My wife and I are trying to decide on a destination in Europe for 6 to 7 nights in September 2009. We have only been to Paris in previous trips to Europe, and would like a destination where we could remain busy throughout the day and have a wide selection of dining selections at night. While, we are not 100% against multiple locations, we generally enjoy settling in one place and trying to take in as much as it offers while we are on our trips. We are considering Madrid, Barcelona, or Rome, but are open to suggestions. Can anyone help?

Madrid, Barcelona, and Rome are all great destinations that will meet your requirements of plenty to do in the day and lots of dining at night.

If I were trying to make this decision, I would read some trip reports and get a feel for these cities and see what appeals to you the most.

Rome has more to see than any other city I have visited. An enormous treasury of ancient ruins incorporated into the modern city, layers of civilization that can be explored above the ground and under it. Renaissance art and architecture, endless churches.

Barcelona has a seaside ambience and a multicultural feel, combining Catalan and Castillian languages and cultures. Great range of dining and wonderful markets. Unique architectural heritage from the moderniste movement.

Madrid has fantastic art museums and a wonderful nighttime atmosphere for outdoor dining, cafes and tapas bars. Flamenco. Interesting day trips, although I have not been in Madrid long enough to take any.

Here is my Barcelona trip report to get you started:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34955177

Depending on your preferences, Greece is a great choice, mainland, islands, history, art, architecture, etc, and wonderful food. I loved Greece, was there 9 days and would go back in a heartbeat.
Amsterdam is also a lot of fun and offers many options for daytrips. Lots of good food, entertainment, nightlife, etc. Not sure how you feel about the reputation, but we loved it and didn't have to participate in any of the activities one might find objectionable. Still able to enjoy the ambiance, though.
Vienna was also beautiful, so much to see and do there, and also offers good day trip options, such as Budapest, Melk Abbey, Monthausen(Nazi death camp).
We also enjoyed Barcelona, many, many things to do and again, many daytrip options. You could fill your days in Barcelona, but it is very easy to do day trips as well.
Oh how wonderful, an open ended choice of where to go. We were in Netherlands, Belgium and France in October, two weeks, had a great time but it is more tiring moving from place to place. Next time I think we'll do only 1 or 2 places at most. Sure was fun, though.

Take a look at Lisbon as well. We have spent a week there in early Sept. and thought it was a wonderful time to be there. Easy day trips to Sinta, Cascais, etc.

Well you are certainly not going to run out of things to do in Rome, and the weather will still be fine for outdoor eating and strolling in the evening. As to "wide selection of dining" -- how do you feel about classic Italian food, and Roman specifically? I could eat it forever, but it's not like Paris or New York.

Since I live in Italy, when I want to eat something I like Belgium and Basque country. You might consider Antwerp, and day trip around, or splitting your time between Antwerp and another destination. I would pick on in France because I don't like the food in Holland and the museums I would find most interesting in Amsterdam are closed.

Madrid is very glamorous, and if you like museums, you can easily fill your dance card and fill it out with day trips. It has fantastic food and some nice, affordable hotes. But it is a very modern city and you also have to ask yourself: How do you feel about at 9:30pm or later?

That's also true of Barcelona, but I don't like the town (can't stand Gaudi, don't care about Picasso, I live at the beach already, think the food is overrated and pickpockets abound) but other people love it for just the sort of thing you say you enjoy, so I'll let them talk.

I really have to dig when I go to Berlin to get food I like, but it can be found, and Berlin is an AMAZING place.

The word that dropped out of my question regarding Madrid was: How do you feel about DINING at 9:30pm or later every night? That's when dinner is served.

Also, in case it was confusing: In Rome, one eats as the Romans do (not the Tuscans, the Ligurians, the Venetians or the other Europeans). I've yet to run out of new things to dry, but the best you'll get is Roman food by and large. It's made well there.