Timing of Stays in Paris and London May-Sep 2017

From the last week of July to the first week of September is school summer holidays in Britain, so any sites that appeal to children will be crowded, especially at weekends. Accomodation will also be more expensive and difficult to find around tourist destinations.

Thanks, Philip. So it sounds as if leaving London till the very end of the trip might not be a bad move, unless my special-event research turns up a reason to be elsewhere, or to be in London at a different time.

If you're interested in tennis, you might get tickets to Roland Garros or at least watch the games live on a huge outdoor screen in Paris.

It was explained to me that after Easter, half of France goes on holiday for two weeks, then the other half does. So there would be a lot of French families touring around the country then. Schools have a lot of field trips at the end of the school year, so lots of kids at the Paris museums in early/mid-June on weekdays.

Are you leasing a car from Nice? If you do that, it may be best to put Paris at the end of your stay, after returning the car.

In Paris on 14 July, there is a parade which ties up the Champs-Elysees in the morning, starting around 11 AM. The Champs-Elysees is barricaded and many of the Metro stations in the area will be closed for security reasons.

Some bus routes will be re-routed or cancelled. Certain Metro stations will be closed, due to security concerns.

There will be a fireworks show at the Eiffel Tower, beginning with a concert starting around 9:30 PM. Fireworks begin around 11:45 and run for around 30 minutes, weather permitting. Transportation is free this night, but the trains are crowded and you might consider walking back to your lodging.

Some businesses near the festivities will close for all or part of the day/night.

Other than that, business goes on as normal.

Thanks for all the useful specifics. As I feared, I need to start looking sooner rather than later for an affordable place to stay in London and Paris, because there really isn't a low-demand period between May and September. I'll just have to keep reminding myself that I saved money my visiting relatively inexpensive areas on my last two trips.

Chani, my spectator sport is figure skating, whose schedule is pretty much the opposite of the time of year I like to be in Europe, so I get my annual skating fix in the US--in January, and all too often in a place like St. Paul. That's the one time I'll tolerate cold weather, because I have no choice.

I can't drive a manual-transmission car and am a solo traveler, so renting or leasing a car isn't really practical for me--with all the implications that has for my ability to see small towns. It is sometimes frustrating, but there's really no shortage of interesting places accessible by bus or train if you're patient.

I'm nearly certain I won't have time for Scotland on this trip. I'll be giving England and Wales insufficient time as it is. Six weeks is a criminally short time there, but I didn't want to push too close to the end of September.

Don't reject out of hand the idea of a car. With a lease, you may get a good price on a small automatic. With a car, it will be easier to stay in B&B's in small towns and villages that will offset hotel costs in larger towns and cities. For instance, last June I stayed in a B&B in Eguisheim for €38/night. It was closer to the highway than Colmar, just 3-4 kms away. During my 8-9 days with the car in Burgundy and Alsace, several times I bought really tasty fresh fruit and veggies and mouth-watering cheeses and breads at the local weekly markets, not just for picnic lunches, but sometimes for dinners too, when I was too tired to go out . . . or had accumulated too much food. I got to lots of places that would have been really difficult on the bus.

I love September in London. We spent a week there at the end of the month last year, and the weather was perfect---and warm. The month-long Thames Fest offers lots of events and activities focused on the river and its place in London history and culture. Many of them are free.

If £88 a night is within your budget, you can stay in a self-catering single studio at Captain Bligh House. We have not stayed there yet, but we prefer being south of the river ( for walking the Thames Path) and will likely give it a try next time.

http://www.captainblighhouse.co.uk/

Thanks, Chani. I guess I shouldn't reject the idea of having a car in some areas of France without first doing some research. I realize that I will be missing out on a lot in areas like the Dordogne if I don't have my own wheels.

Lola, I'd hope to beat that hotel rate, but I don't know that I'll be able to. That place will go on my list for consideration. I am not picky at all about my accommodations (dorm-room-style décor is perfectly OK), but I do want a private bath, Wi-Fi, and a fairly close-in location since I love to walk. One good thing about London in September is that I may feel air conditioning isn't 100% mandatory (though I do see that the record high is 96F (35C)!

I don't know if you are interested in cooking for yourself, but you can save a lot of £££ that way. That is why I mentioned this place in particular---the self-catering aspect is very attractive to us. During our 3-week stay in Lindon last May, we only went out for dinner three times, before the theatre each time. Otherwise we enjoyed the experience of grocery shopping and making simple meals in our apartment. The fruits and vegetables in particular are high quality and inexpensive. We never see red bell peppers for less than$1.50 each here, but in London they were 88 pence.

Having a refrigerator is a real plus for me; I like to keep things like fruit, cheese and yogurt on hand. I wouldn't generally want to cook in Europe beyond perhaps preparing scrambled eggs or an omelet for a hearty breakfast. I had at least 4 accommodations with kitchens during my summer 2015 trip and I don't think I so much as re-heated anything, much less cooked.

I'm more a buy-something-prepared-from-a-good-shop sort of person. If England isn't anti-doggy bags, a microwave might come in handy from time to time. I like to eat out once a day (preferably Indian when in England) and feel a bit out of sorts if I don't have an opportunity to get that one decent hot meal, which occasionally does happen because of public-transportation schedules.

About AC. Remember, in that part of Europe, buildings were built to keep the heat in during the long, cold winters.

Oh, dear. I hadn't considered that! Maybe I'd better not risk it.

You will definitely want to choose a hotel with air-conditioning in both Paris and London.
You can look for hotels with minibars, and you can also ask to have all items removed when you arrive. You don't have to specify why.
Many hotels in London provide coffee/tea trays in the room for free. This isn't too common in Paris.

Doggie bags are becoming more and more common in Paris. Though they won't provide you with styrofoam, they'll give you something to keep your leftovers in.

If the hotel has a breakfast room, there will probably be a microwave that you can use when the room is open.
If you go to a "traiteur" (deli), you can ask the clerk to heat up your food for you.

Thanks, all. I experienced the price difference for air conditioned properties when I traveled in Germany in 2015. For the bulk of my trip I'll be making reservations only a few days out and with luck will sometimes know that I won't need a/c for a particular hotel stay. I can't leave Paris and London to chance, unfortunately, so I'll have to weigh the additional cost against the risk.

You never know. Last year, I spend nearly a month in Europe. I started with the first weekend in June in Vienna which had a heat wave - daily highs in the low to mid-30's and a room with afternoon sunshine and no AC (who needs it in Vienna!?!?!). They provided a 7" table fan. After my first sweltering night, I moved to a room with morning sun (it did cool off at night . . . eventually) and found a much larger fan with a floor stand in a utility closet. After that I slept well, but nixed a day-trip to Melk because of the heat. Then toward the end of the trip, I paid about €25/night more for 4 nights to stay in a place in Burgundy with AC and never used it - in fact, I was turning the heat on in the morning because it was so chilly inside . . . though the days were gorgeous.

I once stayed in Paris in either early June or late September in a room that faced west and got full sun in the afternoons and of course I was there when it was somewhat warmer than usual. The room was baking when I got back in the late afternoon and it took well over an hour for the AC to cool it down. After that, I closed the drapes before I left every morning, but the maids opened them every day after I left.

With about a week in Paris and London, consider skipping the AC, hoping for the best and buying a 10"-12" table fan if the hotel doesn't have them. They are cheap especially when you consider how much you're saving on the room itself.