Silver53

After my 2 weeks Safari in Kenya and Tanzania with OAT and a week post-safari extension in the Island of Zanzibar -July, 2014, I have booked my return flight with a stopover in London for 3 days, take the Eurostar to Paris for 2 days then flight home (USA) on day six from Paris. I would like to know in what area of London and Paris, I should look for a B&B with good access to public transportation to the major sites in both cities. Please also help with a "must-do list" for both cities.
Thanks in advance

ElendilPickle

Sounds like a good way to end a trip! What is your lodging budget, and what are your interests?

Lee Ann

Silver53

Since I'm in the very early stage in the planning for this portion of my trip, I started by sending inquiries to a couple of good rated B&Bs but I haven't heard from them yet. So I don't know what is the going rate for a reasonable good B&B so I haven't allocate accommodation budget yet. But I know that both cities are expensive. But I'm interested to know the areas in London I should look into. In Paris, I kind would like to be close by to the centre of Paris. I'm interested in seeing the major touristic sites in both cities. Definitely the Louvres in Paris

propita

I will be keeping an eye on responses here! I need similar info.

nytraveler

You really need to provide a budget. You will get very different responses if the budget is $150 versus $300.

Both cities are large and sights are spread out. The important thing is to be fairly central and to have a lodging near a tube or Metro stop.

StCirq

You also really need to figure out your own "must-do" list. My own would likely be completely different from yours. There are myriad guidebooks and websites out there to assist you in narrowing down what's of interest to you.

In general, Paris is not a B&B city. There are myriad small, family-run hotels, though - that's what you should be looking for once you settle on a budget. That is likely to be the closest you can get to the B&B experience in Paris. And it's not an expensive city for hotels, especially if you don't make the mistake of looking for hotels rated with X number of stars, as the hotel star-rating system in France isn't comparable to the one in the USA. And Paris has an excellent public transportation system - www.ratp.fr - no matter where your hotel, you will always be able to get anywhere efficiently and inexpensively.

nicholasadam

Indeed an excellent way to end a trip.

Silver53

Thank you all..... for helping me change my original " B&B mind-set " for a Hotel in London and Paris. After reading all the posting on hotels, I settled for the Strand Palace Hotel in London and the Trianon Rive Gauche which according to the traveller reviews both are excellently centrally located and have plenty easy to public transportation to all the touristic sights. Although I will be trying to pack very light (only 1 carry-on)this time... for my 30-day -journey, I still need help in figuring out the time should I book the Eurostar to Paris? early afternoon or late afternoon? is there a connection to make ? busier at certain time of the day? The stop for my hotel is the Luxenburg very close to the Trianon R G... Hotel in Paris

Christina

I stayed at the Trianon Rive Gauche once, very convenient and a nice hotel. It's off the main boulevard so not so noisy, also. And you can easily get to the airport from there by RER train, if you want, the stop is only about a block away (the Luxembourg RER stop). The Odeon metro stop is also not that far away (or the Cluny metro stop). But it is convenient that if you arrive at Gare du Nord on the Eurostar, that is right on the RER B line, so you can take it right from the train station to Luxembourg stop, easy.

Why do you want to go to Paris in the afternoon rather than the morning, I don't get it. You'll have to check out of your hotel, won't you? Or do you mean the arrival time in Paris? Well, the train is only about 2:30 hrs and then 1 hr time change, so if you left at 8:30 you'd get into Paris at noon. I would leave London about 8 probably, I just don't like to waste days and want to get on with things when I'm moving on. So why wait until later in the morning or even afternoon to leave London. Especially since you'll only be there 2 days.

Silver53

Christina, thank you for your reply. Although I'm arriving in London from Kenya early morning on Saturday, I feel I won't be able to do much due to jet lag. Yes, I'll have Sunday all day and thinking maybe I can squeeze a little bit of sightseeing on Monday morning before taking off for Paris. But I"m still fine-tuning my itinerary in both cities.

flanneruk

"I feel I won't be able to do much due to jet lag"

The time difference between London and Kenya in July is 2 hours: flights usually take 8.5 hours.

Flights to the UK from Africa don't lead to jetlag. But because sleeping in Economy overnight isn't always effortless, you do need to plan your eating, drinking, pre-flight exercise and inflight behaviour to ensure you really do sleep those 8 hours, and not emerge sleep-deprived. It's sleep deprivation, not jetlag, that saps people's energy after long, same time zone, overnight flights.

But sleep deprivation is preventable.

Christina

well, it's up to you then, if you spend the extra time sightseeing in London vs. Paris, that's just a preference, so no one else can say what you should do otherwise. There is no connection to make if you mean do you have to transfer trains, but the train schedule gives you the departure and arrival times. The difference in travel time at different times of day is just minutes. If you left at 3:30 pm, you'd arriva in Paris around 7 pm. I do think later afternoon can often be a bit cheaper than prime morning hours between 7-11 am, though.