I've never been to Europe before, but am planning a two week trip there leaving in late December. I need some pieces of advice from you experienced Europe travelers!

First of all, for two weeks, this is the itinerary I had planned, but having not been to any of these places, do you think I should stay longer/not as long in any of them?
London- 4 nights
Paris- 4 nights
Rome- 3 nights
Venice- 3 nights

To get from place to place, is it best to fly or how do I go about purchasing train tickets? I'm a college student on a tight budget, so the cheapest option would be ideal.

Finally, where do I stay! Since again I'm on a tight budget, I'd like to stay at a place nicer than a hostel where I won't have to share a room with tons of people, but I'm not exactly looking for a 5 star Ritz Carlton or anything. I'm hoping to find decent rooms under $100 a night and was wondering if any of you had good experiences in Italy, France, or England with similar standards for hotels.

Thank you, and any information you have would be greatly appreciated!

***Sorry one last question: which of those places is best for New Years?

I think you are trying to see too many countries in 2 weeks. You will be spending too much time traveling from place to place via train or place. Pick London & Paris or Italy.

I agree w/ BigBlue. You do have time to get to all those places. But you are going in winter when the days are very short and the weather can be difficult. Not that it isn't a great time to visit Europe - but you won't see as much and it may take longer than you'd think to get around. Plus you lose about 1 day to jet lag and another 1/2 day every time you move from one city to the next.

Do you already have your flights booked? If yes, in to where and out of where? If not, which 3 cities do you want to see most and get an open jaw into one and out of one of the other two.

Hi T,

With 2 weeks, you don't have 14 nights, only 13.

Also, your first day you will be jet-lagged and your last you have to go to the airport.

Also, each time you change venues, you will lose about 1/2 day.

I usually suggest that first timers visit London and Paris.

At most, you ought to plan for L, P and Rome. Venice is best seen with a significant other.

For London to Paris, I would take www.eurostar.com.

There are cheap flights from Paris to Venice at www.myair.com.

For discount airlined in Europe see www.whichbudget.com.

Agree you're trying to do toomuch.

Either fly into London and out of Paris - and take Eurostar in between - or do Italy. You can easily fly into Rome, train on to Florence and then Venice and fly home from there.

Remember in December it will be cold, daylight hours are short and many sights don;t have the extended opening hours they do in the summer. And you need to allow most of a day every time you change cities.

Doing one or the other above will be a much more relaxing and enjoyable trip.

the only railpass you may want to investigate would be the France-Italy pass, which would also qualify you for a discounted fare on London-Paris Eurostar train but in any case with that train book far in advance to get cheaper tickets - can book up to nine months in advance, at least in U.S.

For folks coming across as relatively clueless on trains i always refer two good sources: www.ricksteves.com as his site has tons on rail travel, passes, buses, cheap flights, etc. and www.budgeteuropetravel.com to request their free European Planning & Rail Guide - a great primer to understanding the fantastic rail system and passes.

The cheapest way by train would be to go to www.voyages-sncf.com - French railways site and look for online PREM - deep discounted but at times hard to get fares - may have to book 60 days in advance when they come on the system to get however. And folks have reported a myriad of problems actually using the site. You could especially save on the Artesia Night train Paris-Rome or Venice this way. Walk up full fare tickets may mean the France-Italy pass is a good deal. www.trenitalia.com the Italian Railways site similarly can be used to book discounted Rome-Venice or v.v. tickets - but this site is even more fickle than French site (legions of complaints about it on Fodor's - but can save money frustrating as it may be.

Your itinerary actually sounds like something I would do myself - but I've been to all those places, and I'd probably only try that in the summer. I like Ira's suggestion of London/Paris/Rome. Venice is beautiful, but most of the charm for me was just wandering around the city. In the December cold, I'm not likely to want to do that!

Definitely fly open-jaw (into London, out of Rome).

As far as accommodations - I'm always on a tight budget myself. There are some nice hostels with private rooms, so I wouldn't completely rule them out. However, do your research and look into b&bs/small hotels as well. A lot of places, they don't cost much more. London will be pretty tough to get anything under $100 that's not a hostel, although Janis and others usually recommend Priceline. I haven't tried it personally.

I'd fly into London, take the last scheduled Eurostar train (on your last day in London) to Paris. Your last day in Paris take the Artesia night train to Venice (transportation and lodging all in one. Last day in Venice, can take the midnight train to Rome. If you had to leave a city out (depending on your interests), I'd leave Rome out and fly home out of Venice. You get a sample from each of the different countries. Definitely will need an open-jaw ticket to accomodate this busy schedule.

If you still want to be aggressive, opt for 2 nights in Venice and add the extra day to Rome (there's more to see there).

Check out hostels on this site for inexpensive lodging options. You can also go right to the train station to purchase tickets (I usually go there a few days before I leave).

Yeah - Priceline is great for London. Not so good for Paris (but hotel rooms are less expensive there anyway). Don't know about PL in Rome.