last minute London/Paris trip

[thebulldog]

DH and i are talking of a very last minute london/paris trip possibly mid-to-late sept. (stars need to align with a new job for me and ability to start after i would leave old job etc etc).
we are east coast so travel time isn't too bad. thinking three days london, train to paris overnight and three days there and get out.
granted this would not be the leisurely week in each we would LOVE but it will be a while before i accrue vacation again to travel.
could we hit the major sites and a few off the beaten path places in each in that time frame?
i am off to check Rick Steves and some other sites but curious what you would see and what you would skip with limited time.

[hz80408]

The train ride, Eurostar chunnel, from London to Paris is about 2hr 15min.

It's not a great amount of time for each city; but I think it's definitely a nice trip! We did Paris and London in the Spring. I haven't gotten around to blogging about London, but here are my Paris posts:

shineisntalwaysshimmer.blogspot.com/search/label/Paris

eta: We spent 3 days in London and did (although I'll admit we wanted to cover as much as possible so it was go-go-go):

Day #1: London Eye, Rick Steve's Westminster walking tour, ended in Trafalgar Square, walked through National Gallery (free; used Rick Steve's tour for popular works to see); that night we went to a football/soccer game

Day #2: Tower of London, walked over Tower Bridge and to Borough Market, Brewdog Brewery in Camden Town

Day #3: National History Museum, Harrods, Biritish Museum; then we walk a (city) bus through SOHO, Chinatown and Picadilly Circus to Green Park to see Buckingham Fountain. After that we walked through Mayfair area to get dinner.

[mbcdefg]

We have never been to Paris, but we were in London for four days and hit mostly everything we wanted to see. We stayed in a hotel by the Edgware Road subway station:

Day 1: landed at Heathrow, checked into hotel, walked to the tourism center to pick up our London Pass (Very much worth it! Included admission to a lot of attractions or gave us a discount on others; also included an unlimited Tube card and a one-time ferry pass), meat pies for dinner at King's Head Pub on Stafford Street, passed through Picadilly Circus and Oxford Street on the way back to the hotel.

Day 2: all-day bus trip to Windsor, Bath, and Stonehenge. MH picked up fish and chips for dinner from a local place.

Day 3: took the Tube to start off at Parliament/Big Ben. Walked through Westminster Abbey and the Churchill War Rooms. Had a teatime lunch at The Orangery at Kensington Palace. Took the Tube up to Abbey Road.

Day 4: took the Tube to the Tower of London and did the guided Beefeater tour. Took the Tube to Saint Paul's Catherdral and climbed to the top. Took a guided Thames ferry tour (covered by the London Pass) over to Greenwich and visited the Royal Observatory/Prime Meridian. Snacks and drinks in Meantime Pub down the hill. Took a commuter boat back into London since we missed the last guided ferry of the night.

Day 5: flew to Dublin to meet up with my family for our Ireland trip.

We missed Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, and Borough Market since we were only there early in the week.

[mdgirl]

I wouldn't worry too much about hitting off the beaten path type places with such limited time -- there's enough to do in both cities to keep you quite busy. Don't underestimate how tired you'll be sightseeing, so trying to cram in as much as possible will only make you cranky and you won't enjoy the trip as much.