tracypujia

We have a short trip planned (6 full days) and will fly into Paris from the U.S.
We are debating taking a few days to go to London or seeing more of the France countryside.
Interested in castles and quaint villages but would love to see some of London for the first time too...What would you do? Any suggestions?

Kathie

With a mere 6 days, I'd highly recommend you spend it all in Paris. Plenty to od and see.

mjs

I too would spend the time in Paris with 6 full days with a day trip to Versailles and ..?

janisj

You only have 6 days - and presumably at least some of you will be jetlagged for part of that. You could possibly squeeze in a visit to Versailles or Chartres - but I wouldn't pre-plan that but wait and see what you accomplish in Paris

Plan London for another trip.

fuzzbucket

To my way of thinking, you only have about 4.5 days to spend - arrival day, fighting jet lag, figuring out where you are and how to get from Point A to Point B and probably an early departure if you leave from Paris.

It will take you about 3.5 hours to get from where you're staying in Paris to wherever you're staying in London. That's a lot of one day already gone.
So, take one whole day out of the equation if you're going to London, just for round-trip transportation. This leaves 3.5 days for whatever you want to do.

London is positively gigantic, and the sights most people want to see are spread out all over the place. You'd need several days if you really wanted to see anything.

Paris is a smaller, very walkable city. The sights are not especially concentrated in any one area, but are easily accessible by Metro.

It will take you 6 to 8 hours to see Versailles, including transportation.

If it's possible to fly open-jaw into London, then depart from Paris, this would probably be less expensive.

denisea

I would stay in Paris. Paris is loaded with wonderful things to see so you will not need a getaway and you don't want to spend your trip in train stations.

If you feel you have to leave Paris, take a look at Paris to the Past for day trips you can make easily by train. What time of year will you be there? Maybe Giverny would be nice but it is only open March through November 1, I think.

StCirq

Stay in Paris. 6 days, figuring in jetlag and all, is close to nothing. I know Americans have ridiculously limited holiday time, but to me it's hardly worth crossing the ocean for such short trips. You just can't adjust to the new time schedule and get on track to enjoy much of anything. So stay put and get the most out of Paris. You can go to the Château de Vincennes, or Pierrefonds. Versailles, after many. many trips there, holds zero appeal for me, but if you haven't seen it, go. London would be one of those heart-stopping, exhausting, come-down-with-a-bad-cold-from-exhaustion interludes for me on such a short trip.

Giverny closes at the end of October. You don't have time for "quaint villages," whatever that means. It takes time, and a car, to get into rural France.

travelhorizons

I agree with everyone else! This is the perfect amount of time to spend in Paris. You won't run out of stuff to see and do, but it's not so long that your kids souls possibly get bored.

janisj

>>Giverny closes at the end of October.<<

True -- I didn't see any mention of <i>when</i> the trip is, so I just threw that out as a possibility. But assuming it is relatively soon/this winter, Giverny would be off the table.

SemiMike

For kid-oriented things to do in Paris, see http://www.davidlebovitz.com/ten-gre...-do-with-kids/

Christina

I would not spend 6 days in one city when you haven't seen much before in Europe, it appears. Having 3 kids makes things more trouble, sure, but getting to London is hardly difficult from Paris and kids love London.

You would love to see London, I'd go to London instead of spending all 6 days in one city. Take the train, the kids will probably like that, also.

I presume you haven't bought your airfare yet, you don't say. I would thus fly into Paris and fly out of London.

If you have a RT Paris ticket for some reason, even though you haven't made plans yet, I still would not spend it all just in Paris. There is more to France than one huge city. The problem is the castles etc you mention are on the west side of Paris, not the east side where the airport is. So that makes it more complicated. You also say you want to see villages, etc. So do it, no reason you can't.

janisj

I could not disagree more. 6 days is nothing - ESPECIALLY w/ jet lag slowing at least some of you down and having 5 people in tow.

Yes -- Kids definitely love London. In fact IMO there is even more for children in London than in Paris. But what the heck would they see in the 1.5-2.5 days (2-3 nights)they <i>might</i> spring from Paris -- and then they'd be short changing Paris. London is much larger, more spread out and takes more time to see much. So I'd either spend the whole 6 days in Paris . . . or the whole 6 days in London.

But I would really like a clarification of the OP.

>>We have a short trip planned (6 full days)<<

Does that mean your entire trip (home to home) is 6 days? If so you will only have 4 days on the ground.

KyraS

If you haven't already bought plane tickets, and you really want to see Paris and London, then get open jaw/multi-city/multiple destination tickets. Fly into London, take the Eurostar to Paris, fly home from Paris (or the reverse). That would make the most of your short amount of time.

I, too, would just stay in Paris (or London), and take a day trip (to where would depend on interests and time of year, but there are many possibilities) that involves a shorter train trip than the Eurostar.

If you do decide to take the Eurostar between Paris and London, don't forget about the time difference.

If you want to be in London, then fly to London. If you want to be in Paris, then fly to Paris.

Good luck with your travel planning and hope you enjoy your holiday, wherever you go.

PalenQ

Take a kids' holiday at Paris' Aqua Boulevard for an in-town fun break- Google it:

Family fun at one of Europe's primo indoor water parks.

PalenQ

https://www.google.com/search?q=aqua...w=1920&bih=950

ssander

With 6 days, staying in Paris makes the most sense, but if you really want to see London (and it is a great city), do an open jaw flight with Paris first.

Do four days in Paris (since the first day is partially airport-wasted and totally jet-lagged)...on the fourth day take a late (after dinner) train to London. (With the time-zone change, it is only a little over 1 hour by the clock).

Two days in London is not much, but IMHO, don't miss the Tower of London.

ssander

ssander

Just re-read your topic heading...noticed the kids.

First day in London:

Take a self-guided walk from Trafalgar to Westminster Abbey, seeing the Horse Guards on the way (and doing away with the feeling that you have to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham palace which is a time-waster and impossible to see if you are 7 or 10 years old due to the crowds).

Then -- after seeing the abbey, take the Thames cruise to the Tower of London...a must for kids and adults.

That fills up a great day.

ssander

ssander

Another suggestion for those on a short London visit:

I worked up a self-guided Bus 11 tour:

http://www.sanderhome.com/London-Bus-11-Tour.pdf

Look it over. Try to get seats on the upper deck for good viewing.

ssander

tracypujia

Thank you for all of the kind suggestions. The other comments made me laugh so thank you for those too. For anyone who is worried...we have 9 days and for some crazy reason I was smart enough to take jet-lag into consideration (guessing-stating 6 full days) I have no doubt I will be told if I am incorrect about this. There were some great ideas and advice...thanks so much

AtlTravelr

Okay-still not sure what you're doing - how many nights on the ground? Do you have your flights already booked? Our 3 grandkids are similar ages and we had them for 10 nights in France this summer - Paris (4), Dijon (2), Provence (3), return to Paris (1). They had a blast. The two younger ones were VERY jetlagged the first two days but the 12 year old was able to hit the ground running and never stop. They all liked Provence the best - we stayed at a great place out in the country near Avignon. Traveled by TGV (which they also loved) and rented a car so we could see Pont du Gard, Les Baux, etc. If you haven't booked yet try into Paris and out of Nice - Paris (4), Provence (3), Nice (2). A great mix of cities and towns and a nice intro to just France.