Your opinion on our upcoming London/Paris trip plans

I don't know what your interests are, but I would consider spending more than a day at Normandy. No, I'm not sure how you would fit it in, but if you do just a day, it's going to be a very long day as a day trip from Paris.

The Louve is enormous. Not sure how you are with museums - I get saturated more quickly than most, but trying to see both the Louvre and the Musée D'orsay would be much too much for most people I'd think - I would be bug-eyed by the end and not really be paying attention to what I'm looking at. If you arrive early enough on the arrival day, consider seeing Musée D'orsay that day and see only the Louvre on the other day. The Arc de Triomphe doesn't take that long to see, and you aren't really going to need to spend much time at the highly overrated Champs Elyese (it has seen better days).

I don't see the Jardin du Luxembourg on your list - it's perhaps my favorite spot in Paris, an amazing garden. Don't miss it!

Andrew, you make some points. The Normandy day will actually be a booked 14 hour tour. Yes, it will be long, but at least we are not driving so can rest a bit on the way back to Paris.

Our arrival day in Paris should put us in the city around 2:47, so I estimated getting to the hotel and check-in around 3:45. That day will be somewhat loose and I would think we would be at the Arc around 5:00. I've allotted 1.5 hours there, including going to the top and then the rest of the time walking around the Champs Elysee before returning to the hotel.

The first time that I visited London, I was so jetlagged from our flight from Tucson to Chicago to Heathrow, that the Tower of London is kind of a blur. When I arrive in Europe, I try to do light sightseeing. Maybe move the Tower of London tour to July 25th. Harrods is very cool, but unless you are doing a lot of shopping, you can get the gist of it in about an hour, so I think you would have enough time to go to the Tower of London on that day.

No way should you do Orsay and Louvre in same day - I am a museum person and can be fairly patient with lines and crowds - but two major museums on one day is simply not a good idea -

The Champs Élysées is a bit boring - lines with a lot of chain shops , not interesting , however if you feel you must go there ( and I don’t think it’s worth it ) then I would spend morning at Louvre - then walk through Tuileries gardens to Champs - walk up burning champs - to Arc de Triomphe .

Your schedule is VERY busy - so I would skip Sacre Coeur , it’s not near any of the other sights .

Eiffel Tower could be in same days as Orsay .

Even as a Disney fan I think cutting it to one day would be better / it’s not as good as Disney in LA so why waste too much time there ?

Have you bought your Harry Potter Studios tickets yet? If not, it’s highly likely that it’s already completely sold out for July.

Borough Market does not make geographical
sense in the middle of the day otherwise spent in Westminster. To be honest, it is just a big food market. It’s a nice one, but I really don’t understand how it found its way onto the tourist must-do list.

Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus (not Square) don’t take long to see. Big Ben is entirely covered by scaffolding so you won’t see much!

Personally I wouldn’t attempt the Tower of London with jet lag - I think it’s the best sight in London but needs concentration to understand the history.

Unless you cope better than most with jet lag, I would move the Tower of London to a day when you can appreciate it - swap with 25 July and visit St Paul’s for evensong. Even with an early morning arrival, it will take you the best part of 4 hours from touchdown to getting to your accommodation to drop your luggage and be ready to explore, so you may have less of the day free than you think.

Why Harrods? These days, it caters for the wealthy Arabs that live nearby and therefore there’s a lot of bling. If you want traditional British, visit Liberty just off Regent Street in a beautiful building is a better experience. Alternatively, shop at Selfridges on Oxford Street - they have a great food hall.

After St Paul’s, if you have time and feel up to it, walk round Notting Hill, but it’s just a regular London suburb, so why do you want to visit? It will take you half an hour to get there from St Paul’s.

Borough Market has limited opening on a Monday. Not sure why it’s on so many itineraries. It’s out of the way for your other sights for that day.

For your Normandy day, you will spend longer in transit than you will there as it really needs an overnight stay to fully appreciate it.

I would do Borough Market on a day you’re doing the Tower of London and Tower Bridge as it’s very close to those sites. I also noticed you’re seeing Cursed Child one night. Are you seeing both parts that day? It doesn’t seem like it with your schedule that day so I hope you have a plan to see both parts. The studio tour was a highlight of my visit a few years ago!

Thanks for all of you for your input an responses on our itinerary. We have looked at all of them and have just decided to tweak it a bit. So on our arrival day, we are going to scale it back a little and visit Harrods, Notting Hill, and the London Eye With this schedule, we will move the Tower to probably first thing on the 25th, followed by St. Paul's.

Jennifer, you asked about Harrods and Notting Hill and why visit those sites. It's really simple: Harrods, (my wife wants to go there, just because it's Harrods), and possibly Notting Hill (again a wife request because of the movie). I doubt we will stay there long honestly, IF we go, but it will be her call, but we still plan on the London Eye in the early evening if possible

To answer a few more questions:
Pat, you are correct in that the two museums will be full. It just came down to trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle together, and I'm not sure how long we will stay at the Louvre anyway. RS audio tour says the highlights can be done within 2 hours, so we will see. A good friend liked D'Orsay better anyway, so we may spend more time there.

Our hotel is a 10 minute walk to the Arc, so that was the reason to visit it then walk down Champs on our first day in Paris. Our son visited Sacre Coeur two years ago and that was one place he requested we all see together.

This Person Who Writes Stuff, yes we have our tickets already. We had a choice of Part One or Part Two, so we chose Part Two. We have the script for the play so will re-read Part One before attending the show. We actually reserved them in December.

Claudette, we've ready really good reviews of the Studio tour, and are excited about a visit to Hogwarts! I hope we enjoy it as much as you did!

July 21--Arrive in London in early AM. Tour Tower of London, Tower Bridge and London Eye
Yeah, too much for one day

July 22--Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Borough Market, Churchill War Rooms, Trafalgar Square, Picadilly Square
Too much for one day too; first off, Big Ben is closed and is under scaffolding (til 2022 or something crazy). Btw, CWR do you have tix for? I'd do Westminster, CWR and swing by Big Ben, then maybe either Trafalgar Square or Picadilly Square but not both.

How are you planning on getting to the Harry Potter studio tour? What time is your tour?

You can take a bus from central London which adds lots of time and money but removes decisions and independent travel issues, or you can take a train from London Euston to Watford Junction, walk out the door and take the Knight Bus to the studio.

Which way do you expect to go?

Glad you are scaling back a little - don't underestimate getting used to the public transport and how much time that may take - especially since you are a first time visitor. Last year we were coming from Gatwick to our Airbnb and we had to wait thru 3 subway trains to go by at one stop before we could finally squeeze on, as they were packed to the doors, and even tho we travel light, we still couldn't see cramming ourselves in.

I'll second Claudette on doing Borough Market on the day you do Tower Bridge et al. It's a nice stroll past the City Hall and Hay's Galleria.

Have you booked your tickets for the War Rooms? Hubby and I have been to London multiple times and last year finally decided to do the War Rooms. We didn't book in advance and when we got there were told the line was at least an hour. We had a reservation for the Sky Garden for the afternoon so we couldn't do the War Rooms as we would have been very pressed for time. Needless to say, we are planning to see the rooms this year and I'll be booking ahead.

This Person Who Writes Stuff, yes we have our tickets already. We had
a choice of Part One or Part Two, so we chose Part Two. We have the
script for the play so will re-read Part One before attending the
show. We actually reserved them in December.

Actually I was asking if you had your Harry Potter studio tickets. Most people realise you need to buy sought-after theatre tix in advance but not everyone realises that the studio tour has to be pre-booked and sells out months in advance. Sounds like you’re well-prepared though so I assume the answer is yes.

Yes we already have our HP studio tickets. We looked at options but decided on a package d tour For is it just seemed easier.

We are getting our Churchill room tickets this week, probably today. The only things we do not have tickets for yet are that and the museums. We are not buying the Paris Pass and getting them individually.

Just this morning we tweaked a little more. We are skipping Harrods the first day and going to the evensong at St Paul’s and still doing the Eye.

I think it really is unreasonable to see all on your list. My suggestion is to chose your top site for each day, then your second choice etc., then see sights in that order knowing you may not get to everything. That way you’ll hit your top choices.

I found it exhausting to use the underground, fighting crowds, finding my way on foot, over and over. You might consider taxi’s? They might help you get from point to point faster?

except you won't get 7 into a London taxi which seats 5.

What age ranges?

With a group that large I'd strongly consider the Paris Museum Pass (nnnnot the Paris Pass -which is pretty much a rip-off - or any other pass) because it really does help, the price is reasonable for what you get, and with 7 you can bet somebody will always need the toilet and the Museum Pass which has so many covered locations which all have good, free, clean toilets will be a godsend. It is excellent value for money. Paris-Visite and Paris Pass are not.

Nigel there are only 3 adults in our family.

July 22...change the order so you are not backtracking....
Westminster Abbey THEN Churchill War Rooms - the are just a few blocks from each other. I put Westminster Abbey first because it will be more crowded as the day goes on...get there and line up before they open. Take a Verger tour!!
After seeing those two things, walk towards the Houses of Parliament, past Big Ben (you know it's almost completely covered in scaffolding right now?), across the river via the bridge, and then walk left, down the south bank of the river to Borough Market. It's a bit of a hike but you'll see a lot along the way. You can have lunch at Borough Market - or late lunch as the case may be - lots of food stalls selling delicious things to eat.
Hope on the tube to go back up to Trafalgar Square and Picadilly - you definitely want to be in Piccadilly after dark.
IF you do keep the order you have chosen then know that Borough Market is the outlier here...it's quite far from all of the other things you'll be seeing.
July 24 - A great place for tea, just near Buckingham Palace, is The Wolseley - it's just next to The Ritz near Green Park tube station - about 10 minutes walk from the front of the palace. Reasonably priced but just as nice as rip-off 80 GBP tea at one of the more expensive places.
Other than that I think your itinerary looks really good!
Aug. 1 will be just an overview of these museums but you will be able to hit the highlights.
Let us know if you want Paris suggestions for your open day...or good neighborhoods to wander...some parts of the city you might choose don't have a lot to see, others have a ton of interesting places to discover!

Anita, thanks for your ideas! Yes, we are going to Westminster first and were aware that Big Ben was basically covered up, but we still wanted to at least say we had seen Big Ben, even if we can't see Big Ben, lol!

I'm not sure where we will have tea. The Palace activities are all a packaged tour so we will be at the tour guides mercy

I did discover one bit of fun news about the Evensong service we will attend at St. Paul's. A choir from an Episcopal church in Birmingham, 45 minutes from us, will provide the music, so that should make the visit to the cathedral a little more special.

I echo the sentiment about Harrods. Last time I was there, I was told by a restroom attendant, "The facilities are for customers. If you have not made a purchase, you'll need to go elsewhere." That did it for me. Selfridges was much nicer.

Too bad, too. I almost bought a lion cub in Harrods back in the early '70s. They had everything and I enjoyed shopping there until Mohamed Al Fayed messed it up. Jennifer has it right.

Edited to add: You may want to take a gander at the British Museum. The Elgin Marbles are incredible, as is the Rosetta Stone. In the British Museum reading room, you can see the original manuscript of Beatles music and (if I recall correctly) of Karl Marx's "Das Kapital." The National Gallery (near Trafalgar Square) has Monets, Pissarros, Da Vinci works, and many others.