Ash2012

I will be traveling through Europe in April and May, starting in London then moving to Rome. I was thinking that I could take the 7am Eurostar train from London to Paris, arriving at 10am then have the rest of that day and the next to see Paris. I want to see the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, the outside of the Louvre, and a show at Moulin Rouge. Then I would fly to Rome the next morning.

Would you suggest doing what I mentioned above or to skip Paris and use those 2 days in London and Rome? I keep going back and forth between the two. On one hand having an extra day in both London and Rome would be nice, but on the other hand do I really want to skip Paris? Because it is PARIS! Seeing the Eiffel Tower is on my bucket list and I keep thinking what if I get back to the states and regret being so close but still not seeing it. It would be cheaper to just fly from London to Rome. The difference in cost would be the $83 for the train to Paris.

Thank you for any help.

tarquin

I say go for Paris if you have a few days on either side for London and Rome. Two days is enough to get a feeling for a place.

anyegr

You do not mention how many days you have in London or Rome. Is it only a few days in each location or is it longer? All three cities are large and need lots of time. Maybe you could steal an extra day from one of the other locations.

I was in Paris for four days in 2012 and I did not have enough time to see everything. Of course, if you don't want to go into any museums, you could probably see a lot in two days.You mention seeing the Eiffel Tower, do you also want to go up in it?

I don't think $83 for the train is going to be the only cost. Unless you only want to see the outside of of all those places you mentioned, the entry fees will cost quite a lot. Then there's the show you wanted to see. On the other hand, you'd probably be doing equally expensive sightseeing in London or Rome on those days if you weren't doing Paris.

Will this be your only trip to Europe for a long time or will you be coming back next year? If this is your only likely opportunity to see Paris, I think you should do it.

greg

Should you have an apple or an orange? The answer to this is type of question depends on the value proposition one seeks.

For those looking for most (of something) per time/money spent, making a detour to Paris does not seem attractive. You consume quite a bit of travel time and not much time to do much in Paris. For those who have easy access to European destinations would probably recommend against doing this.

If, on the other hand, you do not want have things left on your bucket list when your time arrives, especially the ones you had a chance, then by all means go to Paris. Those people who tell you to skip it and do it some other time would be unlikely to be around you at that time.

adrienne

You don't say how much time you have in London and Rome. That would be the deciding factor for me. If you only have a couple of days in each city then I would definitely skip Paris.

Paris deserves much more than a day and a half.