality of food. If really can't afford anything else, take a pizza, pizza will never let you down.
5) In Rome you could try some arrangement in religious houses... it could sound strange, but consider: Rome= centre of Catholic world=lot of religious establishments, generally cheaper and cleaner. Some may have restrictions (not possible to stay out after certain hours). Beware of very cheap hotels around Termini Station.
4)As someone previously mentioned, be careful with time needed to take the plane, checking luggage etc. Ryan Air (one of the low cost airlines) and other cheap ones are very useful to connect places, but make use of smaller airports (i.e. for Milan, they land in Bergamo), so you should also take into consideration one hour trip (or so) to get into the main city. I.e, from Girona to Barcelona. You'd get some glimpse of landscape, anyway, and, say, Bergamo for instance is a very beautiful town, but if you want to see "major" places it's useless to stop in each of the 1,000 beautiful Italian towns (same thing for French, Spanish, German ones).
Enjoy!

Ok--You are getting a lot of good ideas. I've scanned those, and just want to add my two cents on those suggestions.

1) Most of your money is gone once you have spent your airfare. Just take a look at the prices of the cheapest hostels in any of the cities you want to visit, average that out per night, and you will be able to figure out what you have left to spend on between-city transport and food.

And beer (welcome to MY world).

2) The "fly in to Amsterdam, then head south to Brussels or other between place like Antwerp, then head to and fly out of Paris" suggestion is the easiest and probably most practical to do, and finding great experiences in those areas as a young adult is a lay-up. You can do spur-of-the-moment day trips to heart's content from this general train itinerary without wasting precious travel time or money. This plan would include unbelievable access to a phenomenal number of world class art museums.

2) After years of going to Europe, my husband and I (and both adult daughters) are agreed upon one thing: Paris may SEEM to be expensive, but it provides opportunity to do it cheaply and still do it well. So do not let anyone talk you out of Paris based on $$.

2) Re $$ and Budapest: My very well-traveled adult daughter (she had been to 10 countries by the time she was 14) thought Budapest was the most interesting experience of her study abroad and cost her almost nothing. She was able to find a great hostel there, find a great bar crowd, tour great places, and even buy souvenirs for very little cash outlay. She and her friends flew there for almost nothing, too.

3) Although the same adult daughter (and later, we old folk) fell in love with Barcelona and Catalunya in general, her hostel experience was the very worst of her travels. Her friends also had a lot of problems there staying in other hostels there. I'm not trying to dissuade you from Barcelona (we love it), but I'm just saying that no one had a good hostel experience in her crowd. But along those lines...

4) Someone cautioned you that if you used Ryan Air to get to Barcelona you would land in Girona, Spain. https://www.ryanair.com/us/flights-to-barcelona/

Well,that is NOT a hardship. You would be plopped into the midst of one of the most interesting regions in all of Europe with direct rail access to the Pyrenees (mountains), the Costa Brava (the beach), and Barcelona, plus the art and architecture of Dali and Gaudi. Research those areas and you'll see what I mean.

3) I know young people like to talk about Prague, but this daughter and friends and we old folk saw it in our visits there as an uber expensive destination for drunks. It's ended up being the go-to place for stag and hen parties, and when those don't clog the streets, river cruise folks (aka, slow old people) do. It's a crime.

We all wish you the very best in planning. I love it when young people say, "Hey, I don't feel like a week drinking tequila at Senor Frog's in Cancun. Let's try something else."

AZ

On the other hand,my daughter had a blast staying at a hostel in Prague, and a pretty miserable experience in one in Paris. It really depends on the hostel. Both Prague and Paris are very beautiful cities.

I still think depending on airlines to get you to all of your destinations is too much. I would plan to fly once between European cities. You are going to spend a lot of time in airports otherwise.

"Paris is the most expensive city (outside Norway) in europe." Small typo should have read one of the most expensive cities.

The guys are on a budget so my post is to give some perspective on equally beautiful places that can be enjoyed just as much for less. They were asking for alternative suggestions after all.

Hey guys,
still deciding?
Two weeks ago I was in Florence... as beautifual as ever, but, well... HOT!!!
Rethinking the whole thing: why not Paris + Bruxelles/Bruges/Gand? I think you could by train, or (also) Ryan Air (check this last one).
Bruxelles is very nice, the Grand Place is always worth seeing!