Where to go next?
 

My sister and I try to take a trip together each year without our husbands and kids. We are starting to plan a trip for next March and have come up with a few ideas.
One possibility is to go to Amsterdam for 3-4 nights then either rent a car or train to some of the smaller towns like Delft...then go to bruges and end up in Brussels, flying out of there.
Another idea is to go to Italy starting in Rome and then go to CT and Florence flying either out of Florence or Pisa.
A third idea is to pick an area of France to see such as Normandy, or Dordogne and Bordeaux or Burgandy.

I am wondering what March will be like in these areas...it looks like the weather should be cool but pleasant but I am wondering whether things will be open(hotels, restaurants)expecially in the smaller towns... whether we will be able to do some hiking? Our last trip was to Ireland in March which was great. We like hiking, both cities and small towns, shopping, museums and just generally exploring new places. We will have 8 or 9 nights.

If your trip will be in LATE March, I'd consider the Netherlands - the Keukenhof tulip (orchid, etc.) exhibition should be open then - something every visitor to Europe should see once, I think. Of your destinations, Normandy probably offers the least in the way of off-season choices.

How late in March would we need to go to see the exhibition? Also are there other fields of flowers to see in March (ie daffodils) I would have liked to go in April, but not possible. What small towns in Netherlands would you recommend visiting?

Keukenhof opens March 25 in 2004; what you see then will be somewhat limited compared with the April flowers, but it's still Amazing (I was there in 2002 late March.) You won't find much out in the open fields yet unless it's an unusually warm and early spring.

Delft is quite nice - a good choice. I'm fond of the small towns just north of A'dam too - Volendam, Marken (both a bit touristy but still nice, Monnickendam, Broek in Waterland,
Zaanse Schans (actually an open-air-museum/town with windmills, cheese-making, mustard mill, farm animals, traditional crafts on display, no admission charge), and Hoorn (further north, nice port town) are all pretty interesting. I think it's this region where you get the best (and most convenient) glimpse of traditional life, and they're all a breath of fresh air after the somewhat seedy Amsterdam. (Haarlem was less interesting to me than Rick Steves and others make it out to be.)

I love Italy. Tuscany is amazing with wineries, walking, hill towns. I'd do that and the hike of Cinque Terre! See tuscany.net and pick a farmhouse S of Siena as a center point for 4 nights, then 2 night up by San Gimignano and 2 in 5 Terre.

cparris, my daughter was in Rome, Florence, Santa Margherita and Lucca in March two years ago. In some of her pictures she is wearing a t-shirt, in others a light jacket. There was a lot of greenery in the backgrounds, and I could clearly see the rhododendrons were in full bloom. It was very pleasant spring weather in Italy (and this was mid-March).

If choosing the Lowlands for the trip, I would use public transportation rather than rent a car. Distances are short and trains are frequent. But I suspect that Italy might be safer in terms of weather.

Thanks for all the help so far. I am emailing these posts to my sister. If you have any more suggestions let me know.

If we drove from Paris to Normandy and the Loire Valley...would 6 days be enough time or horribly rushed?

Ten years ago we were in Paris for a week and spent the next week driving through the Loire valley and back via Brittany abd Normandy. It's not a very long drive and you can see alot.
The chateaus of the Loire and beaches of Normandy are must sees.
This being said, I'm partial to Italy, whereas Holland and Belgium would be my third choice.
I'm sure you will have fun no matter where you go.

It is so hard to decide. My sister is leaning to Netherlands, but I am torn. I would rather go there only if we could go late March and see the flowers. I have only been to Venice and Milan in Italy so going to Rome and Florence sounds good, but I also really like France and besides Paris and the area around Nice haven't seen much of France either.