We are planning a short vacation to Paris and London (4 days in each city), with our 2 teenagers. Here are a few questions. Is it worth the trouble renting an apartment in Paris for just 4 nights or does a hotel make more sense? Is Paris Disney worth a day trip? Any ideas what area is convenient to stay in London if we are arriving via eurostar (St. Pancras station) and flighting home from Gatwick. Is it better to stay close to the station in the King Cross area or closer to Victoria Station where we leave from. Any suggestions on reasonable ($200.-$300. per night) accommodations near tubes or shopping (for teens) or restaurant recommendations(love everything esp.Indian food)?
Any Information would be much appreciated!
Thank you,
Tom

<i>Is it worth the trouble renting an apartment in Paris for just 4 nights or does a hotel make more sense? </i>

It's up to you, but I think renting an apartment in both cities will be cheaper. However, if you're the kind of people who rely heavily on hotel services and hotel concierge, then you should stick with hotels.

<i>Is Paris Disney worth a day trip?</i>
IMO, it's never worth it, no matter if you're in Paris for 4 days or for 4 months.

<i>Any ideas what area is convenient to stay in London if we are arriving via eurostar (St. Pancras station) and flighting home from Gatwick. Is it better to stay close to the station in the King Cross area or closer to Victoria Station where we leave from.</i>

Sounds like you plan to use public transport to get to Gatwick? I don't think you should limit yourselves to either Kings Cross OR Victoria area. Anywhere in Bloomsbury (near British Museum), or in S Ken (near the Gloucester Rd tube station) will be easy enough for you to hop on the tube or a short cab ride to get to/from the hotel.

<i>Any suggestions on reasonable ($200.-$300. per night) accommodations</i>

Are you looking for 1 room or 2 rooms? The area near Gloucester Rd tube station has at least 7-8 hotels there so they offer pretty competitive rates (NH Harrington Hall, Millennium Gloucester, Holiday Inn Kensington Forum, Crowne Plaza...). Or you could also rent an apartment for 4 nights in London.

re: Paris Disney...

I was in Paris with daughters French Club last year and a few of the teens (15~8) decided to go to Paris Disney on one of the free days. They were very disappointed and wished that they had stayed with the rest of the group and gone shopping and sightseeing on their on. The chaperones that went with them felt the same way.

the kids were 15~18 yrs. old. Sorry for the typo.

I can't imagine wsting a day in Paris (paris!!!) for one in any Disney - esp for teens. Perhaps with a 6 or 7 year old - but you would still have to do a lot of convincing.

Sorry, we have been to London with stepdaughters (11 and 14) and Paris twice (11 and 14 and 3 years later).

In London they loved the Covent Garden area, Hampton Court and the boat to Greenwich - as well as the usual shopping. In Paris they loved a lot - esp the second trip when they hung out with some French kids they had met. Esp like the Cluny museum, the Musee D'Orsay - and Giverny - and shopping.

Thanks so much for all the info. Looks like we should give Paris Disney a miss. Is there a good site to book apartments in both Paris and London. Anyone with recent rental apartment experiences in any specific areas? Any suggestions on shopping areas for teens? Thanks...

Tom

Not sure which end of the teen spectrum the kids are, but unless it is the very lower end and they have a thing for Disney, it is, IMO, a waste of Paris time.
As to apartments - that's my preference but we usually stay a week or more. For four nights it would be a toss up. The advantage of going the hotel route is that if you get two rooms you get two bathrooms. (Of course you can also book family quad room and have just one bathroom.) While two bathroom apartments can be had, they are not all that common and book up fast. A nice thing about the apartment is being able to have a leisurely breakfast.
In London we enjoyed our apartment at the Curzon Plaza - great location near the Picadilly line. http://curzonplaza.com/

Tom - for Paris apartments, you can start by checking this long thread with lots of recommendations and reviews:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ent-thread.cfm

For London, you can also check listings on VRBO or homeaway.

Tom,
If you are not a theme park nut or moderate fan of Disney, then DLP should be missed.

With that said, you can do DLP in a half day and pair it with another attraction (e.g Versailles) depending on the day of the week and the time of year. Yes, I know these two attractions are opposite sides of the area, but it just illustrates my point.

If you are familiar with the 6 parks (or 9 parks depending how you count them) in the USA, it is a nice touch to see the "French" version, RER train access and all.

I have no opinion of the Studio Park next door.

~Jay

We did a week in Paris and a week in London a few years ago. We rented hotel rooms in both places for a couple of reasons: girls were 17 and 13, it is no vacation for me to pick up after them (won't get into cleanliness issues) and we wanted daily maid service. In London, we bid on Priceline and got 2 adjoining rooms at the Holiday Inn in S. Kensington and in Paris, we found a wonderful 3 star in the 6th Arre. I am the only one of the four who eats breakfast. Both places were steps away from the tube or subway, or city buses.

We traveled via Eurostar from Paris - London and thoroughly enjoyed the ride. We brought a big family picnic lunch from a boulangerie in Paris. We took a very large taxi from the train station to our hotel. There was no trouble at all doing this. We also departed via taxi from our London hotel to the train station servicing the Gatwick Express and took that to the airport.

Girls loved the museum in Paris, obviously the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay (we had a very nice lunch in their white tablecloth resto). Our hotel in Paris gave us a 20% discount card for several dept. stores (Galeries Lafayette & Printemps). We bought some stuff and figured we saved a good bit. We also like the hop-on, hop-off buses in both London & Paris as well as boat rides (to Greenwich in England and along the Seine in Paris).

We have only been once to WDW in Orlando and WDL in CA (by choice), as we don't enjoy the artificial atmosphere. Couldn't imagine visiting it in France.

For apartment and villa reviews (as well as agency reviews), look at www.slowtrav.com. I personally prefer to rent from an agency. They vet the apartments,their reputation depends on supplying a good experience, and you can charge the rent to a credit card. As opposed to having to pay the balance in cash in local currency when you arrive. When you rent directly from an owner, you don't know what you'll get. Or even if the apartment exists. VRBO offers a guaranty of sorts now, but I don't think money back would compensate for a spoiled vacation.

We had a good experience with www.aplacelikehome.co.uk.

www.londonguestsuites.com handles flats in both London and Paris, so you can deal with one agency. Their offices are in Los Angeles so if you are in the states, you can call them during US hours. Tim and Shelley are fast to respond to inquiries.

Is it worth the trouble renting an apartment in Paris for just 4 nights or does a hotel make more sense?

Maybe, if "trouble" is somehow related to "money". An apartment can be less expensive, but not necessarily so. And there really is no independent rating system for apartments, so it takes quite a bit of research to determine what's best.
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Is Paris Disney worth a day trip? I think that's been answered (I'm in the "Quelle horreur!" camp about Disney.)
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Any ideas what area is convenient to stay in London if we are arriving via eurostar (St. Pancras station) and flighting home from Gatwick. Is it better to stay close to the station in the King Cross area or closer to Victoria Station where we leave from.

I would not pick the Kings Cross area, given a choice. It's been improving, but it still isn't the best area. Of course, some of the Victoria area isn't terrific either, but there are some nice spots closeby. Like the Sanctuary House (www.sanctuaryhousehotel.co.uk), The Rubens (http://www.rubenshotel.com/), or a bit further to County Hall for the lower priced Travel Inn or higher priced Marriott.
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....or shopping (for teens)

Really, with only 4 days, I wouldn't expect much time shopping, but your teens might get a hoot out of Camden Market (trendy, lot's of pierced and tattooed patrons) or Chelsea (more sedate, formerly hip) or a street market. By and large there's precious little you can buy in London that you can't buy at home though.

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Have fun!

Great Stuff,
Thanks for all the helpful advice! A comment on only 4 days in each place. I think you can overdose if you stay too long especially with teens. They can only handle so many sights and need a little down time ie. shopping. I think they'll love both cities, both very different. Don't think you can see everything in one trip though, so they are great to revisit for short stays.

Tom
PS. Premier County Hall Inn in London is a no frills hotel. Anyone been there? The Waterloo station area is convenient?

In rebuttal to Thompson12's comments, several Fodorites have written how their children remember more fondly the places they spent some time, got to know the area and the locals a little bit. Depends on the individuals, I guess.

Well, it's his thread so I guess he should know his own kids. People don't get to know the locals in a couple days when they are tourists, really.

I think doing the research for an apt. for four days is a lot of work (and the special payments you must make in advance, etc.). I wouldn't do it for four days, but some people don't mind that trouble. If you are only there four days, you shouldn't be spending that much time in your room, anyway, I think.

Two more thoughts re apartments: (1) a washer/dryer (or a combo machine) (2) check to see if there is a cleaning fee and factor it in to your budget.

Is Waterloo area convenient for what?

County Hall is right across the Westminster Bridge from Westminster Abbey and Parliament, which in turn is within easy walking distance of Buckingham Palace, Downing Street and the Cabinet War Rooms. It's also less than a mile from the Eye, South Bank and Waterloo station.

From the Westminster tube station, you catch the District/Circle line to the Tower (Tower Hill) or to the City (Monument). From the Waterloo tube station, you take the Jubilee line to Greenwich or Buckingham Palace, Bond Street; the Northern Line to Leicester Square and the theater district or the Bakerloo line to the circuses -- Oxford and Piccadilly.

Waterloo Station has trains to such sites as Windsor Castle and Hampton Court Palace and more.

So yeah, it's pretty convenient.