Paris and thinking of doing side trip

Are your flights booked already? If not fly into London, then Eurostar train (don't fly) to Paris, and fly home from Paris. Otherwise if you book a round trip to/from Paris, you are spending a good half a day going to/from London from door to door. Although if you took a really early or very late train, you'd still get a full day on one side channel.

Several years ago, my husband and I had 5 nights in London, and we decided to go to Paris for 1 in the middle of the 5 nights. We were able to store our luggage at the hotel in London for our night away and just had a day pack with overnight essentials. That prevented us from having to go to a hotel to drop luggage. We took the Eurostar to arrive in Paris at 10:00, toured the City all day, checked into our hotel around 5, then explore Paris at night. The next morning we got up early, took the metro to a couple more places, then cab to the train station and were back in London by Noon. You could do the same thing the other direction.

Another thought is since you only have seven nights, maybe you think about a day trip or two out of Paris. A few suggestions are Versailles, Normandy, Reims (if you like Champagne), Chantilly. You easily could stay very busy with 4 days in Paris and not get bored.

Karen has good suggestions if your flights aren't already booked. Why spend time and money on a round trip between Paris and London when you could just go one-way? Look for the "multi-city" option in airline websites or search engines, also known as an "open jaw" itinerary. And Eurostar is much easier than flying between those cities. Cheapest fares are several months before you go -- see the rail travel link under "Travel Tips" on this website.

With just a week I'd stay in Paris (or London) but I understand wanting to see more than one city on your first trip. Just remember that hopefully it's not your last trip to Europe, and those places, plus Amsterdam and much more, will be there the next time(s). Better to enjoy where you are than rush around too much.

Thanks for the reply Karen and Dick! I really appreciate your replies and ideas!

I already have my flight booked and its DFW-CDG and back but dang I wish I had thought of doing the multicity route. Thanks to Google Flights and looking everyday I found a ticket for $850 rt and decided i couldn't pass it up (plus it wasnt one of those flights where i have to layover somewhere for 24 hours).

I was thinking of flying to London only because I was thinking it would be faster (saw Air France selling for CDG to LHR for $110ish rt for early flights in and out (7:20am-745 on the 13th and catch a 940:11:55am on the 14th)) but you guys are right, taking Eurostar would be alot easier. I know the cheapest fares are usually advanced booking but when is the optimal time for booking? I figured for London, I would just take a small backpack with my stuff so i could carry it around with me and do either a HOHO bus or take the local buses and trying to see the sights that way. I figured i would stay at a hostel near St. Pancras to make it easier to get in and out.

I definitely plan on a day trip to Versailles on my last full day there (which is thursday).

But since im still 7 ish months out, I still have time to change or tweak my plans (for this side trip). The rush and excitement of travelling might be clouding my better judgement on this idea lol. i

If you definitely want to visit London it would be more efficient to fly straight from CDG to LHR at the beginning of your trip - then later take the Eurostar to Paris. See if you can buy an add-on ticket from CDG to LHR. For November, Eurostar tickets will be on sale in one or two months - keep checking the Eurostar website.

However, as the world's most important city, London is so big and there's so much to do you may well end up short changing the city. It really deserves more time.

Amsterdam would be a good side trip or elsewhere if France.

Some things to consider:

• A round-trip on the Eurostar is less than the cost of two one-ways. If you go to the Eurostar site and search for round-trip tickets, it will show lower prices for each leg than if you searched for them separately as one-way tickets, even for exactly the same trains. It took me a while to figure out why the prices were bouncing around like that, but that's what it is.

• Eurostar tickets go on sale 180 days in advance, and you normally get the best prices by buying tickets right when they go on sale.

• Peak travel times on the Eurostar are at the beginnings and ends of weekends. Cheap tickets at those times are either not available at all or get sold out very quickly. You might be able to save money on your Eurostar tickets by going to London on, say, Tuesday and Wednesday, rather than Sunday and Monday.

• A lot of the museums in Paris are closed on Mondays. A lot of shops and other businesses in the UK are either closed or have shorter opening hours on Sundays. There's still plenty to do in both cities during those times, though.

• It's always tough to avoid the temptation to try to do too much. Two cities, I think, would be doable for a weeklong trip. Adding a third is probably a mistake. If you're taking only a short side trip to London, do plenty of research in advance so that you know exactly which things you most want to see.