England, Paris and Spain in 16 days May 19th til June 5th

If your budget is minimal and you only have 16 days then Spain ought to be scratched out of this plan, specially as it sounds you are asking us to tell you why you need to go there...

If Spain is a must then get a cheap flight with one of the intra-Europe airlines (London to Barcelona; Ryanair/Vueling, etc...) and rent an apartment there.

I think a rail trip around England and Scotland would be a great trip.

Excellent rail-oriented sites to plan the rail part - www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com - download the latter's free Spain and France chapters of their superb IMO European Planning & Rail Guide - lots of rail-oriented itinerary suggestions. And though there is the France-Spain Eurailpass you may find it cheaper to book discounted tickets in advance for going between Paris and Spain at the French Railways web site - www.voyages-sncf.com and in spain with the Spanish Railways site - www.renfe.es (though the latter seems to flummox many Fodorites who actually try to book thru it!)

Where in England are your relatives? The advice if they are in Penzance is totally different from the advice from London, let alone the advice for "English" place like Edinburgh.

And if money is tight then either Paris or "Spain" will have to go

It does indeed sound like you're not sure why you want to go to Spain. The most common destinations are places like Madrid, Barcelona, Seville and Granada - but those may not interest you. Why is Spain in your plans?

If you're not positive you want to include Spain, I agree that I wouldn't spend the extra money on the plane tickets, especially since those would have to be round trip as well. Where in England do your relatives live? That time of the year is a generally a great time to visit the UK - you could take the train to the Lake District, the Cotswolds, Edinburgh, etc. If you plan in advance, you can get train tickets in the UK pretty inexpensively (they are more expensive the closer to travel you get, for longer trips). Or you could just spend more time in Paris. Just some options.

Thanks for all the suggestions. England,Paris and Spain had always been our dream trip. Our original destination was always England, then we thought we could take the train to Paris for a couple of days. We were under the impression that you could fly from Paris to Spain fairly resonably. It doesn't have to be Spain, it could be Barcelona or others. Money wasn't as much of an issue at that time.
We could stay with relatives that live in Romford for the whole time to minimize cost.
I doubt that we will ever get back to make this trip again. We don't mind making sacrifices and lowering our expectations. We are willing to dip into our savings to keep this trip somewhat alive. However, we do want to keep it as cost effective as possible.

You can fly from Paris to Spain reasonably - check out whichbudget.com for the budget airlines. Be sure to add in transport time and costs to/from the airports you use, and be aware of baggage restrictions and other fees. If this link works, it is a search for any flight from Paris to Spain (any city):

http://www.whichbudget.com/cheapflights/fromPAR/toES/cheap-flights-from-paris-to-spain.html

You just need to decide where in Spain you want to go. Barcelona is very different from Madrid which is different from Seville. The only reason we were recommending you *not* go to Spain is because you seemed to not know why you wanted to go!

You might fly to London, stay with your relatives for a week or so, then split the rest of the time between Paris and wherever you decide in Spain, returning back to London a day or two before you fly home. Depends on how much time you want with your relatives, how much time you want in London vs. the countryside, etc.

well, you're in luck - Romford is very near Stanstead which is the cheap flight capital of England!

how about this: 3 nights Romford getting your bearings, eurostar to Paris, stay 5 nights, fly Ryanair to Barcelona, [choice of two airports] stay 4 nights, fly Ryanair to Stanstead, [Reus airport only] and finish stay in Romford.

how you divide your time is up to you of course; if you want longer in Spain [perhaps following 3 nights in Barcelona with a few nights on the coast] you will have to adjust your stays in Paris and Romford accordingly.

There are also overnight trains going direct between Paris and Barcelona and Madrid (and other cities en route to those two cities) - save a hotel cost and experience some of Europe's finest overnight trains - hotel trains as they call them.

Elipsos manages the night-time Trainhotel railway services between Spain and France, Spain and Switzerland and Spain and Italy.
www.elipsos.com/

you can often nab some obscenely deep discounted tickets on these overnight trains if you book far in advance. Also try www.voyages-sncf.com - the French Railways web site.

THanks everyone. I am definetly going to look into some of those ideas.
I guess the reason I was so vague about Spain was because I knew very little about it.
I know my relatives will give us the England tour without any hesitation. Paris and Spain, and what to do eluded me. Thats why I wa asking for advise and reccommendations.
Everyone has given me plenty of research to do.

And you can also take a ferry from northern Spain to southern England I believe. These ferries go overnight so you save a night hotel cost and experience a nice long boat ride if you've never done one.

<<I guess the reason I was so vague about Spain was because I knew very little about it.>>

...which is why we're all confused about why you want to go there so badly....

At any rate, assuming you do go to Spain, look into open-jaw tickets (into London, out of Spain) to avoid having to loop back to England just to get home.

StCirq, I totally agree that that would have been a good idea, but from the original post I think the tickets are already purchased (round trip to London).

Ooops, jent103, I missed that. Ah well...

but tickets can be changed, for a fee and even $150 or so to return from Portugal or Spain may be worth it in time and money.

For sure you need to go to Barcelona in Spain... Cheap tickets in low cost airlines (book in advance with Ryanair)

There are plenty of thing to do for free in Barcelona, that are really great and will remain in your minds, such as walking at Las Ramblas,Plaza de Cataluña and Paseo de Gracia (no shopping allowed in Paseo de Gracia is you have a tight budget.

Go to Park Guell, one of the most beautiful places in Barcelona and it has free entrance; take a walk at Paseo Marinitmo and Barceloneta, see the boats at the port and enjoy for free. Check the schedule for Magic Fountain of Montjuic in Barcelona, a great show with lights and music and it is also free. Go to Horta Laberinto Park that is marvelous and only cost around 2 euros... Go to see Sagrada Familia church outside and it is also free (if you decide to go inside, 12 euros entrance, so my advise it's to see it from outside). Take a walk for Born district and Gothic Qauarter, and it is also for free... at Born, go to Church Santa Maria del Mar, for free as well...

For accommodation, I suggest you to stay in a rental apartment, as yoy may find very good prices, but the real advantage is having the chance for cooking your own food, so you can save money as you won't be eating out all the time, with thtat and if you buy groceries at a basic supermarket (such as Dia, Carrefour or something like that) you won't be spending many money in food...
http://www.desigbarcelona.com/en/apartments/barcelona/basic/?utm_source=foro&utm_medium=social%2Bmedia&utm_content=post%2B2011&utm_campaign=apartamentos%2Bbaratos Try with these guys, I have stayed with them and it was worth it...

Also you won't need to take a tour for knowing Barcelona, as it is easy to move around the city by metro... (even by bus)... you just need a map (there are free maps at El Corte Ingles department store, just ask for one..) So... for sure Barcelona is a city you will enjoy with a low budget!!!

Agree with some of the guys thta have written here... Go to Barcelona! for sure it is one of the most exciting cities in Spain... I know it is not the cheapest places in Spain, however, as Chloe has said, there are plenty of thing you can do for free in BCN... Park Guell is a must, it was designed by Antonio Gaudi, it is a wonderful place to enjoy catalonia modernism without spending money, as the entrance is free...
Try to stay away form touristic bars and restaurants at La Rambla, Gothic Quarter and Borne area, and eat in less touristic places, such as Gracia, or Eixample (avoid Paseo de Gracia and surroundings, too expensive)... Good luck!!!

Easyjet has flights to Barcelona and Madrid in May for 32 euro from Paris. I disagree that you could do trains trips of any sort for that money. Spain is also cheaper to stay than the UK. So given that budget is an issue I would definitely continue with your plans to go to Spain. Return trips to London look like they are only 24 euro so again, cheaper than changing your tickets to fly home from Spain. But you need to buy them soon, Easyjet prices go up the closer to your dates.

A good economy hotel in Paris is Hotel Marignan 13, rue du Sommerard. A very basic one star, but a very good price and a great location – ten minutes to Place St Mich, Notre Dame, Ile St Louis. Six floors and no lift but if you ask when making the reservation they will guarantee you a lower floor which they will honor. In May you can get a double for 68 euro if you don't mind the loo being across the hall, 80 euro for ensuite.

There are plenty of hotels well under 100 euro in both Barcelona and Madrid that are decent.

Easyjet has flights to Barcelona and Madrid in May for 32 euro from Paris. I disagree that you could do trains trips of any sort for that money.>

Well... EasyJet is known for lots of extra charges so make sure what the total charge for you and your luggage is

and the cost of getting to the airport and in to town

and the fact that riding the Hotel Train saves you one night hotel cost - that could well make it all in all cheaper than flying.

Hotels in Paris are NOT very expensive. It's one of the most affordable cities on earth.

I would wager the average tourist spends well more than $100 a night on Parisian hotel - and Fodorites much more.

Elipsos - [ Translate this page ]Trenes nocturnos internacionales por el continente.
www.elipsos.com/ -

Check the Elipsos Hotel Train official site for sweet discounts on these overnight trains Madrid to Paris-Austerlitz.

Hotel Muget in the 7th Arris. is really nice and really affordable. Some rooms have view of Eiffel Tower. We were there in 2005 and paid 100 euro per night.

Lisbon might be a cheaper alternative to Barcelona, and there are cheap flights to Lisbon from Gatwick, Luton and Stansted.

Portugal in general IME is significantly cheaper than Spain, which is cheaper a tad than northern Europe