My fiance and I are getting married in December and have decided to head out on our honeymoon right after our wedding. We are both teachers so it is excellent timing as far as vacation time goes. It is not perfect timing financially! We are looking to leave on 12/19 and return 12/28 from Orlando. Right now I am looking at a package on Travelocity for $2136. It includes our airfare, 8 night accomodation, and taxes/fees. The airfare (on Northwest) is $1700 alone. That makes the room $50 a night. I know we are visiting during one of the busiest times of year so I'm not sure what to do. Would your advice be to take this package or wait around a while?

The package hotel is Hotel Les Hauts de Passy. Not a fancy place, but I think it will be suitable for us. It is in the 16th which is where I stayed when I went to Paris 3 years ago. Does anyone know anything about this hotel?

Try looking up discount Airlines like Zoom. My husband and I are going to Paris this August for our anniversary and I spent weeks on line looking for deals. We are coming from the Canadian praries, and had no option for a direct flight.We are taking Zoom @ a substatially less rate even with a connection for less than what you've seen.I'm not sure if they are in the U.S though.
As for the hotel email the ones you like,we are staying in the 7th district in a NY Times best boutique choice for about 96E. not cheap but not expensive and not a dump.
good luck don't get discouraged and be persistant.

If you go to tripadvisor, I'd say the ratings are quite good, and seems like good value for the money.

I did an expedia last november, stayed in 16th at Hotel Auteil Tour Eiffel which was a very nice place, more of a business hotel, and two blocks to Metro and "my" cafe...paid ~$1200 for flight and 4 nights.

I also like the neigbourhood. You're also on a pedestrian street, which is good. Nice shops around Mozart street. Easy walk to Seine and views of Eiffel. Muette Metro is a "good" stop in that it will get you directly to "central" sights.

Hi J,

>I am looking at a package on Travelocity for $2136. It includes our airfare, 8 night accomodation, and taxes/fees. <

That's the price for 2 people? If so, it's pretty good.

I suggest that you keep looking for lower airfares at www.kayak.com and www.mobissimo.com until mid-August.

Mobissimo has flights on NWA for $811 at the moment. I think that they will come down to about $700 pp.

Your hotel can be had for about $100/night dbl without a package. It has good reviews at www.tripadvisor.com.

Hope that this has helped.

So that is $1070 per person, and the airfare would be around $870. $200 per person for 8 nights' room. That is real cheap, I agree. If you figured the room is only US$50 a night for two people combined (which is the same I come up with), you really can't beat that except in a hostel. That's only half the regular rate of $100 a night.

The problem is you are picking very expensive travel dates due to the holidays, I think. It's the return flight just before NY's that is probably very high in cost, although around Christmas is expensive to fly.

I don't really think you are going to do that much better myself, not this year with high airfare costs and those dates.

For example, even if you booked a $100 a night hotel yourself, that would be $800 or $1336 left for two airfares, which is less than $700 for air each. I wouldn't want to bet on you being able to get either one of those things -- airfare this year of high costs during Christmas season on the dates you want for less than $700 and a hotel room at $US100 a night.


Realize that is pretty cheap in euro terms, and hotels are very expensive in Paris during Christmas season). that hotel's normal rate isn't that cheap, not sure where Ira found that or if you'd really be able to get it for $100 during Christmas (I doubt it).. It's a great location, I really like that area (it's right on rue de l'Annonciation). Even on kayak, it gives its price as $127 a night for that period, not $100. I think its normal rate is 120 euro a night.

So, I think it's a good deal and if it suits you, I don't think you'll do better.

Thank you all for your responses! I suppose I will take a few days and research this further. I don't think that there are any low cost international carriers from the US yet. It seems like a good price from what I'm reading. I am glad it was confirmed that prices will only continue to rise due to the season we are going.

One question that maybe someone can answer. Do the RER trains run on holidays? For example, we are planning to utilize the RER train to visit Disneyland (strange I know) on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as we are unsure what will be open in Paris. We would love to stay at our hotel in the city and save money. Otherwise we will have to double book and get something in Marne la Vallée.

Hi J,

Yes the RER runs on holidays.

It will be a reduced schedule, however.

I do think that's a good rate for the holiday period, if it includes all taxes and fees. I wouldn't think the airfare prices are necessarily going to continue to rise from the $870 or so you found, but I don't think they are necessarily going to be a whole lot cheaper than that, either. They do rise very near those holiday travel dates, I've seen that. Christmas is the peak of hotel rates in Paris, it is often the most expensive period, even more than the normal high season. Not all hotels do that, some just have the rate at the regular peak rate, but some have higher rates just for the couple weeks around Christmas/NY. But you won't get a rate below the peak rate, that's for sure.

You can get cheaper tickets for airfare sometimes by consolidators, but I don't think you will for the holidays, and not on the exact dates you want. I heard on TV today that Southwest Airlines (which is one of my favorites) is planning to start runs to Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean soon, and perhaps Europe by 2009-2010. I don't think you'll get any great bargains out of Orlando, anyway, to Paris.

Even if you go to that Canadian Zoom airline website, it shows a fee for those dates in their basic seats at $716 CA which is US$669 (you can't actually pick 12/28 as they don't have it, but say 12/27). But that's from Montreal, so you'd have to pay to get to/from Montreal from Orlando, and I bet that would cost at least $200 RT, if not more, so you're right back to what you found on a regular airline. There aren't really that many bargains for holiday periods.