Family of 6 planning a trip to London
 

My husband and I would like to take our 4 children (ages 20 to 25) to London in the late Spring of '06. As far as air fares and hotels go, is it better to go in May (two don't get out of college till mid May) or early June? I have started reading some of the posts and notice some people talking about renting flats vs. renting hotel rooms. How do you find those? We want this to be a nice vacation..none of us have ever been in London, but 6 people can get expensive. What would some of you advise? Our main objective is to visit the most interesting sights and enjoy mixing with the people.

You'll have a great time! DEFINATELY rent an apartment. It will be so much more comfortable and will be less expensive. The money you'll save on breakfast, snacks and drinks alone will pay for a lot of dinners out!

Just google London apartments or do a search on Fodor's for the same...you'll get tons of information.

The one that I can recommend is Scala house. Good location, not too expensive and two bedroom places are available. With 4 adult children though, you may want to get a larger place!

Have a great time.

margy

Hi!!!
What a nice trip you will have!!! I can give you a site to check out for flats to rent in London. We have used them when we have stayed there. There are 3 price groups...something for everyone in many areas in London!!
http://www.londonservicedapartments.co.uk/

Generally you can get better airfares in May than June. I would suggest leaving as soon as possible after school is out, preferably before Memorial Day when domestic air traffic will be heavy.

US Memorial Day (May 29, 2006) is also a Bank Holiday in UK, so there will be increased holiday traffic, crowds at attractions, etc. Should not be a problem if you are ensconced in a London flat and want to sightsee in London that weekend, but will not be the best time to take an excursion outside the city when Londoners are using their 3 day weekend to do the same.

Agree you should rent a flat, but I haven't done it for many years, so have no recommendations.

Two other sites I suggest you look on are londonconnections.com and gtunlimited.com. We are renting an apartment for 6 through gtunlimited.com this March. Found both agencies to be very helpful and both had several apartments with 3 bedrooms that can accomodate six people.

After checking out some of the air fares, I can see that May would be much more cost efficient for us. I will check the sites you all mentioned for apartments. Margyb mentioned the Scala house. Does it offer more than 2 bedroom apartments? I'm not sure what area of London we want to stay in... any suggestions?

I just got back from a stay at Scala House. They only offer two bedrooms, and the second bedroom is quite small, but they have two penthouses which are larger. I was told the living rooms in the penthouses are huge, so if 2 kids don't mind being camped out on a fold-away, this might be a good option for you. Their penthouses book up months and months in advance, so check now for available dates.

Hi twint - unless you are absolutely set in staying in London itself, how about renting a house in the suburbs of London? Two years ago, our family of 5 rented a house right on the river in Henley-on-Thames for 600 pounds for the week. It even came with use of a boat! Three BR, two full baths, living room, kitchen and a lovely deck right on the Thames.

It was a good half-hour drive from London, you might not want to be so far away if you only want to see London. But I'm sure there are things closer. I just googled "holiday rentals" or some such and looked at the websites. I dealt directly with the owner.

With a group that big, people will want to have their own schedules, so a place with a central location and good public transportion is best. Take a look at the Citadines London Trafalgar Square. It is a chain of apartment-hotels, and the location of this one can't be beat. You can walk to all of central London, and the tube station is a block away.