Paris - trip advice please

pinkpinkfizz

I am looking into booking a trip to Paris and have done some research into hotels etc. I wondered if anyone has advice on the following;
2 adults + 4 children under 12 travelling

To Fly with Ryanair will cost us only £120 for the 6 of us but lands in Beauvais airport which is 1hour 30 minutes outside Paris.Then coach transfer into paris, then metro to hotel.

We can get flights with easy jet for approx £300 more landing at Charles de Gaulle. Is this the better option?

The hotel I am looking at is the Hotel EYlsees Union
http://209.85.129.104/search?q=cache:NEK1oU0zG-wJ:www.elysees-union.com/+hotel+Elysees+union+paris&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=uk&ie=UTF-8
It has a 2 bedroomed suite available at a very reasonable cost. It appears to be in a great location. Does anyone have experience of this hotel, location etc? I have looked at trip avisor and reports are good.

We would be in Paris for 3 nights, what should we aim to see and do in that time and should we stay longer to give us time to see more?

Is Disneyland Paris worth a daytrip? Our children are 11,11, 10 & 6. So I think they would enjoy it. Cheapest place for passes??

Finally if anyone would like to add any "essential" travel advice when travelling into and staying in Paris, I would be very grateful. I always feel much more nervous about travelling when I travel with my children and like try to reassure myself by learning as much as possible about our destination/trip before we go.
Thank you in advance for any help & advice.

Mr_Warren_2

Have you tried costing your flight with Air France ?? www.airfrance.com. I have found AF flights cheaper at time compared to Easyjet. Your Beauvais arrival is not the best of choice as you mention, it is way up north, and for the extra cost (if any), try to land at CDG

Your hotel is fine if you are visiting Paris on its own as it is very central but getting from there to EuroDysney as a day tripper is asking a lot of your little platoon.

Would you consider having your last night at one of the budget hotels around CDG airport ? From that hotel you would have to head back to the airpot terminals and catch the EuroDisney coach to the resort.

Your thoughts??

pinkpinkfizz

thank you for your suggestions.

I will investigate these options and see what I can find. i hadnt thought about changing hotels to allow foe eurodisney but it seems like such a good idea.

I'll pop back later and let you know what I find.

Thanks again.

bluemeany_2

This might seem a bit silly because I gather you are in Scotland, but what about the train? Eurostar tickets are cheaper for under 12s and normally very reasonable for adults too, added to that it is an amazing experience in itself! I suppose you would have to weigh up the cost of getting to St Pancras but if you like trains then it is worth the bother. I went to Paris in December on it and it was one of the best parts of the trip.
Another best part was the food...ridiculously good food for quite reasonable money.

We also found that the Louvre is free to get in on the first Sunday of every month so we got in for nothing, however it was extremely busy - I don't know how busy it gets if it isn't free!

Have a great time

chickadee

I was in Paris in February with my 12yo son. We stayed in Central Paris and from leaving our hotel to getting to Eurodisney took about 50 minutes. The RER is excellent and takes you straight to the theme parks. Unfortunately our day was a bit drizzly and my son wasn't interested in Fantasyland but we did both parks and were ready for home by 5.30pm, having arrived at 10am as the parks were opening.

They are both very good, although the weather would have enhanced our visit somewhat.

One other thing you may wish to consider is that you will need to get either the AirFrance bus or the Roissybus into the centre of Paris even if you fly to CDG. It takes about 35-40 mins and costs around 8,50 EUR per adult (don't know if there is a child reduction). The Eurostar brings you straight to the centre of Paris to Gare de Nord, from where you can easily get the metro to your hotel.

When you are there, get a 'Paris Visite' pass for the metro. For a fixed price you can have unlimited bus and metro travel, and you don't have the hassle of getting change out each time you travel.

Have a great time!

jaymac_2

A travel pass is a must, you can use it to get out to Disney on the train too so you wouldn't need to change hotels. http://www.ratp.info/touristes/ is good for checking out maps and routes before you go. The tripadvisor forum on Paris has great information so I'd check that out too.

misspoppy

Hi Have you concidered B&B its not common but a great Paris experience and it worked out cheaper than a hotel http://www.bed-and-breakfast-in-paris.com/Dicillin.php?

We bought the two day pass for the tourist bus which was great as there are 4 different routes to hop on and off.

The roissybus is the best way of travelling to the airport at a very reasonable price from outside the opera.

It is very expensive though, we weren't particually extravagant but we got through £500 for two of us for 3 days.

A great place for a lunch or afternoon cuppa was in the printemps restaurant on the top floor, we think it was the main building but you will know it when you get there as it has a magnificant dome ceiling.

Have a great time

Voyager2002

Since your time is so limited, please don't use Ryanair. Time spent on that long bus ride is a direct loss from your holiday.

If you fly into CDG, you can get into town by rail (RER) and the ticket includes a metro journey to any station. Same price as for the bus mentioned, and about the same amount of time, but no risk of traffic jams.

I actually found Paris to be very good value for money: a lot cheaper than London. And no need to get a travel pass, since distances in the centre are short and walking is a good way to explore, so you will probably use the metro less than you expect, and not often enough to cover the cost of a pass.

whatatwit

We stayed in the centre of Paris a few years ago and travelled to Disney a couple of days on the train, it was really easy and I hate using the tube if I'm in London.
I looked at the route on a map of Paris that I bought in a cheapy bookshop, but you could probably borrow one from the library.
We flew into CDG and bought the metro passes to cover the zones we needed including disney and then easily found our way to the hotel.

For the Disney passes, I think we bought ours from the local Disney shop, don't know if they still sell them

Shears82

great suggestions here. good thing I landed at this place.
thanks to all of you!!

malid

pinkpinkfizz wrote: »

I am looking into booking a trip to Paris and have done some research into hotels etc. I wondered if anyone has advice on the following;
2 adults + 4 children under 12 travelling

To Fly with Ryanair will cost us only £120 for the 6 of us but lands in Beauvais airport which is 1hour 30 minutes outside Paris.Then coach transfer into paris, then metro to hotel.

We can get flights with easy jet for approx £300 more landing at Charles de Gaulle. Is this the better option?

The hotel I am looking at is the Hotel EYlsees Union
http://209.85.129.104/search?q=cache:NEK1oU0zG-wJ:www.elysees-union.com/+hotel+Elysees+union+paris&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=uk&ie=UTF-8
It has a 2 bedroomed suite available at a very reasonable cost. It appears to be in a great location. Does anyone have experience of this hotel, location etc? I have looked at trip avisor and reports are good.

We would be in Paris for 3 nights, what should we aim to see and do in that time and should we stay longer to give us time to see more?

Is Disneyland Paris worth a daytrip? Our children are 11,11, 10 & 6. So I think they would enjoy it. Cheapest place for passes??

Finally if anyone would like to add any "essential" travel advice when travelling into and staying in Paris, I would be very grateful. I always feel much more nervous about travelling when I travel with my children and like try to reassure myself by learning as much as possible about our destination/trip before we go.
Thank you in advance for any help & advice.

We had three nights in Paris in October athough not with children I admit. We found the book of 10 tickets a good buy (11.10 EUR) then you get return airport passes separately (16.40 I think from CDG). We stayed at the Novotel Vaguiard. Very reasonable and we were happy with the location.

As you are doing Disney, what about a Disney hotel then a trip into Paris as opposed to the other way round? Would your children be interested in sights such as the Palace of Versailles or the Louvre? :rotfl: