What would a family friendly 8-10 day itinerary for London/Paris look like?

[Anonymous]

Planning a trip to England/France for mid-June, and would love the insight of veteran travelers. We are a family of six (with kids ranging in age from 7 to 17). DH and I have been to London and Paris, but our children have not. While our kids love tours of historical sites as well as merely exploring new cities and towns, they aren't apt to enjoy art galleries or more traditional museums. We imagine we need at least 8 days, and are open to extending if possible. We don't want to limit ourselves to just London and Paris---we hope to venture to the country or other areas. The question is: what other areas should we add on? Should we maintain London and Paris as base camps (for hotels) and do day trips outside the city, or should we stay a few nights in London then move onto another area? And a big question: should we consider adding another big destination (another city/country)?

I'm hoping someone has recently done a trip like this and can share their itinerary---whether real or imaginary.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

OP again. How would you tweak this?

Fly to London overnight.

Day 1 - Arrive in London, drop off bags at hotel and grab lunch. Tour the Tower of London that afternoon, and possibly walk around Big Ben, Parliament and Westminster Abbey later in the afternoon (or save it for Day 2 and do the London Eye or the Globe later in the afternoon of Day 1).

Day 2 - Buckingham Palace changing of the guard followed by Big Ben, Parliament, etc. (since it's walking distance). What else?

Day 3 - day trip (either a tour or private driver/tour guide--thoughts?) outside the city...Bleinhem Palace, Warwick or Windsor? Maybe Stratford upon Avon and Oxford? Someplace else? Probably not interested in Stonehenge. Other thoughts for a full day trip outside the city?

Day 4 - Eurostar to Paris, or head someplace else first? If Paris, then drop off bags at hotel and do Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower.

Day 5 - Versailles (that's a full day trip, right?)

Day 6 - Head to another part of France? Where? Take a train or bus where?

[Anonymous]

For the London portion of your trip, I'd do a search or post on Mumsnet, the UK equivalent of DCUMD.They are total authorities on the day trip out of London as a concept.

For Paris, Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower aren't that close to each other. I'd do Notre Dame and Ste Chapele/Ile St Louis/Memorial de LA Deportation

[Anonymous]

Are any of your children into Harry Potter?

[Anonymous]

I might be in the minority but I wouldn't spend a day at Versailles. It's so over the top but not really all that interesting, IMO. Plus it will be very crowded in June. There's so much to see in Paris proper. Plus you can spend some interesting time just walking around, time in a cafe, bateau-mouche tour on the Seine, Monmartre, etc. etc.

We will be in Paris with our teens in the spring and are including the catacombs and a bike tour on our list.

If you want to add a day trip from Paris, how about Monet's gardens at Giverny? Should be gorgeous in June. Or you could see one of the cathedrals at Reims or Amiens, and this would give you the chance to see a smaller French town. Amiens also has Jules Verne's house and the floating gardens.

[Anonymous]

Day 1 in London is a bit too much, I think. The traveling is not to be underestimated and I think you'll feel better if you don't plan so much on the first day. Just walking about and enjoying the surroundings is worthwhile.

[Anonymous]

I agree your day 1 is too ambitious, especially considering the Tower and Westminster are on opposite ends of London (and you easily spend hours at the Tower if you want).

Other things to do in London-- St Pauls, walk the Millennium bridge over to the Tate Modern/South Bank, Trafalgar square, afternoon tea somewhere (I think the Orangerie is nice without being too fancy but there are lots of places to stop), the British Museum, maybe visit Harrods. The Science museum is very hands on.

I think there is plenty to do in London, but if you want to get out without going too far you could go either to Greenwich or Hampton Court. Windsor actually is pretty close to Heathrow but the logistics of trying to see that the first day might be more trouble than its worth.

I liked Versailles as a day trip from Paris but YMMV. If you want to add another city, you could add Bruges or Edinburgh.

[Anonymous]

I've always liked the doubledecker on and off tour buses for a first day/dealing with jet lag activity. If you have the energy, you can get off anywhere and finish the ride later. Plus you get a good feel for the city and ideas of places you want to go back to.

Otherwise, even if the kids aren't into traditional museums, The British Museum is pretty cool with the mummies etc.
And you could always see a show in the West End.

[Anonymous]

Your first day in London is going to be rough after an overnight flight. Plan on no one sleeping (just in case they can't) and see if you can do an early check in wherever you will be staying.

I haven't been to London in years but did Paris last year with a 12 year old. We saved a ton of money on food by grabbing sandwiches from bakeries or crepes from food carts, as opposed to sit down meals. My sons least favorite meal in Paris was the one sit-down meal. It's no joke they like leisurely meals but it just took too long. For Paris, definitely check out the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe (neat stores nearby). Give yourself plenty of time for the Louvre- you will probably not be able to see it all. The Catacombes are super cool for kids but they are closed at least one weekday. The Notre Dame is worth it too. And the Montparnasse Cemetary is very interesting.

Your itinerary has to be a personal decision based on how much relaxing you want to do and how much you want to cram in. When we travel, we go non-stop since we have limited time and don't know when/if we will ever return to a destination. We did Paris-Heidelberg-Interlaken-Florence-Venice-Salzburg-Munich (stopping and smelling the roses along the way) in 17 days last year and had an absolute blast.

[Anonymous]

The Tower of London is always crowded. I'd suggest doing that first thing in the morning, like getting there at 9, walking around, and doing the first yeomans tour at 10am. Then you can come back in to the city more and do things that aren't quite as jam packed. Or then do the globe and London eye - you can schedule your ride on the eye in advance.

Versailles can be done in a half day, but if you do that I'd do later in the afternoon to avoid some of the crowds (if that's possible). We got there at noon in late August, started in the back with Marie Antoinettes hamlet then worked our way back to the main palace and didn't have the heinous crowds.

You may also look in to the London pass and the Paris museum pass for both cities. If places you'd like to go are on the pass it would eliminate the hassle of tickets at some attractions and skip the lines in some too.

[Anonymous]

4:08 again, something I did to tweak our itinerary given the crowds before we went on a similar trip last year was to read reviews on tripadviosor.com of the attractions we were going to and look for clues / tips about visiting. That's where I got the tip about doing Versailles later on the day, for example, and that worked great for us. That might be something the kids do too to build interest / excitement in the trip.

[Anonymous]

The tower of London will probably be a highlight for your kids. It's very cool and I agree that you should go first thing in the morning. My kids really liked Hyde Park and St. James's park. They are sort of like Central Park in NYC.

[Anonymous]

Fat tire bike tours in paris are fun. It was my kids ( then 18,16,13,6) favorite thing. My kids also really like the smaller museums, Picasso, Carnavallet. You could google great paris ice cream and keep a little diary of what you all had which ones you liked best.

We stayed in an apartment both times and my kids loved going out every morning to get a fresh loaf of bread a croissant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The tower of London will probably be a highlight for your kids. It's very cool and I agree that you should go first thing in the morning. My kids really liked Hyde Park and St. James's park. They are sort of like Central Park in NYC.

This, plus the Greenwich area is cool (take a Thames river cruise) to get there. There's a nice maritime museum (lots of kids activities) and the prime meridian.

We also enjoyed a day trip to the Harry Potter studio -- need to get tickets in advance!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fat tire bike tours in paris are fun. It was my kids ( then 18,16,13,6) favorite thing. My kids also really like the smaller museums, Picasso, Carnavallet. You could google great paris ice cream and keep a little diary of what you all had which ones you liked best.

We stayed in an apartment both times and my kids loved going out every morning to get a fresh loaf of bread a croissant.

Can you recommend a specific tour that you did with this company? Was it ok for your younger child in the city, or did you do a tandem? Thanks.