olyadollah

Hi, I need a quick advice. We will be going a family trip (with kids 8,6, 3 yrs and 8 months) to Europe in next 2 weeks. Our plan is to visit London, Paris and Switzerland. As I travel with the kids, need to know :
- the local attraction esp for kids
- the easiest transportation (with a stroller and shortest time)
- places to stay ( we prefer to cook our meal)
- Switzerland (worth to go?) as the kids just want to have a snowy experiences. anywhere nearby Paris that we can have a quick one day visit?
Million thanks...

janisj

Sorry -- you have left things VERY late. Plus you are talking about too much territory/too many places for such a short time AND you have a family of 6 w/ very young children.

It is essentially impossible to give you advice since your questions are so general. Do you have any guidebooks? Where are you traveling from? Is the 9 days the total trip . . . including travel from home and back home?

olyadollah

First of all, thank you for your reply.

To be exact, 7 days exclude the travel day from Malaysia.
We might want to remove Switzerland from our list as I don't think so we could have a time and budget to do so.
Basically, we do have friends in London and have prepared some itineraries.
I just want to get some views from the local sight.
Thanks again..

janisj

OK -- the new information helps a lot. With seven days, friends in London and flying all the way from Malaysia my recommendation is to JUST go to London. Where do your friends live (London is a very big place). Were you planning on staying with them or in a hotel?

You could do a day trip to Paris by train -- but that might bee too much hassle with the small children.

There is a LOT do fill your time just in and very near London.

olyadollah

Yes, We will stay with them during our visit in London.They said the place is nearby Oxford and easy accessible with public transport.

Our Plan
8-10th in London
11- 13th in Paris (including 1 Day of Disneyland)
1 day extra

Do you think it is worth for me to buy a Londonpass for this trip?

janisj

Do not buy the London Pass -- a big rip off.

You don't really have an 'extra day'. Are you flying in/out of London or are you flying home from Paris?

If you are flying home from London then you need a day to get back to London to fly out.

But if you are flying home from Paris, add that 'extra' day to London at the beginning. You will have a VERY long journey flying to the UK and your family will be tired and jet lagged. You'll need a day to recover.

olyadollah

We will be flying back to Malaysia from Paris.
Ok, noted. Then we may want to put one day extra in London at the beginning of our trip.

8th - arrive in London (free and leisure)
9th - Booked tour- Buckingham Palace and Tower of London
10th - daytrip/excursion ( can you suggest one, I would like to see the stonehedge or any other interesting places to visit in bundles?)
11th - no idea yet (esp with kids interest)
12th - Catch Eurostar to Paris (free and leisure)
13th - Disneyland Paris
14th - no idea yet
15th - Fly back from Paris

Please advise.Thank you very much.

elizzie4000

<<10th - daytrip/excursion ( can you suggest one, I would like to see the stonehedge or any other interesting places to visit in bundles?)>>

Imo, Stonehenge was a big disappointment. I went on about my 8th visit to London. And only then because I was driven by a friend. I couldn't imagine trekking to it on the bus with all your children.

http://www.visitlondon.com/things-to...ily-activities


<<14th - no idea yet>>

Luxembourg Garden
http://www.luckylittletravelers.com/...rg-garden.html

http://www.timeout.com/paris/en/thin...Paris-for-kids

janisj

Oh -- I really REALL wouldn't do that tour on the 10th. You really have next to no time in London and taking children those ages on a long bus tour would not be very nice. There would be hours sitting on a coach and a few stops. Really a bad idea sorry to say. I'd sty in London and do some things that are good for families.

The Princess Diana playground and other things in Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens. Maybe the London Transport museum. The Natural History museum. A boat ride on the Thames.

Have you booked a tour INSIDE Buckingham Palace? They don't allow strollers.

JoyC

Day 10 (or Day 11) - Legoland and Windsor Castle or if you don't want to do 2 theme parks (since you're already going to Paris Disneyland), maybe Stratford-upon-Avon/Warwick Castle.

janisj

Should >>I really REALLY wouldn't do that tour on the 10th. <<

Didn't see ellizzie's post -- I actually love Stonehenge. But I still wouldn't take that tour (or any out of town coach tour).

What you could do is a half day trip to Hampton Court Palace -- the kids will love that and you would take the train there instead of a big bus. But how to get there depends on where your relatives live --

janisj

Stratford and Warwick would be an awfully <i>awfully</i> long day w/ 4 children under 8yo. Legoland is fun -- but again -- no strollers in the state rooms.

jacolis

Hi,

My children (6 and 8 at the time) loved the Jardin de Luxembourg in Paris -- there is an amazing play structure, sailboats to "push" around the pond, puppet theatre, pony rides, etc.

This might not work with your younger kids but my kids also loved walking up the Eiffel Tower.

L.

nytraveler

Have you checked if you can even take children that small on bus tours? The ones I am familiar with require that children be a certain age - often 10 or so - unless these are private tours. Cannot imagine ANY tour that will accept an infant - since the group must move at a fixed, fairly fast schedule - and cannot make stops or adjustments for children. What would you do if one of the kids felt ill, got motion sick or just got upset and would not stop crying?

I have seen tours where seniors who could not keep up were left sitting in a cafe or pub while the rest of the group visited the sights - since they could not keep up.

With 4 little ones I wouldn't even consider tours of any sort - but would travel either by train or car - so you can keep to the schedule YOU need. Also, if you are staying near Oxford (which is NOT a suburb of London) I would stay there seeing sights with the kids - unless you can find a babysitter so you can have a full day in London while the kids just hang out.

janisj

Oh -- yes -- re the location of your relative's home. When you said near Oxford and easy access by public transport I unfortunately read 'Oxford Street' (Which is IN London). Now, some places near oxford are very easy access to London (good train and bus connections). But maybe they mean easy access to <i>Oxford</i> instead??

Please tell us what town or village they live in. That will help us help you with more useful advice.

olyadollah

Tq for all your responses.
Here is the address : 57 king house, ducane road , W12 0ud London.

Another thing, we are still looking for an accommodation in Paris (12-15th August 2015)

Please advise if you have any recommendation.
TQ

janisj

That address is IN London proper (not near Oxford OR Oxford street )

It is in west London and not far from three different tube stations that are on the Central and/or Hammersmith & City lines. It is in zone 2 so your transport in out of central London will be inexpensive (it is free for the kids)

It might not be the most central convenient area for most tourists staying in a hotel - but for a free place to stay w/ relatives it is just fine.

Splitting your time between London and Paris (an extra day for London due to the size of the city and the jet lag) is good.

I just wouldn't take ANY bus tours --

manouche

You will probably need two rooms, and must declare all 6 people, since even infants are counted in Paris. You will probably have to split up in some fashion, because family rooms for 6 are rare here.

You might try Ibis, which is a dependable, inexpensive chain with many locations in Paris. Look for the Postal Code - anything beginning with 75XXX will be in Paris central.

For such a short visit, you will just need to purchase a couple of
"carnets" for travel aboard the Metro - it's a little more expensive, but a lot easier to purchase these aboard Eurostar. I don't have any idea how to get to Disneyland from Paris, but someone else will advise on that.

olyadollah

Ok, I will take note on that. TQ

Please advise me the most economical transportation from london to paris other than Eurostar.

Again, many thanks.

Gordon_R

I'm surprised nobody else picked up on the obvious misconception about Switerland. As it's the middle of summer there is no way for the kids having a "snowy experience" unless you get to a glacier at the top of a mountain peak. Even then, it won't actually be snowing, just compacted snow and ice among the rocks left over from the winter.