We've booked flights into and out of LHR (arriving Aug 25; returning on Sept 9). The only "musts" on our list are to soak up London and return to Paris (the only city where we've ever spent much time in Europe). We enjoy walking, great art, great food, and playing "temporary local", but also fall for the touristy things, too (yes, I want to tour Buckingham Palace). What would your dream itinerary be?

We're considering....

London, Paris, Brussels, Antwerp, and Amsterdam OR

London, Paris, Barcelona, Madrid OR

London, Paris, French countryside/Riviera OR

London, Dublin, Paris OR

London, Paris, Zurich, Vienna

Any other suggestions?

We're a couple in our 30s who tend to be on the move; we can cover a lot of ground and not feel rushed. This is our biggest European adventure ever and suggestions on itinerary would be much appreciated.

Thank you Fodorites!

From your I will select London, Paris,Barcelona, Madrid.

I suggest Lonfon, Paris,Munich,Salzburg,vienna.

Thanks! My lists were just a starting point... We need the advice of the Fodorites....

I'd pick the London/Paris/French countryside option with some day trips out of London

Too bad you already got the plane tickets. Otherwise you could have done open jaws, into London, out of some other city. Backtracking to London is going to take a serious chunk out of your 2 weeks.

Sounds like you prefer cities and expect to use public transportation. Lack of a car would rule out the French countryside, but not the Cote d'Azur. Nice makes a good base; it's nice (indeed) place and has excellent transportation for daytrips. And for another stop, you could throw in Lyon, interesting town with good food.

You totally omitted Italy, a great favorite with most of us. Venice or Florence (not both) and Rome would make great additions to your European capitals tour.

I like to keep things simple, so I would spend 5 days each in London, Paris, and Amsterdam and I'd look into renting apartments for them all.

No long train rides between cities, and perfect if you enjoy walking and art museums. Have a great trip, whatever you decide.

I agree it would have been nicer to have an open jaw. Since you plan to visit Paris, I've found on AA, open jaws into LHR and back from CDG are often cheaper than in and out of LHR (thanks to airport fees, I suppose).
But since you will lose the better part of a day going back to London (or possibly an extra night, assuming your flight is early in the morning and you are starting in London), I'd only add one other city. While Amsterdam is a logical choice, I'd look into something more distant and different with cheap flights to it from London and then a cheap flight from it to Paris -- Madrid or Barcelona perhaps (although they'll be hot. How about Berlin or Prague or Vienna or_________?

On the other hand, since Paris is the only city you've ever spent time in, I'd actually do a couple of other cities instead.

If the OP can't change the flight to an open jaw, how feasible is it to get on the Eurostar to Paris after landing in London? Maybe get a car service to take them directly to St Pancras?

Then spend however many days in Paris, which is a familiar city while recouping from jetlag.

Then train to Amsterdam or train or fly to whatever 3rd city.

Then fly to London, spend last 5 days there.

Apres has a good suggestion -- at least avoiding that double London stay beginning and end of the trip. But I'd even consider flying from LHR to CDG. With the cost of Eurostar and the connections to get to it, I'd consider just trying to get a flight right from Heathrow.

Don't miss Italy and Lake Como! In my opinion you have to go to Bellagio is absolutely fantastic...it is located in the middle of the Lake against the grand setting of the Alps. Good food and vine as well!

I am flying into London on December 23 and then taking a British Airways flight directly to Paris. After a lot of back and forth this forum convinced me to do so.

Flying onwards from Heathrow does sound like the best thing to do, whether to Paris or somewhere else.

London to Paris to Florence to Amsterdam and back to London.

Mrs. K and I did Toronto-Paris-Florence-Rome-Amsterdam-Toronto over the course of 3 1/2 weeks last year and the change between Rome and Amsterdam was most interesting and telling.

HTH
K

I would stick with London and Paris - but also get out into the countryside. For instance - from Paris do 3/4 day sin the Loire. or grab a train to Strasbourg and see Alsace Lorraine. From London do a trip to the Cotswolds - or head up to Edinburgh.

If you really want another city - at that time of year I would head for Scandinavia - the weather will be beautiful - as opposed to hot as hell - and August rates are usually the lowest there.

1 - Does 15 days mean 15 nights plus the night on the plane over, or 14 nights plus the night on the plane over? (Don't forget you will arrive the day after you depart, unless you manage a rare east-bound daytime flight.)

We bought open-jaw tickets flying out of London to Nice and returning Paris to London. The price was comparable to a roundtrip Eurostar ticket London-Paris.

Note that we overnighted in London before flying onward. There are all kinds of reasons to do this, and you won't be sorry if you do likewise.

To connect Nice to Paris we used a rental car and took 11 nights to do it including two in Nice, followed by 4 nights in Paris and the last 2 in London. We also chose to drop the car in Limoges and train into Paris from there, to save driving into Paris. You'd have to pick up the pace a bit here as you have fewer than the 18 nights we had, or change your itinerary somewhat. In short, what I'm driving at is that even if you are willing to 'hop to it', you'll have plenty on your plate just trying to connect three gateways in 14-15 nights without straining to do four, let alone add a third country to the two (England, France) to which you are already committed.

bon voyage!

4-5 cities in 2 weeks does not leave much time for "soaking up" ( a huge city like London) or "playing locals"
( anywhere)
Each time you move, you will lose half a day.
London, Paris, and Amsterdam would be more than enough .