I am planning our first family trip to Europe, with our three kids, who will be 21, 18 and 14 when we travel next summer. My husband and I spent 2 weeks in Italy last fall and now we have the bug to explore more by taking the family along with us to our two top destinations, Paris and London and maybe something more if time and money allow.
I am interested in flying into one city and staying for at least one week and then taking Eurostar to the next city for at least a week. Hopefully, we can take some day trips into the countryside to maximize our trip.
My question is whether it matters what order this is done. I know we won%26#39;t be able to tour 24/7 for 14 days in a row and will want to spend some relaxing days along the way.
Does anyone find London to be more busy with tours or Paris? Would Paris be better at the end to spend some lingering time just enjoying the cafes, etc.
Although I am looking forward to seeing all the major sites in both cities, I would think Paris is a little more like Italy where when can just sit back, enjoy some wine and food and all the people passing by, while London may not have this kind of atmosphere.
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I don%26#39;t think it matters, as both cities offer all you describe.
With a family of five, you may want to consider staying in apartments. Family rooms are not plentiful and tend to be quite cozy.
Especially with kids, an apartment will save you a fortune on breakfasts, beverages, snacks, light meals, morning coffee. There are lots of wonderful take-away food places in both cities.
Typically, you can have much more space, along with seating other than beds, for the same rates, or less.
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Not really! London has pubs and tea rooms where one does relax! and they do drink beer and wine at outdoor terraces..The English have been mad about wine since the Middle-Ages, when both the Bordeaux region and the Anjou region were part of the British kingdom. The British way of life is way more European than the English themselves imagine. Nothing like the often uptight Canada--even thought we have mellowed a lot in the past 20 years...
Years ago an older English lady visiting Vancouver told me rather indignantly %26quot;there is nothing British whatsoever about British Columbia!%26quot; then she told me that, after selling the B%26amp;B in Blackpool she had owned for 50 years, she had gone to Normandy to visit former guests of her hotel, and had felt right at home there.
Paris is definitely more like London than Rome in many ways..to me London and Paris are sisters..even if the Pariisi Celtic tribe was also settled in York, not in London!
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I think you are right. I have had a very hard time finding relaxing places to just hang in London. Their are pubs with outdoor tables, but it is rare and they tend to be long picnic benches, often crowded. Also the English take their drinking much more seriously than the French so the atmosphere tends to be more boistrous, less mellow.
The tea salons are sweet, but because you are indoors the people watching is nothing like Rome or Paris. I find the high end tea salons (I%26#39;ve been to many of them) to be disappointingly uptight and average. My fave is the Orangerie at Kensington.
Also, as a city London, is much more spread out, so you don%26#39;t walk as much as you will in Paris.
Hope this helps. I think that one day trip for a week trip to Paris is more than plenty.
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I don%26#39;t think the order matters in terms of sightseeing and enjoying the cities. I would decide based on more practical factors like cost of the airplane ticket (open jaw if possible so you can fly into London and out of Paris or vice versa), cost of hotel rooms (could be different one week to the next), etc.
Day trips are convenient from both cities when using the train network. I think a couple of day trips each week would be fine, particularly to the country side or smaller towns so you get a different feel than just large cities. In fact, if you haven%26#39;t booked any hotels yet, you may consider staying overnight somewhere away from London or Paris. In most cases, you can just leave your heavy luggage at the city hotel for the night so you can travel lightly.
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While in London a few years ago we went to Scarborough for the day and right away I recognized it as the setting for a soap we used to see on US public TV (we get the Seattle channels in Vancouver). I enjoyed the town (upper and lower) and we had a nice meal in a pub. while looking for the house where my buddy had stayed while studying in the UK in the..we ended up by a cemetery. One part of it looked abandoned, with overgrown weeds hiding tombs under trees..as soon as I went there I got a feeling of dread, started to shiver, then saw white shapes all around me..It lasted for a while then all disappeared when my friend, who had walked ahead along a sunny path then turned around shouted %26quot;you look as if you have seen ghosts!%26quot; this was unsettling at the time but is now a cherished memory.
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Hi jaypea,
Unless there are any special events you plan on attending, it really does not matter, and I would base the order on the best flight schedules available for you. From Paris, we once took the rails and went on the Calais Dover channel crossing and saw the White Cliffs of Dover. We found that very interesting. Have a great time.
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Hi jaypea
Great question.....I%26#39;m a Brit who knows Paris pretty well having worked there on a regular basis for 10 years.
Here is my take and if you would like more insight into both just let me know directly. I have two sons aged 18 %26amp; 16 so sympathise lolol....
London:- English-speaking (no kidding!) so easier for the teens to do their thing; many museums, galleries, historical sites, palaces, galleries, bars, restaurants, theatres....ALL IN ENGLISH. Don%26#39;t get fooled about heavy drinking Brits: you do what is right for you and a fantastic time will be had by all. There are also MANY places to visit outside London but I doubt you will have time. Samuel Pepys once said %26#39;When you tire of London, you tire of life%26#39;...
Paris:- French-speaking ( suprise!); spectacularly beautiful in some areas; lots of art museums; great food (better than London); great wine; can be over-bearingly hot/humid in the summer; perfect for watching the world go by.
My suggestion: exhaust yourselves in London then chill in Paris. When you;re doing things you want to be able to communicate easily. When you%26#39;re exhausted and relaxing...who cares?
By the way: I speak French so tried to see this question in that perspective.
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Both are great cities... as others have said, any order will do...! I find better deals flying in and out of Heathrow, so I usually do London first, then Eurostar to Paris, then back to London....
Be sure to chevk out the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London for a %26quot;unique%26quot; experience... Unique only in the fact you have to arrange tickets in advance.... do a search here to find out more... my kids really enjoy it...!
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While I do find London on the whole more crowded and frenetic than Paris, there are many, many places to relax and chill out there. Not all pubs are the crowded, hard-drinking places that a previous poster described. Along the Thames, from Kew to Greenwich, there are many wonderful, laid-back, historic pubs to laze away a nice afternoon. The parks are also great places to relax - St. James%26#39;s Park, Regent%26#39;s Park and Holland Park are my favorites, but there are many other wonderful ones. And London actually has many little %26quot;villages%26quot; worth exploring - Regent%26#39;s Park/Primrose Hill, Hampstead, Highgate, parts of Islington, to name just a few. Even in the hubbub of the City, you have these ancient churches and tiny parks that seem centuries removed; or step off the Strand into the grounds of the Inner and Middle Temple, and you again step back centuries.
I think if you have 14 days, a week in each city, with perhaps 1 or 2 day trips from each, would be lovely. Of course, you%26#39;ll find people here who suggest that you can see all that%26#39;s worth seeing in London in one day, just as you%26#39;ll find others on the London forum who are equally convinced that all of Paris can be enjoyed in a day :-)
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I%26#39;m not sure what the airfare is like from Winnipeg, but I%26#39;ve discovered that it%26#39;s cheaper to fly into London and out of Paris than the other way around (the difference for me was about $60 USD). So you might want to take that into account.
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