Thank you! This is exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for. I told them they would only need an hour at Stonehenge and to only go there if the tour passes through. They want to go to Paris too but they want to take the chunnel there.
Yeah, the Eurostar is a lot faster than taking a coach and then the ferry - and much worth the extra price, from my point of view!
The added benefit of a coach tour to Paris is that many include a tour around the city and transport straight to the hotel.
The Eurostar through the channel tunnel is an experience, but consider how savvy your family is with the whole traveling thing. Gard du Nord has great links around the city but it is a bustling station and can be a tad overwhelming even to the experienced traveler.
This is a very good point, and another thing to consider is if your parents have ever been in a country where English is not the first language. For some people that can be a bit of a culture shock when they need help and might not find it as quickly as they would due to the language barrier. (Of course, many people in Paris do speak English, but asking them to can occasionally evoke some attitude.
)
My grandmother is elderly and couldn't get around very easily. It seemed like she needed to sit down every 10-20 minutes. Having spent a lot of time in Paris, I knew it would be impossible for her to get around without a coach tour getting her from place to place (Paris isn't nearly as handicap accessible as London), so that's why I pretty much forced them to book one. But I would have wanted them to go without someone else anyway because neither my mum nor my grandmother speak French, and they're the sort of tourists that someone would easily take advantage of. Considering they once got lost in NYC because of the subway, I'm pretty sure they would have NEVER been able to figure out how to get around Gare du Nord, lol.
