Need your advice! Was considering staying in London for 8 or 9 nights, with a day trip to Paris, but please advise me on the following option. First trip to Europe, travelling with husband and son (13). Arrive London Saturday a.m. Spend rest of day and Sunday touring. Monday - Eurostar to Paris for day, returning night. Tuesday in London. Wednesday - day trip to Salsibury/Stonehenge. Thursday - train to York, returning to Heathrow Saturday for Sunday departure. My husband is a James Herriott fan. What tours would be best in York. Is it less expensive for us to travel by train or rent a car to York? Is this itinerary reasonable? Any and all suggestions appreciated as to how I can fit all this in! Thanks.

cheeks: Your itinerary is doable but you are spending an awful lot of time traveling and outside of London. I would think about dropping the Paris trip - unless you absolutely HAVE to go there.

Also a full day trip to Salisbury/Stonehenge followed immediately by the trip up to York is fairly hectic - but is certainly doable. London takes a lot of time to see the main sights - and just learn your way around.

The Herriot sites are not in York - the Dales, Harrogate and Thirsk are where most of the connections are. York is also wonderful of course - so you would have a MUCH better chance of seeing some of the major sites by car. Plus you could take the North Yorkshire Moors railway - and easy combination w/ a drive up to Thirsk.

Thanks, Janis. Appreciate your response. My PC was down for a few days - couldn't check for messages. We are leaning towards a car. We'd really like to go to Paris since we're so close and I've no real desire to spend a lot of time there, though I'll probably end up wanting to return! Thanks again, C

Hi cheeks,

I'm very opposed to one-day city trips since you can't get the feel of a city that way. You'll spend lots of time getting there and back to London and while you may see a couple of sights, the magic of Paris will escape you.

London deserves more than the 3 days you're spending there. Save Paris for another time and give London another day.

cheeks,

We took our sons last March to London for 7 nights (ages 12 and 14). They loved London! We spent the whole time in London, with a day trip to Greenwich and one to Oxford-Warwick. We enjoyed it so much, but felt we barely scratched the surface, so we're alread planning a return trip next summer.

I really think you should cut out Paris (save it for another trip) and concentrate more on London with maybe 2 day trips.

By the way, my kids' favorite restaurant in London is Pizza Expres. (It's not a fast food type place, but an upscale looking, moderately priced Italian restaurant.) We also liked Belgo Centraal.

Don't miss the London Eye.

Susan