London and Paris
 

My aunt and I have 6 days to spend total in London and Paris. We have airline tickets for 3/18-3/25. We do not have hotels yet. We want to go to Paris, spend 1 night and 1-2 days. The rest of the time we want to spend in London. We need recommendations for hotels, theatre in London, and what are the most important things to do (we like historic stuff) in the short amount of time that we have. Thanks!

suzyq425,
If you type in London and/or Paris hotels, London theatre, or any number of search words in the seach box on the forum, you will get literally days of reading some of the best advice there is on these two cities. You may even get ideas on how to set up a 6 day itinerary based on what others have found successful. Searching gives you a chance to look at many varied recent posts. Good luck!

Where are you flying into and out of for your return to the states? Travel between London and Paris needs to be factored in to your schedule and are you flying or taking the Eurostar?

Just one suggestion: schedule your travel for the evening hours, after most of the sights are closed for the day. If you go from London to Paris and back by train, your total travel time will be over eight hours including getting to and from stations. That's a hefty percentage of your 6 days.

When I go to London, I usually check out www.londontown.com for the best hotel rates on my dates.

Don't worry about train time. Sometimes, riding trains are part of the adventure. Plus you see some of the country outside of the city.

Yes, by all means travel in the daytime if you would rather see cows and trees instead of the monuments and sights in two of the most exciting cities on the planet.

Robespierre- I thought you left?

Now pay attention:

I left.

I came back.

Questions?

Sure. Why?

and when will you be leaving again?

In August, I did a trip that included 3 days in London and 3 days in Paris. We took the Eurostar from London to Paris but didn't have to go back to London as we also spent a few days in Bordeaux and then flew home from Paris. You definitely don't want to spend your daytime hours traveling but the Eurostar runs all the time.

Although I had been to London before (on business) the rest of my party hadn't. We went to all the main tourist attractions, Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, St. Paul's, Buckingham Palace (only open in summer). Also walked around a lot of the neighborhoods, went to one show, did the Thames boat ride. It was a lot to do in three days especially since you are dealing with jet lag the first day or so.

We then went to Paris and all fell in love with it. As much as we liked London we wished we had spent more time in Paris. Again we did the musuems, Eiffel Tower, Seine boat ride, walked through all the neighborhoods but we just didn't have enough time. I can't imagine spending only 1-2 days in Paris, in 3 days we were just getting a feel for the city. I have been back for over 2 months now and all I can think about is going back. I also enjoyed Paris more because of the cost as opposed to London. Although the Euro against the dollar keeps rising, it is still cheaper in France than in England. I had a hard time enjoying myself in London knowing that everything I paid for was almost double in price.

I do agree that if the only way you can go to London or Paris is for a couple of days, than that's better than not going at all. However, it is so much better if you can spend 5-6 days in one city to get the feel of it.
Doing both cities we felt rushed and tired. Just something to think about.

As far as hotels, there are a ton of threads about Paris hotels. You would probably want to stay in the 5th or 6th and can get all sorts of recommendations depending on your budget for this site.

In London we stayed at the Kingsway Hall Hotel, close to Covent Garden. We loved the hotel and got a great deal. Check their reviews on tripadvisor. Don't know what your budget is but I got a very low rate by e-mailing them directly. On their website they say they will match any price. Expedia price for March is around $178 or 95GBP which is pretty good for a nice hotel. They possibly would give a better rate if you ask, I paid less than that in August.