Where to go for 8 days in Europe?
 

I am stuggling to decide where to travel this time. We ( 2 girls) are planning to get away for about 8 days and would like to go to Europe. I have been to Prague, Amsterdam, and UK. So somewhere new would be great. We love history, architecture and a bit of adventure ( in terms of discovering hidden gems). We are debating to go to France and stay there and explore various little gems, but would like to hear other suggestions.
thank you

Ireland. Lots of history, architecture and adventure. We've made two 8-day trips there and we saw a lot on each one. Just don't expect to be able to cover the whole island in 8 days. For an 8-day trip to Ireland, I'd either choose Dublin and the area around there or the western part of the country. If you plan to visit the west, try to fly in/out of Shannon. It will save a lot of driving.

I love the idea of going to France and exploring the "various little gems." Problem is, there are thousands and thousands of them. If you do choose France, though, I would spend at least half the time in Paris (which has its own myriad gems), then take off for someplace more rural - Provence, although at the opposite end of the country, is a mere 3-hour train ride and would afford you a whole new perspective on France. Or you could head to Alsace or Burgundy or Normandy or the mid-Atlantic coast. Get some guidebooks and start looking and see what appeals to you most.

thank you for feedback, Ireland is not of interest as we will be going in early October, it;s too cold for me. What is your take if we go to Italy and explore it, and then take a train from Turin to Provance? Is it feasable? Has anyone traveled Italy? Is renting a car feasable?

If you have only 8 days (that's a really short trip), I'd either do Italy or France, not both. Traveling between them is a pain and takes up a lot of time - you'd likely be giving up a day, so you're down to 7 days. Of course there are scads of people here who travel Italy often, and yes, renting a car is perfectly feasible.