Help with Middle of Two Week London/Paris Itinerary
 

DH, 12-yearold DD and self are planning a London/Paris trip April 4-18th. Many thanks to all the posts here - we are set on a week-long apt rental in London though Farnum & Christ and a Paris apt 4/14-4/18. We are relatively comfortable with the London/Paris itineraries, but are stuck as to what to do in the middle. We check out of our London apt 4/11 and into our Paris apt on 4/14 - planning on Chunnel train to France. Any suggestions for 4/11-4/13? We have had recommendations ranging from head north of London via train to Scotland to head south in UK to Oxford, etc. We had originally built a daytrip to Bath/Stonehenge into our London itinerary, if that helps - should we hold off on that and do it in the middle, staying overnight in Bath?

DH had originally suggested renting a car and driving through wine regions in France, but I doubt DD will have much fun with that. Our London itinerary (as it stands) is a mix of "must-sees" and more low-key stuff, markets, etc; while Paris is only hitting the high points (DH is a "Paris-o-phobe" and it was a battle to get Paris on the schedule at all) Limited familial tolerance for museums will probably be done in by Tate Modern/Orangerie/Louvre ....

Gee, isn't this why Belgium is a country?

Were it me, I'd head straight to Antwerpen, but some prefer Brugge.

An alternative is Amsterdam.

I think those 3 days would be perfect for:
Bath/Salisbury/Stonehenge

I did that last year, and you can easily spend 1 full day in Salisbury, half day at Stonehenge and/or Avebury, and 1.5 days in Bath.

I like Zeppole's suggestion, slightly modified. Take the Eurostar through the channel tunnel to Brussels, stay there for the three nights doing day trips to Brugge/Ghent and Antwerp. Then the high speed train to Paris.

Do you already have your Eurostar tickets from London to Paris? If so, you are more limited in your choices since you have to get back to London on the 14th. So I would not go to Belgium or too far north (Edinburgh).

So - yk's suggestion of Salisbury/Avebury/Bath would be good. Or you could take the train up to York and then 3 days later back to London to catch the Eurostar.

OR - if you have not purchased the Eurostar tix yet -- then Brugge/Brussels would be good.

I wouldn't choose Brussels if Belgium is a possibility. The much more attractive towns are Antwerpen, Ghent and Brugge (the last being very touristy), You can visit the most appealing sights in Brussels as a day trip.

Wow, thanks! Belgium/Brussels weren't even under consideration - time to do some more research! BTW, we are flying out of Paris on the 14th (we decided to fly into London and out of Paris to avoid backtracking). We haven't booked any of our Eurostar yet ( I know we will be paying more because of our tardiness, but we wanted to nail down things first)