Family with tweens coming to London/Paris, need help
 

Can someone please guide me on where would be a fairly inexpensive place to stay? We want to do the tourist thing and see the sights. We will only be in London for 2.5 days before we take the train to Paris (again, not a clue where to stay). I assume where I stay determines which airport to fly into?

Just a little history:
Family of 4 kids 12 and 10. Staying in London for 2.5 days, train to paris, would like to see Disneyland and all the touristy stuff there too. Then we will fly to Barcelona for 2 days before we jump on a cruise ship around the Med. Any advise on what to see, but more importantly, where to stay would totally be appreciated! Late summer 2017

Whats inexpensive to you? You are considering three nights in London and how many nights in Paris?

Your airport makes ABSOLUTELY no difference where you stay. What is your budget? 'Inexpensive' could mean anything.

There are some budget chains in London - TraveLodge and Premier Inn - which have family rooms. But we need to know your budget.

Are their 6 of you total? Are you trying to put everyone in one room? What bed configuration do you need - and we do need a specific amount per night in $ or whatever - be specific about the currency.

If you will please tell us your budget per night, and what sort of room configuration you need, you will get better advice, please.

Are you a family of four children (and some number of adults)? Or a family of four, children ages 10 and 12? That comma makes a difference.

A couple of budget (but clean and reliable) hotel chains you may want to consider in London are Premier Inn and Travelodge. That will give you an idea of hotel costs in central London. For such a short stay, absolutely stay as central as possible. You don't have time to waste commuting in and out of the suburbs.

I would recommend the Tower of London, some walking to see the outside of things (if you want a guided walk, London Walks are great), and a quick stop at the British Museum and/or Museum of London. Perhaps you can squeeze in a visit to St Paul's and climb the steps to the dome, or Westminster Abbey. That should give you just enough of a taste of London to make you want to return for a couple of weeks instead of a couple of days.

For best prices on the Eurostar, book well in advance (I think booking opens 120 days out?).

There's way more in London than you can see in 2.5 days. If those days include arrival and departure days, and jet lag, then you won't see much at all.

I can't help with Disneyland Paris, sorry, but there is an entire DP forum over on Trip Advisor. I would think all of Disneyland is touristy stuff. You don't say how long you will spend in Paris.

Barcelona also has a lot more than you can do in two days.

I would go to your local public library and get a pile of guidebooks for each city (the staff can help you find more than what's on the shelf). Then I would read them all, and start making (short) lists of what you want to see and do in each location. Have the kids help. The DK Eyewitness guidebooks have a lot of color photos and a layout that is more appealing to kids.

Every time you change locations, it costs you in time and money. You might want to consider that, if both are limited.

Good luck with your travel planning.

Are Tweens twin teenagers ?

"Tweens" does sound like a Lewis Carroll-esque term for teenaged twins!

It's a creative and/or abominable (depending on viewpoint) American English (as far as I know, but perhaps used in other countries as well) term to denote children between the ages of maybe 9 or 10, and 13, or "between" childhood and the teen years. I assume it's a mixture of "teen" and "between" but that's just a guess, as I am too lazy to Google it. I don't see that it's different from "pre-teen" in meaning, except it's catchier.

>> I don't see that it's different from "pre-teen" in meaning, except it's catchier.<< . . . and 3 fewer key strokes ;)

You don't need advice on what to see - do your homework. There are TON(NE)S of resources for London, Paris and Barcelona. Develop an itinerary and then folks on the board can help you trim it down. I'm entirely certain reputable travel book publishers like . . . oh, I dunno . . . Fodors perhaps? . . . have suggested itineraries for short stays in these cities.

You need to state a nightly budget. Russian oligarchs think $350 night is cheap, unrealistic travelers expect to find luxe accommodations for $100 per.

You also need to understand that London is the largest city in Western Europe by far and Paris is bigger than Chicago. Neither the Brits nor the French have lived in these 1000-year old cities with the express intent to group the "touristy stuff" in one area of each.

2.5 days in London is not enough time. You will be met lagged the first day so you don't have enoigh time to see the city and it's many historical sites. If your kids are Harry Potter fans, look into a HP tour or do one yourselves as we did.
If you can't add days to London, perhaps you should skip it, one of the world's greatest cities. My grnadkids preferred it to Paris.
How many days in Paris?
Skip Disneyland Paris. You're in France, not California.
Airport? LHR for London or CDG for Paris for most international flights from the USA. Use Eurostar between London and Paris.

Where you stay could affect your airport if you were going to depend on public transportation to go to/from the airport, of course. It is not irrelevant. SOme places have more convenient access to one airport than another, and some don't have any. If you don't care about that as you won't be using the tube or local train from the airport, it doesn't matter quite as much except if you have a choice, it would not make sense to choose a location on the other side of the city from your airport and/or the train station you will leave from.

But first choose your airport, I'd say, then hotel. Because the airport is going to depend on the airline and routes you choose, you won't have equal choice. Some tickets may be cheaper or more convenient times, etc. Depending where you are flying from, you most likely won't have any choice of airport at all, all flights may go into LHR, for example.

A lot of people presume everyone on Fodors is American and has constant access to Disneyland in the US, but I suspect that is not the case here. There are lots of people who want to go there with kids as they don't have access to a Disneyland easily otherwise, it's your vacation, do what you want to do, if that's a big deal to your family. Lots of people love Disneyland, if you do look at Tripadvisor, it is astonishing how many people from the UK adore it (to me, anyway).

It is cheaper to stay in some parts of Paris than others, in general, farther from the Seine is cheaper. In the center, the Latin Qtr is cheaper than St Germain (or the Marais, I'd say), go a little farther out for better deals (ie, 10th-15th arrondisements). Just be sure you are close enough to a metro stop.

>>Where you stay could affect your airport if you were going to depend on public transportation to go to/from the airport, of course. It is not irrelevant<<

Christina -- you honestly think LHR vs LGW and ORY vs CDG should determine where one stays in London and Paris? One should stay in a convenient hotel <u>for their sightseeing</u> . . . since all four airports have totally convenient transport links to the city centers.

Makes no difference

Sorry let me clarify!
1. "Tween" is an American term for between a kid and a teen (ages 9-12)
2. We need a room for 2 adults and 2 kids. Sleeper sofa is fine for the girls
3. Price range. Don't really know how it works there. In the U.S. a moderate hotel is about $125 a night.
4. I plan to fly at night and sleep on the plane so the jet lag won't be so bad. I want to land around 10am on Sunday. I want to take a train to Paris around early to mid afternoon on Wednesday
5. Skip Disneyland? Not worth it? Have only been to disney world in florida.

Thanks for the help. Sorry I was slacking today, was a crazy work day.

Also, plan to fly to Barcelona on Friday morning so just a couple days in Paris as well. This is a sampler trip for us. We are always on the go. We want to see London, Paris, Spain, Italy all in 2 weeks and 7 of those days are on the Disney Cruise

Skip Disneyland, especially if you have already been in Florida. There is so much else to see in Europe.

Have all of your family been able to successfully sleep on planes? I can usually only catch a few hours of sleep. Also, the time difference really throws off your body clock so that the first day or two is mostly a blur.

With what you have planned you will mostly see the inside of trains, train stations, airports and planes. I love Paris but would recommend skipping it this trip and splitting your time between London and Barcelona. Two and 1/2 days is not at all enough time to see much in London, particularly if you need to recover from jet lag. You will also save money if you do less transport and focus more on sight-seeing.

If you land on Sunday at 10 am it will be several hours before you retrieve your luggage, clear customs and land at your hotel. I recommend staying at least 4 nights in London which will give three full days of sightseeing there. Thursday you can fly to Barcelona and spend 4 nights there to give you another 3 full days to sightsee there.

The times calculated seem really off. Count time getting from hotel to train station and from station to next hotel, not just train time itself.
You have nowhere near 2 days in Paris. You have 1 day and a few evening hours.

Wed, depart noon to mid-afternoon from London to Paris. 3 to 4 hours at best that evening.

Thur, Paris (1whole day)

Fri, depart early for Barcelona.

As to Disney Paris. If you did that, you would have no time in Paris!
When you have real cathedrals and palaces to see in Paris, and you can do Disney at home, well, why not use that one Paris day to actually see something in Paris?

There is so, so, so much to see and do in London, and considering how much extra time and money you will spend to have only 1 day in Paris, I would cut Paris altogether, add that day to London and fly from London to Barcelona.

>> In the U.S. a moderate hotel is about $125 a night.<<

In Peoria maybe. The US is a BIG place - In popular metropolitan cities like New York City or San Francisco $125 will get you a broom closet in a sketchy area.

he £ is very low right now but $125 is still only £100. To get a family room for that in London you will need to stick to Travelodges or some Premier Inns. Premier Inn County Hall is likely over your budget but other Premier Inns would be less. Check out the Travelodge Covent Garden - it is VERY central and should be affordable.

>>4. I plan to fly at night and sleep on the plane so the jet lag won't be so bad.<<

Do you know that all for of you will sleep? Are you flying in Business class with lie flat beds? If not do NOT count on any or all of you sleeping. Even if you do sleep -- jet lag can be a big consideration. It is more a matter of body clock than it is simply sleep. If you land mid morning - you body will think it is still the wee small hours and by the time you get to your hotel and checked in it will be noon or after -- But it will 'feel' like 4 or 5 AM

BTW,sleeping on a plane is not the same as
sleeping in your own bed or even a hotel. Assuming you will sleep or not have a problem with jet lag is risky if not rash. Jet lag can be and often is completely unpredictable.

For hotel prices you need to compare London and Paris to New York - not a motel by the side of some random highway. $125 is a very low budget for 4 people, esp if you want to stay in a relatively central area.

And be aware that hotels in europe are often in older buildings (a couple of centuries) and rooms tend to be small.

I too would recommend that you only go to Barcelona and one other place, either London or Paris. You just don't have enough time. take a look at some guide books and decide what you want to see the most.. there will be plenty to chose from in each city.


Hotels in London and Paris have strict requirements on how many people can stay in a room, and may not have a sleeper couch available. You will need to look for hotels with family rooms or sleep 4.


In selecting an airport for arrival or departure, you really need to look at flight times and flight cost and not how close a particular airport is to the city. Transportation is available from all airports.