lisaonthego

I'll be visiting London for the third time to visit friends. But, I want to take advantage of the trip and visit a city I've never been to before. I'm considering Lille and Cannes, although I don't have a lot of time (few days only). Any advice on where to go for a quite day or maximum two night stay? Oh, did I mention, I'm on a tight budget.

Advice and suggestions are welcome.

StCirq

Is there some reason you wouldn't want to go to Paris?

lisaonthego

Already been to Paris on one of the previous two trips to London. I wanted to go to a new city this trip. Any thoughts?

Guy18

How about Bruges or Rouen? These are both lovely places and not too far from England. Cannes is a LONG way to go, and, while I haven't been, many people dislike it. If I were going to the South of France I would choose Nice or Aix-en-Provence. But for a day or two, I'd say that may be too far. Actually, you could fly London-Nice pretty easily, come to think of it. I've never been to Lille, but it conjures very industrial images for me.

Christina

How do you plan to get to the other city? Because you can find cheap flights from London to many cities in France or Spain (or other places, actually) on some of those discount airlines like Ryanair, Skyeurope, etc. It could be just as cheap as taking Eurostar, and perhaps even take less time. I think there are even such flights to Prague, Krakow, cities in Germany, Amsterdam, etc. I've flown BA from London to Seville and that is a flight of less than two hours.

I think Lille has some things of interest, but given you can go anywhere, Lille or Cannes would be way down on my list. I don't think Cannes is logistically feasible in that time frame, either, it would waste too much time.

Christina

sorry, I wasn't thinking that you specifically wanted France.

Easyjet and Ryanair offer the best options, I think -- from LGW or Stansted they fly to Marseille, Nice, Toulouse, Tours, Carcassone, Nimes, and Tours -- perhaps some other places.

Tallulah

I wouldn't really bother with the south of France unless you get off the beaten track to really enjoy it. Nice, Cannes and Monte Carlo are all a bit built-up for my liking - but there's some beautiful countryside around there. And by the way, Cannes is only about 35km from Nice - not sure where you're coming from there Guy?

I think for a bit of a side trip you could also consider maybe Amsterdam or Bruges/Brussels combo. Flights are so cheap if you book in advance - and it's so quick to get places - that you really should take advantage and see more than one place on your trip.

Enjoy!

Guy18

Hi Tallula--What I meant was that I might stay closer to England for just a weekend, but that IF I were to go to the south of France, Cannes would not be my first choice. Nice, on the other hand, is a city I love.

StCirq

I'd go to Lyon - beautiful city, amazing food, just a couple of hours from Paris, and possibly cheap flights from London (check www.whichbudget.com for inexpensive intra-Europe flights).