Thank you, i will try that.

Thank you very much. I will view the site.

Thank you I will see if Michael is still active.

Thank you for the offer but I am afraid we will not have time to stop in Antwerp. Can you recommend anyone in Amsterdam?

Good point, thank you.

You made many good points. I would be interested in mainly historical sites with a guide to explain the ins and outs of the site and make recommendations for the best sites to visit.

Marry an Amsterdammer for a day;
https://www.lovers.nl/en/blog/event-...r-for-the-day/

Take a tour with these guys
https://www.thosedamboatguys.com/

Probably not what you are looking for, but Amsterdam is a small city. The whole of the city is a historical site.
Start with the Amsterdam Museum to get a good overview of the city and it's history.
Go to the Grachtenhuis Museum for a fascinating look at how the houses on the canals were build
Do one of the big museums: Rijksmuseum and/or Van Gogh depending on your interests. Book these in advance
Maybe add one of the canal houses that is open as a museum, such as Museum van Loon.
Book a tour of the Anne Frank House if you are interested. This books up long in advance.
Do a boat tour on the canal, see above.
Walk around the 9 streets area and through the Jordaan, have a beer somewhere. Eat some bitterballen with your beer.

I don't know if guides will get you into the museums, or only outside, as some museums need to be booked well in advance.
You really don't need a guide in Amsterdam to tell you what to see.

Just a hint to help the thread move more efficiently . . . no need for multiple 'Thank you' posts one after another after another X7. Didn't really add anything to the discussion.

"I would be interested in mainly historical sites with a guide to explain the ins and outs of the site and make recommendations for the best sites to visit."

"I would like someone to take us around for a day(s) and assist with selecting the best sites to visit."

Your brief is more than a bit difficult . . . Let's just take London for example . . . It is the largest city in western Europe (by a LONG shot) with literally hundreds of sites and scores of 'major' sites. How long will you be in London? The most one can manage is 3 major sites in one day (and even that is pretty ambitious). A short list for most first time visitor's 'musts' would include the Tower of London, British Museum, V&A, St Paul's, Westminster Abbey, National Gallery, Hampton Court Palace, maybe Windsor, Greenwich, one or more of the Tate's, multiple royal gardens (Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens, Regents Park and so on), Theatre, one or more of the famous Markets (Borough/Portobello Rd/ etc), Covent Garden, Churchill's War Rooms, Imperial War Museum, Museum of London, If you have kids add the Natural History/Science/London Transport museums. . . and that's just a very short list of 'biggies'. So one day or even 5 days wouldn't really cut it. Better IMO for you to get a decent guidebook and decide what YOU want to see. Almost all of the biggest sites have excellent in-house tours . . . Vergers tour at Westminster Abbey, Beefeaters tour at the Tower, specialty and general tours at the British/V&A/Tates/National Gallery, tours at the Globe, - plus 90-ish minute walking tours of individual neighborhoods with London Walks (mentioned up thread)

In that same vein, look up in a Fodors guidebook for Paris and/or France what attracts you to Paris:

• Eiffel Tower light your candle? It looks impressive from the park immediately beneath it. Personally, I felt no need to go up in it (having been born in a big city, I'm not impressed with views from high up). There's also an impressive view from the Trocadero outlook across the river. But BEST is to take a boat ride on the Seine, arriving at Eiffel's base at 9:00 PM, when it lights up. Magnificent display!!!
• Art museums? Louvre....good for hours Musee d'Orsay....good for hours Carnavalet....history of Paris
• Simple tours? https://www.grayline.com/things-to-d...s/?per_page=50

I haven't looked at one lately, but your library probably has copies of Frommers guidebooks?

They had a very good section for major cities of something like what to see if you only have 1 day, 3 days, 5 days, etc. It would be a good guide for you, I think. All of those are major cities so imagine they have taht type of itinerary for them. I would imagine a good city guide might have his/her own list of suggested itineraries for people just like you, who need guidance. And maybe they' have a couple options geared towards different interests. I am part5icularly interested in museums and especially history museums. So I, for example, am not interested in visiting markets in any city unless I'm there a long time. I just don't care about people selling things and I have no interest in buying anything anyway. Especially food. I've been to London multiple times and have never been to one of those markets, for example, and don't care. I'm also with Tomboy and also have zero interest in going up into tall buildings to look down on cities. I don't find those kind of views that interesting nor worth the time. I do in some rural mountainous area like the Alps or Rockies, but not cities. I also would never spend my time visiting a natural history museum as I don't think those are unique to a culture or city, I can see those at home. I suppose if some natural history msueum had something really special you knew about versus others and that was your pet interest, sure.

voila, Frommers stuff is now free online, here is London
https://www.frommers.com/destination...ed-itineraries

You see, you can pick itineraries by special interests, but also the 1, 2 or 3 day ones. Even there, you could tweak that based on personal interests, I can think of things I wouldn't put as much at the top of list as they do. I'd probably switch the day 3 and 2 things myself.

I have used trip advisor and https://www.toursbylocals.com/London-Tours to find tour guides.

"Mee in Mokum" are local volunteers and they have great city walks: https://gildeamsterdam.nl/en/walking-tours/

If you have a specific request, those can be arranged for as well: https://gildeamsterdam.nl/en/opmaat-en/

Great idea, thank you very much.

Thank you Christina, a very good suggestion.

Excellent idea, thank you.

Saving for great info.