First trip to Europe - draft itinerary
 

Hello,

My wife and I are planning our first trip to Europe for 14-15 days/nights in November and I wanted to throw a sample itinerary that we are planning out there for thoughts/tinkering. Current itinerary is as follows:

London 4 nights
Amsterdam 2 nights
Munich 3 nights
Paris 4 nights

Would possibly sub Prague or Vienna in for Amsterdam. Also would consider something like this:

London 5 nights (accounting for the first day/night being light sightseeing due to jetlag)
Munich 4 nights
Paris 4 or 5 nights

Torn between doing 3 cities in depth vs trying to get that 4th country in. Thoughts?

Forget the 4th country. Two weeks FLIES by!

Amsterdam wasn't my favorite destination, but I'd probably still include it on a first trip to Europe. Maybe fly into London, train to Paris, train to Amsterdam, fly home from there. Or vice-versa.

Or skip Amsterdam and just do London and Paris plus many day trip or side trip possibilities (e.g. from Paris: Versailles, Normandy Beaches, Giverny, Rouen, etc.). Unless you have specific things you really want to see (museums and such), I'd try to balance between the "big city" experiences and some smaller city/small town excursions.

It's true: two weeks flies by.

Four countries in 2 weeks is a bit much IMO... I'd do London, Paris and maybe Belgium? You could take the express train from Paris to Brussels, do a day there and a day in Bruges, fly home from Brussels.

Even you three-city plan is quite rushed in two weeks.

With >>London 5 nights
Munich 4 nights
Paris 4 or 5 nights<<

You'd end up w/ 4.5 days in London and as you say,one of those will be a jet lagged fog
3 and a bit days in Munich
3 or 4 days in Paris

W/ two weeks think of Paris/London, or if you <i>must</i> squeeze in another place, 6 days in London, 5 or 6 days in Paris and a couple of days in one other city.

You've not included any traveling time to get to the next destination so you have less time in each location than your itinerary indicates.

London - 4 nights = 3 to 3.5 days. If the first day is arrival after an overnight flight then you have about a half day. If you are tired then you don't have the half day for sightseeing.

Fly to Amsterdam (1/2 day); if you take the train then it's about 5 hours. 2 nights in Amsterdam leaves you about a half day, or less, in that city.

Fly to Munich - another half day; the train is 8 to 9 hours.

Paris - most of the day to get here from Munich by train.

When factoring travel time you also need to add time to get to the train station or airport (plus waiting time), packing/unpacking, checking in and out of hotels.

<< Torn between doing 3 cities in depth vs trying to get that 4th country in. Thoughts? >>

With 3 cities, with the amount of time you have, you won't be able to see London and Paris in depth; you'll scratch the surface and see some highlights.

Three major cities is PLENTY for 2 weeks. That isn't really seeing them in depth - that's seeing them in more than a rush. IMHO 4 or 5 days is a minimum for these places.

London and Paris have more to see and do than any other cities in Europe, IMO. If you do just those two cities you will just scratch the surface. If you must do 3 cities, add Amsterdam for a couple of days - it is very convenient to London and Paris and will not require that you go far out of your way.

Skip Amsterdam. It is my least favorite city I have visited in Europe in 10 trips. Vienna or Prague would be my choice. Your itinerary seems a bit ambitious even to me, and I am one who likes to keep moving often.