I have one week to go to either Italy Paris or London (free air) active 50's hotel exec..looking to spend a week during the tourist things in any of these cities, but on a major budget any suggestions what city would be the best (do not really like museums, more into shopping seeing sites..etc.) where to stay? renting a car? any help or ideas would be so greatly appreciated...just need some guidance on where I could get the best weeks vacation for the money...cyndee

Spoilt for choice! Not sure what city in Italy you mean but assuming it is Rome, you could stay occupied in any of the three for a week without difficulty. IME, London lodging is the most expensive of the three, though if, as a hotel exec, you have connections to snag free or low cost accommodation that mitigates the issue.
Where to stay is hard to gauge, though since you want to do tourist things but stick to a budget look for something near a metro/tube stop with good connections but away from the concentration of tourist facilities.
Renting a car in any of these cities would be insane, and not just because of the hefty parking fees.
My own prejudice would be for Paris - but it always is!

I may be wrong but I think London is the most expensive of the three. You certainly do not want to rent a car for one week in either Paris or London, but if you decide to spend a week in Tuscany for example, you may need a car. However, that will not be cheap if you're on a budget and one week is not much time for it.

If you haven't visited London or Paris, I suggest Paris; you should be able to find reasonable accommodations (do a search on Fodors) and get around easily on the metro. There are plenty of outdoor sites/sights to enjoy in one week. I can't imagine going to Rome or Florence and not going to museums though, so what interests you in Italy?

I think you need to read posts and guidebooks about the three places you're considering and make a decision. Go to your library or a book store and look through the DK Eye Witness guide and see what appeals to you.

s..thank you so much i think i am leaning towards paris as well, i was going to do rome, but i think mayget crazy in a week, i have been to paris twice before...thanks so much appreciated

London actually isn't that expensive right now, as the £ is a lot lower than what it was. It was almost on par with the € a few months ago. Right now it's 1.4 vs 1.6, compared to 1.5 vs 2 last year.

Being a hotel exec, it's hard to say what kind of lodging you expect. I've always had pretty good luck with using Priceline for London hotels, getting a 4* for around $100/n (including tax). OTOH, it's hard to get a similar hotel in Paris. Sure, you can get a 2* place for $100 but not a 4* in Paris for that little.

Many, many museums in London are free, and it's a great city to wander around as well. For Paris, the municipal museums are free but others you have to pay. When I say museums, I'm not talking about art museums only... there are a gazillion museums in London on all sorts of aspects, and again, majority of them are free.

Since you've already been to Paris twice, I really would recommend London, as it *can* be visited even on a budget. You didn't say what your budget is, but last Nov I went to London for 6 days/5 nights. Using £1 = $1.6, and taking out my airfare (since you can fly for free), I spent a total of $1043 for the entire trip. You can see the breakdown here:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...omment-2717466

It's always Paris for me too. And with a week, it is such a compact city that so much can be done and seen in that amount of time. Once the flight and rooming is paid, you can always stay on the cheap. With an apartment, you could eat from markets; the metro as you surely know is easy and inexpensive; walking doesn't cost a thing; so many of the museums are free; wine is cheaper than Coke; many church concerts are free, etc., etc. And if you take me, I'll share the cost of your room!!

Shopping is not really the thing to do anywhere (I mean those 3 places) if you are the sort of person who cares what is printed on the price tag.

Considering the first post, you should probably go to London, and I am saying that just because you said 'Italy Paris or London' -- Mixing a country name with two city names seems to imply that you do not know much about Europe (or even care). So you should go to a place that reputedly speaks the same language that you do.

I'm confused about what you're looking for. Your other thread stated you wanted 1 day in Rome and the rest of the week on the Amalfi Coast. This thread is titled Paris and you want a week in either Paris, London, or some place in Italy. The 2 threads are posted 20 minutes apart. Is the Amalfi Coast out of the picture? Do you want some place else in Italy? When will you be going?

I see now - early September.

You don't want to rent a car if you're on a major budget. I suggest a small city in Italy as lodging will be less expensive than in larger cities. How about Siena. You can go places by bus from there to keep the costs down. Explore some Tuscan towns; walk around, shop, and avoid museums.

If you don't want to spend a lot of money, I wouldn't do hardly any shopping at all, I don't understand that as a tourist activity. But if it is to you, I'd go to Italy. Not that things will be cheap, I just don't see the point of going to London to go shopping, or Paris unless you plan on buying something expensive from French designers or something. There isn't any particular type of article I think of that Paris is special for (outside expensive brands, of course), whereas I can think of leather or jewelry or certain crafts or pottery for Italy.

I don't know how any major hotel exec could think you'd go to Paris or London and rent a car as a tourist.

<<i have been to paris twice before>

Then if your air is free why don't you consider another city in France? Change planes in Paris and perhaps go to one of the following: Lyon, Strasbourg, Nice, Cannes, Marseille.

Thank you everyone for your posts, some were right to the point! I am going to revisit my destination and perhaps place another post.