England, Wales and Paris

You don’t really have time for England, Wales, and Paris in 10 days. I suggest you make a list of your additional key sites and narrow things down from there. You don’t say if this is your first trip to England/France…but with ten days and your listed interests, you might want to delete Wales from the itinerary.

You could do 3 nights in Bath and cover Stonehenge from there. If you have a car, you could also do Stratford-Upon-Avon from there but it’s 85 miles each way so not that practicable since you’ll be driving a few hours.

You could then do 3 nights in London and then 4 nights in Paris.

Three locations in a 10 day trip is plenty - otherwise you’ll spend all of your time in transit and really see very little.

While sitting at home, 10-11 days sounds like a good bit of time. However, please consider the time lost relocating. It almost always takes longer to change locations than anticipated even when everything goes well. It's the packing up, checking out, the actual travel time, and then, upon arrival, you have to check in (if your room is ready), and unpack to some degree. Even a two night stay only gives you one full day and part of the arrival day. Just offering food for thought. Oh, BTW, be sure to include the daughters in the planning process. Less likely to have "unhappy campers" that way -- not that teenage girls are ever a problem.

Forget Wales. Fly open jaw. Into Heathrow out of Orly or vice versa.

Book the Eurostar tickets far in advance to get the best and least expensive tickets.

Arrive LHR, use the Heathrow Express ( again book at least 90 days in advance to get the best price).

Stay in London for 6 days/6 nights then take the Eurostar to Paris.

From London you can train to Bath, Stratford on the Avon. Train to Oxford and do a tour of Stonehenge

As others have said, is this your first time there? If so, spend more time in London. You can do full-day coach (bus) tours from London for both Bath/Stonehenge and for Stratford-upon-Avon/Cotswolds. That way you don’t have to change hotels from a London base and you don’t have to undergo the stressful experience of driving on the opposite side of the road. I have children your kids’ age and the last thing I want to do is deal with them in the backseat while driving “backwards.” (My husband and I rented a car in Ireland in our late 20s and it was so incredibly stressful. We swore we would never drive on the opposite side of the road again, and that was without children.)

Also, I will say that I don’t share Rick‘s enthusiasm for Bath and Stonehenge, and you will hear others echo that opinion on this board. I don’t regret doing a one day tour to the sites, but I would definitely not spend three full days there. I also think that teenagers may not find it super interesting beyond a day tour.

Regarding a play in Stratford-on-Avon, it is my understanding that a better experience is to watch a play in the Globe theater in London. I have not done either of those things so someone else can weigh in; this is just the vibe I have gotten from being on the boards for many years.

If you have no must-see attractions in Wales, I’m not sure it would be worth your time to go there. Although it depends on if you have already been to London. If you’ve been to London a lot and feel that you have “seen everything” there, then branching out to the areas that you mention might be worth it. But if you have not been to London more than once, I would seriously consider spending six nights there and four nights in Paris, using the Eurostar to get between the cities. Personally I would not rent a car at all if you take that approach.

Please give us more information and we can help you a little better. If it turns out you guys have never been to London or Paris I will chime back in with recommendations for things I think teens would like to do.

Thank you for the responses. My husband and I have been to England and Paris, but my daughters have not.

I do think this is possible if I read your post correctly. Is it ten to eleven days in England/Wales then a few in Paris?. If so I do.think.you can do all you want, especially if you fly into London.and out of Paris taking the Eurostar between both cities. Driving does take a little bit of.time to.get used to but it is not that bad, just be sure to get an automatic. My first time in Ireland got a.standard and it was not pleasant shifting. The driving on the other side of the road was not.the issue. I would do maybe five days in London with perhaps a day trip to Windsor or Hampton Court. Then train to Bath and stay there a couple of days. Rent a car and go to Wells, then Wales for two.days and head back towards London seeing Stonehenge. Would skip Stratford and see the play as Claudia said. we did.a.similar trip at.least twice but with we had to fly into Gatwick. Just be sure the kids are involved with the planning.

If you have 10-11 days in Great Britain, you would not be able to do justice to Wales.

We spent five days in South Wales- Cardiff, Tenby, St. Davids and a small village where my paternal ancestors came from in 1716.
Wales has lots of interesting Castles and it is very scenic, a bit like lowland Scotland.

Still, your time is limited, suggest visiting Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath (that will take up 3 days) then, the Cotswolds for at least a day, a full day at Stratford Upon Avon. In renting a car, you don't want to drive in London or the M25 orbital highway. Traffic is awful. If you are doing London, take a day trip to Windsor Castle or do it on your way to Stonehenge.

Be sure to rent an automatic transmission car, since if you are are not used to driving on the left, it eliminates another distraction.

We did a four week drive tour of S. Wales and England in 2017, here is my detailed writeup with lodging, restaurants and things to do:
https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=599139

Also, Paris deserves more than two days and with the cost of getting there and travel time, I suggest you do Paris on another trip.

Thank you so much for your information. It was very helpful!