aap

Hi, I'm taking my 8 year old and 11 year old for their first trip to Europe. We're planning to be in Europe for approximately 14 days and splitting time between London, Paris, and Amsterdam with 4-5 days in each city and surrounding area. We plan to travel by train between these cities.

I checked for award tickets and flying LAX to London on AA seems pretty wide open in Economy right now for the entire month of August. I would love premium economy or business class, but seems impossible for 4 tickets this time of year unless I'm willing to spend a ridiculous amount of miles.

I'm looking for advice on whether it's better to do this trip first half of August or the 2nd half of August. Taking into account the weather, the crowds, and better hotel prices. Thank you for your advice.

Marambio

I can't talk about prices but in my view early August is not the greatest time to visit Paris. The city then feels like a ghost town inhabited only by tourists as locals leave for the beach/mountains/etc and many non-touristic things, including a lot of restaurants, close for the holidays. Summers are also increasingly hot and humid here, which may be unpleasant if the plan is walking around the city. Things start to go back to normal in the 3rd week of August, when people come back from their holidays and you can feel a pleasant breeze announcing the end of the warmest period of the year.

myeurocrush

I agree with the previous poster because taking a city trip in Europe in august would not be my cup of tea. Europeans clear our of cities in august, but many European schools will start around the last week of august so locals will be back from their summer holidays and things will start getting back to normal. You can decide whether that means you want to go then or avoid it. Beginning of august cities will be less busy. Paris will be somewhat shut down but not completely but Amsterdam and London should be fine.

erik123

I would keep the itinerary flexible - if there is a heat wave you would want the option of a swim lake/beach - which is easy in/near London and Amsterdam - not as easy in Paris. That's what the locals do and kids tend to enjoy it. Also make sure you book hotels with aircon.

tom tulpe

Agree it's not too hard to go for a quick swim in Amsterdam, but it's probably easier from Paris than it is from London (Deauville/Trouville and Dieppe are two hours on the train, or even St Nazaire within 3 hours). And the water is cleaner than in the UK... BBC: Why is raw sewage pumped into rivers and the sea?

aap

Thanks all for advice. Woohoo. Flights are booked! We did the 2nd half of August and will adapt our itinerary based on the weather. Our updated itinerary is 5 nights each in London, Amsterdam, and Paris. That will give us plenty of time to explore the cities and do daytrips to the surrounding areas.

Would love some help from the community on the Paris portion. Our Paris dates are Aug 21 - Aug 26. I'm struggling to find a "decent" hotel award redemption in Paris though for 2 adults and 2 kids. Looks like plenty of options for 2 people in a room.

Would prefer to be near the city center (i.e. definitely not near the airports or Disneyland). We have 300K Marriott points, IHG 70K, Hilton 80K, and 200K Chase UR points available. Open to splitting stays across multiple properties as we don't mind exploring different areas of the city. Planning to do lots of walking and taking metros. Worst case, looking at an Airbnb that's $1500 - $2000 for 5 nights, but would like to burn some hotel points while they are still worth something.

Anyway, appreciate any advice! Thank you.

Goldorak

France is Accor kingdom, so with Bonvoy/IHG/Hilton you have obviously limited options downtown Paris. Outside chains, Paris has tons of independent hotels. You may also look at them but of course, no award redemption here.

pbiflyer

Yeah, 4 people is a challenge in Paris, especially, the Hilton, Marriott brands. As stated, a boutique hotel (2 rooms) or an AirBnB, but in August, make sure it has AC, which means no center city locations.

tom tulpe

Accor has a "family option" in many places, i.e. 50% of the second room. Just put 2 adults, 2 kids, 1 room in at their website (accorhotels.com - doesn't work on third party websites) and see what comes up.