20th anniversary next year. Considering going across the pond but I've never been. If you had 10 days and you excluding airfare how would you spend $5000, $10000, $15,000? What questions do we need to ask ourselves?

1. Both appreciate history, but not art enthusiasts.
2. We are up for moving around, but not expecting to run and see as much as possible
3. We aren't alcohol drinkers really but always love good food
4. Likely going in June/July so about a year to plan

Wife and i just got back from a 10yr anniversary 9 day trip around Germany. We spent about 5k with flights on miles. Hotels were midrange running around 200euro a night and we mostly ate a budget friendly restaurants. We did rent a car a few days but stuck with train around the major cities. If you want a more luxurious trip with fancy hotels, restaurants, and a bunch of tours you could easily spend double or triple what we did.

It depends a lot on where you're going in Europe. A couple of summers ago, I traveled to Ireland, England, and Scotland, and they were much more expensive than southern countries like Italy, Spain, and Portugal. Last summer, I spent two weeks in southern Italy and spent about $1,500 USD (not including airfare). I split the cost of each Airbnb with a friend. You can NEVER go wrong with Italy.

Love history and good food, first time in Europe, up to $15k budget…?

Private guided trip around Italy.

My recommendations are more logistical.

1) Plan your trip as early in June as possible, to try and avoid both the heat and the crowds. We were in Paris in late June last year, and it was 99* for a couple of days. Every major city will be crowded, but you can make it a little easier by going early in the season.

2) Decide if you absolutely must hit the big cities/major attractions or not. Can you go to Europe and not see London, Paris, Rome, Florence, or Munich? Is there one city/region/culture you prefer over another? A 10 day trip where you spend 2-3 days in one or two cities and then a couple of days in the countryside is doable, you just have to pick an area geographically. Three cities is doable if you skip the countryside.

3) Personally, I prefer one big city and then countryside. We only spent a few days in Paris last year (work trip) before we rented a car and drove to Normandy. We rented bikes and leisurely explored the coastline and all of the war memorials. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. More than a couple of days in a big, crowded, hot, city is too much for me.

4) In your situation, I would consider a river cruise - either on the Seine or Rhine. If it were me, I'd probably go with AmaWaterways, but there are multiple good tour providers. You will sleep on the ship (river cruise boats are small - only a few hundred passengers), and have organized activities off the boat every day of the tour, each in a different city. If the river boat tour is only 7 nights (most likely), you could add on a few nights before or after the trip in whatever the closest big city is. A good travel agent will help you with all the planning and coordination.

For ten days, I'd probably fly into Rome, spend two days, train to Naples, spend a day in addition to travel day, train to Bari, spend a day, ferry to Dubrovnik, two days in Dubrovnik (or a day trip to Hvar one day), and fly back out of DBV.

Croatia may be my favorite country in Europe. The beaches are beautiful, and the architecture is amazing. Old town Dubrovnik doesn't feel like a real place. The food is a mixture of Italian, Serbian comfort food, and fresh seafood. The wine is also very good and unique as the grapes used are unique to the area (posip and plavac mali).

Thanks all for the replies. This is what I needed to start kicking around ideas.

Questions to ask:

- Do you want to be based in cities or on the water (River or Mediterranean Cruise)?

If City:
- What pace are you comfortable with? Moving 3 times in 10 days would be my max but everyone is different.
- What kind of history are you interested in (Ancient, Medieval, cultural/religious)?
- Do you want a hotel that will take great care of you or an apartment on your own?
- Private or public experiences?
- Do you want a mix of countryside or waterfront stays with the cities?
- Any mobility restrictions?

Italy and France are perfect for history and food being front and center, and where a lot of people go for their first trips to Europe. They both get pretty warm in the summer, so the earlier the better. Make sure wherever you stay has A/C!

There's already great advice here, and I agree with the ~$1,500/day range once you're on the ground it really comes down to how you want to travel.
Based on what you shared history, great food, and not wanting to feel rushed I'd focus on pacing first. Most first-time Europe trips fall apart because people try to do too much.
One option I recommend a lot, especially after touring 16 ships at the ASTA River Cruise Expo, is a river cruise. You unpack once, move through historic cities, and have great food and guided experiences built in. It's a very efficient, low-stress way to experience Europe.
If you go land-based, I'd keep it to two or three cities max. Something like London and Paris for a first trip, or Rome and Florence if you want a deeper historical focus without constantly moving.
The biggest thing to figure out is how much you want handled versus doing it yourself, and whether you want to see more places or go deeper in fewer. That's what really determines how good the trip feels.
If you're not working with a travel advisor who specializes in European travel, my contact info is in my bio.

Wife and I usually travel for about 2 weeks to Europe and it usually ranges 5-6k including flights.

honestly try to not go to Europe in the summer if you can. I've done it a lot and last summer I finally said enough - I don't have to come to Europe in the summer again. I can come in the off-season when it's not so crowded and it's not so freaking hot. Last summer in Provence was brutal.

Otherwise, I would think one big city and then get out into the countryside. So many options but if you're a food lover then France/Italy/Spain might be your go to spots.

Viking river cruise

I agree with this.

I've visited Italy, Germany, Austria, and France in November or December (all separate trips) and always had an amazing experience. Weather was good and crowds were manageable.

Last year, we went to Italy for 2 weeks in the middle of June and it was miserably hot and more crowded than we've ever experienced. The crowds were partly due to the Jubilee, which was the main reason we took the trip last year, but even cities outside of Rome were packed.

Currently live in Europe and have taken many great trips:

Top three:
1 Scotland- Edinburgh and then to the highlands
2 Normandy - from Rouen to Mt St Michel and not only the landing beaches.
3 Andaluca- Cordoba, Granada , Sevilla

Honorary mention to Istanbul.

We are headed to Greece this fall. Will be spending $10K between the two of us for two weeks and then I am headed to Cannes for MIPCOM then over to Italy for ten days on my own. Airfare sucks right now but we have a points guy who is working out our flights.

How may people besides you and your +1?

$15k (exclusive of airfare) for a 10 day trip ($1,500/pay) for two is a very good budget for ten days.

To get the most bang for you buck, I suggest Southern Europe (Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece). Select one region/Island and rent a house to spend ten days exploring the region/island as a traveler (as opposed to a tourist).

The impact of absorbing the culture in one region/Island (and not shotgunning several different places n a short amount of time) is immeasurable.