Poplar

We are planning to visit London & Paris in 2005 (on a budget) 3 or 4 days in each city. Have really appreciated this informative site & my ? are: What is a nice day excusion outside of Paris? Is Provence close enough to do a day trip? Other ideas. We won't rent a car so need suggestions for transportation. Hotel Bonaparte sounds great but am concerned about possible allergies to cat. Also would like recommendations for 2 - 3* hotel in central London. Any other tips for a 1st visit to these cities?
Best time to go??

mamc

Best time to go is Late April or May and September or October. If you plan to spend only 3-4 days in each city, you won't have a lot of time for day trips outside of Paris. Provence is much too far for a day trip but Chartres, Versailles and Giverney are all worthwhile day trips. All can be reached by train.

FromAtlanta

I think the best time to go is the "shoulder season" -this means it is close enough to the main tourist season, but not quite there yet. May, June or early September. I will be going in late May-mid June to England and Belgium (my 3rd time)

Are you certain you want a hotel in London? There are a lot of really nice B&Bs. I prefer B&B because I find them a better value. (and can be a lot more comfortable for those of us who have to budget) I find the breakfasts very substantial and can last you until dinner (with just a little snack in between) If you email me, I can give you my list of recommended B&Bs

Also, give me a little idea of what you like to do, and I can help with tourist activities too.

bardo

I STRONGLY suggest you wait until you get to Paris before deciding whether you want to squeeze in a day trip. You may feel you have very little time just for the essentials once you are there.

Agree that April/May/Sept/Oct are all great times to visit.

Have you already checked out www.eurocheapo.com ?? They specialize in well reviewed, centrally located, low cost accomodations (B&B, 1*, 2*, and the occasional 3*). It also gives neighborhood descriptions and allows you to search by neighborhood.

LindaNZ

Hi
As the others have said, I would recommend going to London and Paris in late May and early to mid June. After that it gets very crowded. Paris can still be quite cold (I have memories of shivering there) in late May and early June. Last time I was there I froze at Versaille around 18 May and then by the third week of June we were grateful that our room had airconditioning!
Budget options - a friend of mine stayed in the youth hostel with her sister and 11 year old daughter last year. It was near the Sacre Coeur and they had private rooms. Also look at apartments - who needs a hotel with an overpriced breakfast when you have the cafes of Paris available to you?

With only 3-4 days in Paris, I would recommend looking only at Versailles in terms of a day trip. The rest of the time you will be busy soaking up the Paris atmosphere, and seeing all the wonderful things there, the galleries and museums and sights and streets and cafes and boats etc. The usual sights not to be missed are:
Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysees (which is great at night), Arc de Triomphe, Louvre, Musee d'Orsay, Picasso Museum (a real favourite), Notre Dame and St Chapelle (the stained glass windows are glorious and it is often missed by tourists who go only to the Notre Dame!), the streets on the Left Bank, and a personal favourite discovered on my last trip to Paris is also La Defence (a modern area with amazing modern art - the Michelin Guide Paris has a suggested walking tour). That will easily keep you busy!

If you go to Versailles - my recommendation is to get there first thing in the morning. When we went, we got there shortly after it opened, and there was already a big line for a special exhibition. We walked straight into the Kings Apartments (a real highlight) with hardly a line at all, but by the time we came out, the queue was about a hundred yards long!

Bon Voyage!

janis

Well - if you are on a budget and only have 7 or 8 days total I highly recommend you choose ONE of them and stick to it.

Either London or Paris would make a great week+ trip w/ time for maybe one or two daytrips (versilles from Paris, or Hampton Court, Windsor or someplace else from London).

You lose a lot of time and money moving from one city to the other - time and money better spent really seeing and enjoting whichever city you choose.

You can't really go wrong with either city - but you can go wrong trying to squeeze in too much into too little time.

elaine

Hi
Provence is a large area and the fastest tgv train to,Avignon for example, takes 2.5-3 hours as I recall.
I really don't see the point, unless there's something in Avignon you feel you MUST see on this trip.
3 or 4 days in Paris for the first time isn't much, and yet if you do feel still strongly motivated to do a daytrip after being there a day or two, there are other options:
one-day (long day) organized tour to the Loire Valley chateaux, or to Normandie, or to another city like Dijon for example. Or, closer to Paris, Versailles or Chartres, each a short train ride.

Let me suggest that you click on Destinations above and read the fodors info on London and Paris. You'll see how much there is to do.

I have files on both cities (including day trips), if you'd like to see them, email me at [email protected]

mooziecat

Museums are great in Paris and we highly recomment Musee D'Orsay. It is full of Van Gogh's (ones you will recognize), Monet's, etc. It is fantastic, and not expensive. We weren't that impressed with the Louvre except for the Mona Lisa and a couple of statues. Seemed like there is alot of marble statues and extremely large French paintings, and not alot of recognizable things. (Read the Di Vinci Code before you go. Could make the Louvre more fun). A boat trip at night on the Seine is beautiful and of course a trip to the top of the Eiffle Tower. Food is not that expensive. They have preset prices ranging from about $10E on up, and you get alot. It seemed that we could always find in the afternoon some place that sold these very long ham and cheese sandwiches that only cost $3 or so. Very filling. What I highly suggest is going to the top of Notre Dame. Great view and you are standing right next to the gargoyles. A lot of fun.
Enjoy your trip.

shellio

>>t is full of Van Gogh's (ones you will recognize), Monet's, etc....We weren't that impressed with the Louvre except for the Mona Lisa and a couple of statues. Seemed like there is alot of marble statues and extremely large French paintings, and not alot of recognizable things.<<

And heaven knows we wouldn't want to see anything we hadn't seen before...

sherristieg

IMO
Spend 2 days in London and 6 days in Paris!

ira

Hi Poplar,

Paris is less expensive than London.

I suggest that with only a week that you visit Paris.

If you wish, you could do a daytrip to London on the Eurostar (www.eurostar.com - choose the UK site)for about 60 GBP RT.

elaine

yes, there's a good point, you'll lose 1/2 to 2/3 of one day going from one city to the other. Still, 3-4 days in each city is doable and if you want to really see some of London more than a day trip would be better
imo

degas

I'd pick Paris only and do a few daytrips. Any time is good, but look at May-Jun or Sep-Oct.

mclaurie

I agree 3 or 4 days is not much in each city and you will lose the better part of a day traveling from one city to the other regardless of how you travel. But if you do decide to do that, consider an "open jaw" ticket (fly into one city and out of the other) so you don't waste time back tracking. People are usually surprised it generally isn't much more expensive.

There are very inexpensive flights between the 2 cities (look on skyscanner.net for cheap inter-Europe airlines--(easyjet.com, flybmi.com, BA and Air France fly the route. The website will show the prices by day, week, month etc. Taxes sometimes double the price but still cheap) but you do have to travel to/from the airports into the city vs the train will take you city center to city center.

Rountdtrip fares on Eurostar are cheaper than one-way if you decide to train. Just don't use the return ticket and do use UK prices as Ira says, they're cheaper than US.

The very best "deal" on hotels in London is bidding on Priceline if there are just 2 in a room. Read biddingfortravel.com for info. (read the FAQ section on hotels and check the hotel list for London).

Another option for London is the Holiday Inn Mayfair. It's in a great location. This year they had an amazing promotion for $75/night.

If you're worried about the cat at Bonaparte, pick someplace else. There are dozens of options. Yes, Paris is cheaper than London.