Planning London and Paris October 2020

Here are a few tips that have helped us when planning a trip:

Sign up for mailings from the various airlines that cover that route - British Airways, Air France, United, American and Delta - would be good choices and watch for sales. Sometimes, you can get great deals on flight/hotel packages via the airline although these are almost exclusively for round trip (i.e. in and out of the same city) flights. Although not an airline site, The Points Guy often posts about airfare sales as well - plus lots of information for using credit card points, etc., etc.
If time on the ground is more important than booking the best price - fly open jaw. It may cost you a bit more but will save you considerable time not having to backtrack. With travel, it's always a trade-off between time and money so you'll need to weigh which one works best for your travel goals.
Once you've got your flight nailed down, book your Eurostar tickets.
As for lodging, Priceline can be a good source as can booking directly with the hotel. If you have credit card points, investigate how you might leverage those points for hotel stays.

Some other random suggestions for your trip:
London Walks is outstanding - the company has over 50 different walks covering various areas and subjects in London. No reservations required, just show up at the designated tube stop at the scheduled day and time and pay your 10 pounds and off you go.
For theatre tickets, Leceister Square has several ticket offices where you can get discounted tickets for a variety of shows.
As for snacks and lunches, Pret a Manger is a good chain - sandwiches, salads, soups, etc., etc. I've found them to be tasty and very reasonably priced.
Marks and Spencer, Food Halls Waitrose, Sainsbury's also all have "grab and go" sandwiches, salads, etc., etc. Depending upon the weather, this can be a good alternative as well.
In Paris, there is a spin-off(?) of London Walks - although the offerings aren't as extensive, the walks are quite good - definitely a great way to see parts of the city you might not see otherwise.
Depending upon what you want to see an do, The Museum Pass can be a good option.
If food is an interest, David Lebovitz (www.davidlebovitz.com) writes an excellent blog that is a good resource for restaurants, patisseries, boulangeries, etc., etc.

Have fun planning your adventure to two of my favorite cities!!!

I'd suggest starting now to look at airfares and schedules so you have an idea of what to expect. They probably won't start to rise in the next several months, but once they start rising they're not likely to drop later. Using the "multi-city" option on search engines and airline websites will cost little or no more than a round trip, and saves the time and cost of backtracking. Eurostar is definitely the way to go between your two cities, and its pricing works like airlines -- sooner is better.

On the other hand, many hotels won't be taking October reservations this early, some maybe not till April. Again, you can start doing research now (plugging in "dummy" dates closer in time to compare rates). Booking.com is a good way to identify options, but it's better to book directly with hotels in case of later problems.

In general, I'd suggest making your flight, train, and hotel reservations around April for an October trip.

Nancy's referring to Paris Walks, which operates the same way as London Walks. I don't know whether they are related but it doesn't matter.

No harm in looking now, but I’d wait until 3/4 months out before I started booking anything non refundable. While I certainly hope it doesn’t happen to you, life does have its way of throwing nasty curveballs at you and you want to make sure you’re able to go during your scheduled time.

I’ll speak more for London, but it’s likely that most hotels won’t have their best rates available close to a year in advance. That may sound counterintuitive but perhaps the hotel may want to have some flexibility for 2020 should they decide to renovate some rooms or serve as an overflow hotel for a major business conference.

Prices aren’t likely to fluctuate wildly between today and spring/early summer. Two major world cities aren’t going to sell out.

Sign up for Scottscheapflights.com. Well worth the annual subscription cost as it can save you hundreds on popup fare sales.

I like Premier Inns in London. Usually cheaper further out (6-9 months)

Your trip includes two world cities. Great choice for a trip. All the British museums (well most) are free and are very good. We ate all our meals in the pubs enjoying the beer and all typical British foods. Sit at the bar when you want conversations with a meal. Used a hop on hop off bus ticket for a tour of London and access to museums/areas of town. The changing of the guards was a waste of time in our opinion.
In Paris we have enjoyed the free walking tours, museum pass (especially if you are going to Versailles), and an evening boat ride. Using the museum pass will take two very busy days. Eat lunch at small restaurants with the daily specials and enjoy the bakeries and street foods other times.
Information others gave on buying air and lodging is spot on.

Thanks for all the helpful info. Looking forward to a wonderful trip.

If you've got certain hotels in mind for Paris check to see if they have FB pages. Sometimes they'll post a code that gets you free breakfast or some kind of discounted rate. This probably works for London as well. I am on the FB page of my favorite London hotel and they do offer specials on there occasionally.

I'd book my Paris hotel soon but I would not book a non-refundable rate. Too much can happen between now and then.

To my mind these cities are 2 of my favorite as a solo traveler! So much to do!