Two weeks off, staying with family for 5 days, help us plan the rest!

You don't mention where you are travelling from or the time of year. With 2 weeks off, and the first and last being travel days from and to home, plus 5 days with family - that only leaves 7 other days. How many days do you want in London? Paris might be the obvious choice, especially if you will be flying home from London. Visit family, go to Paris, then finish off in London at the end. All this assuming you can enter these countries at the time you plan to travel.

Play my lives in Devon

Decoder ring please

CJean asks some very salient questions

Yes- traveling from North Carolina-US. Time of year- July 2021. Thank you for taking time to respond!

I definitely wouldn't want to try to squeeze two additional countries into your non-family time. If you want to spend 5 days with your family in Devon and "do more in London", that leaves very little time for another country. (Or do you mean your family will join you in London?) I'd be looking for ease of transportation and hope for a multi-city flight going into London and out of a major airport near your other destination, or vice versa. I suggest checking fares both ways, because occasionally there's a significant difference. I'd try hard to avoid a round-trip flight, because that would mean losing a major chunk of your last full day, just getting back to your starting point.

Flights to Dublin and Paris are often reasonably priced, though that can vary by origin and I have no idea what will happen with airfares next year. I'd consider the refundability (or non-refundability) of whatever transportation I needed to travel between London/Devon and the other destination since we can't be sure at this point what the rules will be next year. I guess France is a bit riskier than Ireland.

You'll get more useful hotel suggestions if you tell us your nightly budget in pounds and how many people you will need to house. I think the Premier Inns offer good value, but they are business-style hotels without local character. The typical room has one large bed and a single bed made up as a sort of sofa if you don't need a second bed.

Would need 5 days in Devon with family. Thinking 7 total in England.
Ideally a hotel in London with some local character/good location - up to 250 pounds per night. 2 adults, 3 girls- 16, 11 & 9. Don’t have to see it all in London- maybe 2 nights.

So yes maybe 1 more country- Ireland or France? Up for suggestions.

All good advice above, and if you're giving London just two days you must have been there before and seen a lot already.

Ireland or France seem like logical choices for the rest of the time. Which country would your spouse and daughters like to visit? If either one appeals equally, then you could base your choice on whether Paris or Dublin offers better options for your flight home. I agree with others about the value of multi-city flights to save time backtracking to London.

Another consideration -- you could spend all your remaining time in Paris with plenty to see and do. Dublin alone wouldn't likely fill your available time, but to get to other parts of Ireland you'd probably want to drive. Would you want to be driving on the left-hand side, perhaps on some narrow windy roads, for even a day or two?

If this were my trip and I had daughters I'd go for Paris.

hey hey afjones
as Cjean and acraven mention, more info needed.
who are we and how many, if kids ages. is that total 14 days counting arrival and departing day which leaves 12? best to count nights: 5 days, is that 4 nights or 5 nights to visit family? train london to devon and back is 2 days which is now 7 days used. how many days in london? then you want to piggyback 2 more countries. you're asking too much, unless you like spending time in train stations, trains, airports, planes, checking in hotels usual time, 2-3pm, packing up next morning, shower, breakfast, checking out, getting to transportation for next destination.
don't know what next july 2021 will bring, everyone wants to travel and hoping next summer covid-19 will allow us. summer is sooooo busy and crowded, expensive, supply and demand for hotels/apts in large cities. have you spent time in london and what would you like to see that you haven't. have no clue if all hotels/apts will be open, some may have claimed bankruptcy, may charge more to make up for loss or discounts just to be happy to have guests. what ever you decide check cancellation policies for refundable options and have insurance, read all the fine print.
are you flying multi-city (into one city out of another) to save on back tracking.
look at eurostar.com to paris or brussels, spend couple days and fly home from there. book early for better rates, fly to dublin with flight to USA from there. figure out your costs and if that's what you want.
staying one place in london, explore the city, take couple day trips (brighton, windsor, boat ride up regents canal or the thames, street markets, theatre shows, london walks)
what does nice hotels mean, rooms are smaller and stars* means paying more for amenities.
don't want to be delores downer, lots to think about and consider, what's your budget in pounds, interests. is your family advising you about your holiday?
feel free to come back and ask more questions, get answers which may be good bad and ugly to you. it will help you out knowing what your plan A to plan B and not stress out. enjoy
aloha

Sorry, your brief is too wide. You don’t give much indication of your interests, so it’s difficult to advise where to go, as there are hundreds of options! I would consider an apartment for 5 of you in London, not a hotel, where you would need 2 or 3 rooms.

You want to do more of London but you will only have 2 days including jet lag? Your first day is going to be lost to jet lag and it will take you at least half a day to travel between London and Devon and the same back, so for your second week, I would consider somewhere you could get to from Bristol airport rather than having to backtrack to London.

I would get your children to do some research as to what interests them and draw up a shortlist. Do you want somewhere hot? Cool? Somewhere scenic? Beach time? Cities or coast or countryside?

London can be quite expensive lodging wise for a family of 5. You should look in to an apartment, as most hotels you will need two rooms. There are several good options around the Kings Cross and St. Pancras station. With three girls, I would definitely do Paris. There is so much for them to do, especially shopping wise. They can walk all the major shopping spots, including the luxury brands along Champs Elysee and Avenue Montaigne and the more affordable La Rue du Commerce, visit the Eiffel Tower, do a boat ride on the Seine, enjoy outdoor cafes, and so much more. If you are there on a Sunday or Wednesday the outdoor open market on Blvd. de Grenelle is awesome and so much fun. This is all of course, dependent on COVID which we all wish would disappear! You could take the Eurostar from London directly to Paris from St. Pancras station. Its a pleasant ride and will put you in the heart of Paris. There are lots of apartment options for families in Paris as well as condo hotel options. Use booking.com and play around with areas you wish to stay. My kids love Paris and all it has to offer.

Nick- yes to Exeter airport- Family is in a small village outside of the city of Exeter. So I will check some flights out of there and also the ferry. You guys are helping alot!!

To answer some other questions, we will get a lot of the countryside when we are in Devon, England, so looking for cities, other popular attractions. Would love to see some European beaches.

Devon is a great area of England to explore. I am an UK/US passport holder and I hope that I can at least visit family next June. I am not planning on extended my vacation to any other country which is what I like to do. Instead, I am building in a 14 day quarantine into my month long stay. At this point, work out an itinerary for a plan A and Plan B. To be honest there are lots to keep you busy in Devon and Cornwall as well as London without adding another country.

Try to avoid the weeks after July 18th - that's when most of European are on vacation and hotels will be more expensive and everywhere crowded. If you chose to fly to another country from one of the local airports make sure your either do an open jaw ticket back to the US from the country you choose or fly on the budget airline back to London at least the day before your flight leaves for the US or use the Eurostar to visit Paris or Amsterdam. This may be a 2022 plan so don't book a thing yet. Wait until winter passes and we see what next Spring in Europe looks like for travel.

Margaret

Have you thought of Belgium and the Netherlands? You could catch the fast train from London to Belgium, and finish in Amsterdam, its a great airport to fly home from.

We finished a European trip with 3 teens in Amsterdam a few years ago, it was a great spot, we did a lot of bike riding, toured the canals, very different than what you will see in England, but also very comfortable.

Exeter airport lost a lot of traffic in the Flybe bankrupcy though, so the connections might not be as good as they used to be.

I am sure that you are making only refundable reservations, but let me tell you what many of us learned about our "refundable" reservations when we had to cancel reservations due to Covid,border closures,etc. A company may claim that your funds are refundable when they sell it to you, but in the end you may just get a voucher. Be extremely wary of putting down large sums of money this far in advance when, quite frankly, you don't even know if you will allowed to travel of the UK next July. (I hope so, I hope we all will)

Why not stay and explore Great Britain?

You would be very near Cornwall. Have you seen that area?

We did a four week drive tour of England and South Wales in 2017 and it was super.
Here is my detailed review:
28 days in Britain and Celebrity Eclipse home
https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=599139

Winchester is not far, as well as Bath, the Cotswolds, Oxford, Stratford Upon Avon and there are many great sites in South Wales.

I’m only going to reply regarding seeing more of London. I’ve been going since Nixon was in office.
Never fail in finding something new to explore.

As you have children.....

Peter Pan Statue in Hyde Park then Princess Diana Memorial. Visit the Round Pond and look for the green parrots in the nearby trees. You will be near Kensington Palace.
Ride the tube and ride atop a double decker bus
Visit the Natural History Museum and nearby Science Museum
Battersea Park Childrens Zoo
Thames Boat Tour
London Eye in Jubilee Gardens
Research to see if the Little Venice puppet theatre barge is operating
Walk along the river path
Greenwich Observatory
The Cutty Sark
National Maritime Museum
Walk Across Tower Bridge ( also check the bridge lift schedule)
After seeing Parliament Square ( Parliament, Elizabeth’s Tower with Big Ben, Westminster Abbey)
stroll up Birdcage Walk in St James Park to Buckingham Palace.
Visit the Horse Guards Parade Grounds
Leicester Square
Hamleys Toy Shop
Spitafields Market

Portobello Market
Carnaby Street
Then take the tube to Richmond. Explore Richmond Park and Kew Gardens.

A couple of weeks before you leave the states check out TimeOut London on line to see what other interesting events might be taking place during your travel dates. I did that on one November sojourn and snagged a ticket for the Classical Spectacular at the Royal Albert Hall. One of the best evenings I’ve Ever had in London.

Then jump on the Eurostar ( book waaaaaaay in advance to cut ticket costs) and off to Paris you go!