I am hoping to take my DD (college freshman) to Paris next August. I decided a couple of weeks ago life is too short,etc. I have been watching air fares & Denver-Frankfurt & Frankfurt to Paris seems to be the cheapest for airfare. I am wondering if anyone has any other ideas? Have checked going through MUC, BRU & AMS, I am also interested in any other money saving suggestions for Paris. I do want to stay in a great location but won't need to eat at expensive restaurants. Any suggestions are appreciated. Betsy

Personally, I have found that flying into any airport other than the city I actually want is not cheaper after I factor in the train tickets to get to the city I want (and also the extra travel time).

We are also taking our daughters to Paris in August (15 and 20 years old). We have found it cheaper to rent an apartment than get a hotel. I was also concerned about AC, so I insisted the apartment have it. No other money saving tips yet, but did tell the girls not to expect any really fancy meals and to get used to not drinking a lot of cokes (costs way too much)

rhy - who did you rent through? I am thinking with just the 2 of us it wouldn't make much difference between apt or hotel, but I suppose I should look into it. We won't be eating fancy meals either.

Hi Betsy,
I also live in Denver. I've found pretty good AA and Lufthansa fares to Frankfurt and that is where we normally fly in/out of. With AA, the connection us usually in Chicago.
From FRA, I use www.whichbudget.com to see what cheap airlines fly to where I want to go. I also check the main carriers. DH and I are flying into Frankfurt on AA in May and using Lufthansa to go on to Vienna. Our airfare was $930 for the ticket to Frankfurt and we paid another $100 each for the roundtrip ticket to Vienna. Still expensive at $1030 a ticket... but we are flying in late May and tickets just aren't as cheap as they were a few years ago.

P.S. I meant to add that although we will pay $1030 to get from Denver to Vienna, the cheapest fares I could find without piecing it together myself were upwards of $1500 per ticket with just as many connections

I'd second what rhy said about an apartment over a hotel. Truly, you're paying a premium for a hotel that you needn't, especially if you're looking to save a few quid. We used venere.com although if you look about here, there's others to be found. Also, your definition of "great location" is open. Mrs. Knickerbocker and I stayed at Hotel Plessis by Place de la République. Enjoyable area and with the Métro, not far from anything worthwhile.

http://tinyurl.com/yqjdk4

About 90 Euros/night breakfast included.

HTH
Knick

We used vacationinparis.com. Never used them before, but they are based in the US and prices are in dollars, not euros. I went to their website and sent an email asking for availability of 2 bedrooms with Ac for the week we were going to be in Paris. They got back real quick. Good Luck.

Hi B,

Did you check prices at www.1800flyeurope.com, wwwkayak.com and www.mobissimo.com?

What's your hotel budget?

Thanks for all the ideas! TexasAggie, I found similar fare to yours, I think Continental to FRA, then Luftansa to CDG. Cheapest otherwise Denver-CDG was around $1400. I use itasoftware to compare rates then go to the airlines websites. IRA, I would like to keep hotel costs under $200 but am somewhat flexible. I have Hotel Bonaparte on my list but think I will look into apartments, also. I do like the idea of having hotel staff to ask questions of, directions, etc.