Thanks to this message board…I have purchased tickets for myself and my 16 year old to go to London and leave from Paris in August this year! Now I need help with my itinerary in order to fit in everything both of us want. We reach London on the 16th and I was thinking of staying there the 16th, 17th,18th & 19th. My daughter wants to do some horseback riding in the countryside, so I would love to spend a couple of days in a little village in the Cotswolds (no driving though)and then Eurostar over to Paris, spend two days there and fly back home. In Paris the main things we want to see are Notre Dame and Louvre. I think two days should be fine for us there. We are flying back on the 26th. As you can see….I am LOST and would really value any and all suggestions. Also some hotels for first timers in London and Paris.

Thanks in advance!
Cheers

A few of my thoughts:

Cotswolds: You can't really reach more "remote" villages with out driving (or so I was told when I was planning my trip last year). So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that it would be hard to plan an independent day of fun there with out driving there. I would highly recommend taking a London Walks (http://www.walks.com/) tour of the Cotswolds. It's not really the "authentic" experience, but you get a little taste and it's a nice taste at that But maybe some other more experienced people can recommend some more alternatives.

Paris: Two days in Paris is sufficient to see Notre Dame ane Louvre. I recommend purchasing a ticket for an open-air bus tour (we used Les Car Rouge back in 2001). Your ticket is good for two days and it stops at all the major tourist attractions.

Hotels: I'm afraid I don't have hotel recommendations for either place, but I would highly recommend making sure the hotel you choose has a/c. August is a HOT month in Europe! Also, I know the fodorites and they're going to demand more specifics before they give recommendations (budget, area preferences, etc)

Have a great trip!

We haven't been to Paris yet, but I've been planning for our trip in June. I'd recommend finding hotel ideas through www.venere.com. They have an easy map feature that lets you see where the hotels are located and search by arrondissements. The Louvre and Notre Dame are also on the map.

Once I see what hotels are available, compare the venere price with the hotel directly to see which is the better deal.

Enjoy the planning and the trip!

Apologies to all English teachers on the forum for that next to last sentence: "Once YOU see what hotels are available..."

a bit about the Eurostar - you can save lots of money by booking the cheapest tickets in advance over paying for them when you get to London - really hundreds of dollars at times. Can book up to nine months in advance thru RE is US.

But you should compare prices at www.eurostar.com or www.eurostar.co.uk in pounds with RE's in $. Though RE can be higher on many point-point tickets on Eurostar this has not always been true and indeed you may find something cheaper. So check both. www.raileurope.com - but RE charges a $18 mailing fee and $15 booking fee per order so factor that in. I always recommend calling some expert like BETS (800-441-2387) and talk to someone to do a manual search as RE's online prices often don't show cheaper ticket availability when they may in fact be available. But be sure to check fares in pounds since they at times have really good specials. But the point is the cheapest tickets are sold in strict allotments so the early bird gets the worm. The 16 yr old can get an especially cheap youth fare. Cheapest tickets are hardest to get Fri, Sat and Sun - plan accordingly.

London is the one place where Priceline really works. Look at Biddingfortravel then try to get in the Soho district or one of the districts bordering that, Kensington is not bad.

In Paris we stay in a little 2* on the edge of the Maris called Hotel Andrea du Rivoli. The rooms are small but they are clean and have been remodeled in the past few years. There is a little tiny elevator. The good things about the Andrea are the price 82 euros for a double and the location, 4 blocks from Notre Dame, 6 from the Louvre, 1 from the Pompidieu.

Be sure to put the Orsay Museum on your "must see" list for Paris. You might also want to include the Sont Chappelle and Montmartre (the square behind the church is full of artists). If you buy the museum pass it not only gets you into all the museums (including Versaille) but it gets you in at the front of the line. Enjoy your trip.

biddingfortravel.com

We were just in Paris for Christmas and stayed at the Brighton hotel, it is near everything we wanted to see.

If you are only in Paris for a couple of days , take the double decker sightseeing bus, it takes a couple of hours or you can hop on and hop off at different sights. it costs 22 euros for 2 days.

Thanks everyone for helping me get started. Now here is a really stupid question but I have never used Priceline or Bidding for travel......how do these work? AisleSeat, thanks for the link to the site.

Betterbidding.com is an excellent resource for using Hotwire; Biddingfortravel.com for Priceline.

I agree - we stayed in London three times with Priceline at very nice hotels (Thistle Marble Arch, Millennium Bailey's, Waldorf Hilton) at ridiculously low rates.

And, we're staying at the Hilton in Paris with Hotwire this September for $124/night.

If you haven't figured it out yet, just click on biddingfortravel.com then scroll down (don't mess with signing up for anything) go down to the city you are looking for (London) and read the comments of people who are bidding in that city. You'll get the idea pretty quickly.