Hi, <BR>I would like to get away with my husband for 5-6 days this Christmas. We have been all over the Americas and Asia but have done no traveling in Europe. How is the climate in London/Paris at the end of December? Is it too cold to do all the outdoor site seeing things? Also, how about crowds at that time? Finally, we are trying to do this on a budget but we don't want to do the hostel traveling we did in our early travels. Any recommendations that are in the less than $100 a night catagory??(in US chain equivalent terms...we are looking for a step above Motel 6 but not as nice as the Four Seasons) Has anyone every done one of those "5 nights in London plus airfare for $599!" deals? Are those travel packages generally worth it? Thanks so much, <BR>Kara

Did you know that most of the museums and other attractions in London are closed for 3 days at Christmas, Dec. 24 through 26? The stores do have fabulous sales on the 26th, though. <BR> <BR>No, it's not too cold to do outdoor sightseeing, just dress warmly with layers, gloves, and hat.

Kara <BR>I'll respond to some of your questions. <BR>Sometimes packages of hotels plus air can be very good deals. You have to check out the locations of the offered hotels to see if they are in good locations. YOu have to see also if extra features that are included for "free" are thngs you would actually take advantage of, like an introductory bus tour, or breakfast in the hotel. For a short trip, you don't want to waste a lot of time commuting back and forth to a hotel in the outskirts of town, nor do you want to be in an unsavory neighborhood when you are unfamiliar with the city to begin with. <BR>See if reductions have been taken recently on some of the deals you've found, and by all means check out the separate air fares as well as the air & hotel packages on websites belonging to the individual airlines, plus Orbitz, Expedia, etc. Some of them will put you on email mailing lists for special deals. AOL has a "last minute" travel <BR>section which sends notifications. <BR>On this forum you can find many recommendations for hotels in London and Paris. London is more difficult to find hotels that are under $100 per night, and some of them may not be places you would like. Paris is easier for finding budget hotels in good neighborhoods. <BR>I have files on London and Paris; if you'd like to see them, email me. <BR>By the way, if you only have 5-6 days, I'd pick London OR Paris, but not both. <BR>You'll end up having only two days in each place, when you count in the travel back and forth. <BR>I've been to both places earlier in Dec, and found temps not too bad (40s-50sF) <BR>but a lot of drizzle, which did not spoil my visits. Unless you are used to only tropical temps, drizzle will be more of a factor, in Paris just as much if not more than London, rather than the cold. Snow is not impossible,but unlikely. <BR>Also, Christmas Day will mean that pretty much everything will be closed. December 26 is also a holiday in London (Boxing Day).

If you scroll down, there is another posting about budget places to stay in London

Kara, we visited Paris between Christmas and New Year's several years ago. Although it was colder than I expected, especially at the top of the Eiffel Tower, we still enjoyed our visit. There are a lot of indoor sites to enjoy in Paris as well as the outside sites. Paris was also more crowded than I would have expected but we bought the museum pass, which bypasses lines in addition to saving money, and didn't really have a problem with the crowds. <BR> <BR>You can find lots of hotels in Paris under $100 that have charm. There have been several threads on this board regarding that. We used the Hotel Muguet for two of our visits, it was about $75-$80 per night, well located and very nice. We skipped the breakfast as it seemed expensive and found some lovely bakeries instead. <BR> <BR>London is more difficult to find for under $100, Travel Inn used to have rooms for under $100 but now they are L75 per night ($107 at today's conversion rate). <BR> <BR>Elaine is right about evaluating packages, understand what the componets are (does it include breakfast, sightseeing and transport or just hotel?), make sure your hotel is not too far away from what you want to see then see if you can put it together for cheaper. Travelocity, Expedia and Orbitz are good places to look for pricing.