How to Sleep Your Way Around London, Paris & the Scottish Highlands

When it comes to Europe, most travellers make the same mistake: cram as much as possible into a criminally short amount of time. Australians are often the guiltiest. Europe is a 40-hour journey across the world for us, and few among us can afford to take more off more than three or four weeks at time. This often results in a whirlwind itinerary designed to get the most of out each place, in as little time as possible: restaurants, museums, nightlife and places of interest, all packed into a few days running on a few hours' sleep and the always-present fear of missing out.

Yes yes, you say, but I'll have time to reflect later, when I'm back home, regaling my friends with the stories of my adventure. Will you? Or will you get all embarrassed and confess, "You know what? I actually can't remember what I did in Europe."

The alternative is much more attractive. Pick out just a handful of places, not the entirety of Europe. In some cities, a few days might suffice. In others, two weeks won't be enough. My ideal length of time to spend in any new city is between five and seven days, depending on the city. Do research before you travel. Is your destination a capital city, or a small town in the countryside? What about alternating between the two, so you can go crazy in Barcelona one day knowing you'll be sipping wine on a farm in Burgundy the next?

In my last trip to Europe, I paired two high-energy capitals–London and Paris–with a two-week stint in the Scottish Highlands in-between. It was wonderful. Here's how it went down.

London

It's the start of the trip, so now's the time to go all out with the Michelin star restaurants and expensive accommodation. You'll have time to work it off later. London is a big place, so you don't want to confine yourself to just one area.

Start out in Shoreditch, the rapidly gentrifying east where urban hipsters are holding court, running everything from fair trade coffee shops to cereal cafes. Well positioned on the outskirts of the fray but close enough that a hipster occasionally wanders in is the quietly fabulous South Place Hotel, a boutique hotel with 80 bedrooms, four bars and two restaurants, including the Michelin starred Angler. It's mostly business-types here during the week, but the weekend is when this place really comes alive. Everyone packs into the hotel's lobby bar/restaurant for Bellini brunch, while the rooftop hosts live music and cocktails.

The rooms are big, full of light and peppered with chrome-coated accessories like touch-panel mood lighting and a Bang & Olufsen television set. on the rooftop, seafood fine dining at Angler is an experience unto itself. The angled windows and crisp white table settings make you feel like you might, in fact, be dining at the captain's table one a large and glorious ship, while the exquisite tasting menu, prepared by executive chef Tony Fleming, features stunners like smoked eel and slow cooked rabbit, and braised pig's head served with seared scallops.

RELATED: Bill Granger's Guide to London's Best Eats

Next, it's off to the unapologetically luxurious Rosewood London, with its prime Covent Garden location, Edwardian courtyard and giant gilded birdcages housing real life finches. (They're really cute.) Rooms here are large, gorgeous and downright kingly–all tufted armchairs, brass doorknobs and oak tables.

Dinner must happen at the restaurant's Holborn Dining Room, a busting brasserie focused on locally sourced British bests with a touch of French. (Antique mirrors, red leather banquettes and copper-topped bars help with the transformation.) There's beer, wine, fancy burgers and a dazzling selection of crustacea and charcuterie–one could, ostensibly, pass the entire night supping on oysters and champagne. In summer, the hotel opens its heavy iron gates for a Sunday morning fresh produce market. You can wake up, spend a good twenty minutes browsing the still-wet lettuce heads and shiny bright tomatoes, then head inside to the elegantly pink Mirror Room for executive chef Amandine Chaignot's belly-bursting brunch. (The word "buffet" feels like an understatement in this case: there's a suckling pig and a room reserved just for eggs.)

You can end the madness there or take it up a notch with a final night at The Langham, a traditional London established often referred to as Europe’s first "Grand Hotel". It's undergone a renovation recently, and is well worth it, if only just for Oliver Boon's exquisite tasting menu at Roux at the Landau. The inspiration is French (as is the decor) but its feet feel firmly planted in the modern, with dishes like crab salad and Cornish caviar, salmon lasagne, roast loin, pickled pears and a baked custard tart with blood orange to finish.

Scottish Highlands

Now that you've put on weight and forgotten what normal people live like, it's time for a detour away from luxury into the heart of the Scottish highlands, where simple pleasures rule supreme. No more bed-hopping here.

Take a rental car from Glasgow or Edinburgh and don't stop driving until the scenery stops resembling anything earthly. This will probably happen around Glencoe, which is a good hub for exploring the Highlands. Make sure you've spoken to Neil Campbell ahead of time and booked your room at the Strathassynt Guest House, where Neil, his wife Katya and daughter Mila cook what is probably the best breakfast in Scotland.

There's no question of how to fill one's days here: the surrounding countryside is full of walks and hikes of all levels and degrees. Start small, and work your way up to something monumental, like the Devil's Staircase, a treacherous path that will take you somewhere between four and five hours to conquer but that offers what is undoubtedly some of the most breathtaking scenic views in all of Europe.

Paris

After a week of scrambling up rocks, near-death experiences at 3,000 feet and callouses on both your hands and feet, take a much-deserved two-day break in the city of light. Stay at the cute and quaint Le Grand Pigalle, a charming little hotel in the sought-after Parisian neighbourhood of South Pigalle (now known as "SoPi", as is the fashion) which opens out onto the villas of the avenue Frochot, the private estate where Toulouse-Lautrec once lived. The rooms are small, but elegant, with killer views over the Parisian rooftops. The ground floor is an all-in-one space depending on the position of the sun: breakfast room by morning, wine bar by night. (And general reception at all other times.)

If you're looking for something more distinctly Parisian, the Maison Souquet is a short walk away. Hidden behind a somewhat understated façade in Montmartre, the two red lanterns at the hotel's entrance hint at its past–a former pleasure house during the Belle Époque. Inside, the building's history has been preserved in small, exotic rooms with whimsical, luscious decor. There walls are a deep plum, and you could lose yourself in the plush divans. There's also a private spa and swimming pool for hotel guests, sheltered beneath a celestial ceiling.

RELATED: 10 ways to see Paris on a budget

After sunset, take a stroll through the streets of Montmartre. By all means lose yourself, but whatever you do make sure you wind up in front of Le Coq Rico, restaurateur Antoine Westermann's all-poultry restaurant. Here, roast chicken is king. It's not just any old roast chicken, of course: besides the price tag (98 euros for a whole spit roasted bird to share between two to three people), this chicken tastes like it's been prepared for royalty. It's seasoned and juicy with a crisp skin that makes you wonder why more famous chefs don't open their own rotisseries. There's a bevy of starters and sides to choose from, including salads, soups and french fries. Don't forget to tip before you waddle home.

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About Invisible Cities

Laura Parker is a freelance journalist living in New York. Born in Europe, she moved to Australia when she was seven years old, and, motivated by an early fascination with archaeology and Indiana Jones films, set about becoming a world-renowned adventurer. That hasn't quite happened yet, but she's working on it.

Follow Invisible Cities on twitter @lauraannaparker or visit lauraannaparker.com