3 weeks in England...Holiday

My best friend is coming for 3 weeks all on her fiancée as a graduation present (YIPPEE)

We are doing London for 3 days/2nights - London Eye, Bus Tour, Typical tourist stuff and we are going to see WICKED!!

We will also do Edinburgh - ya know bus tour, mary close ect...

York...basics

We are doing Ireland (Dublin) for the 2 day trip (yes I did it last year)

Its just us to girls as DH is only around for London.

SO what else can we do?  her DF would like us to go "some where" European and fun like Amsterdam, Paris or something.  I am in the NE Newcastle area so flying to train would be alright ( NO FERRY to Amsterdam - its Jan).

Anyone know a great deal for Paris? Good hotels that arent expensive.  Thinking about 600-750USD budget for us to get away for 2-3 nights.

Ideas would be FAB!

Also does anyone know if we buy a ticket to say Liverpool...on the way back can we jump off at other stops?  Is there such ticket?

thanks!

I am SO EXCITED!

I've stayed in several lovely places in Paris. The Hotel Henri IV is about as central as you can get on Ile de la Cite, is very reasonably priced and quite charming. It doesn't have a lift and is quite simple, but you are perfectly placed. I also liked the Hotel Saint Andre des Arts in St Germain, which is a bustling area full of restaurants and bars. Both of these are typical 2 star French hotels, no frills but full of charm and well located for a good price. Both places have English-speaking reception people.

My DH doesn't like flying, and we like to bring back wine when we go to France, so we tend to take the Eurostar. You only have to check in 30 minutes in advance, and if you buy the tickets early enough, you can get a return London-Paris for £69, plus you're in the centre of town rather than out at Heathrow/Gatwick/Stansted/CDG airport.

I love Paris, but I found Amsterdam a bit dull, so I would choose Paris anytime everytime!

Awesome Stuff- thanks!
Reasonable hotel rates - we dont need fancy just clean and en suite ;-) and these seem quite central

So bear with me on this but...if your friend lives near a Radisson in the States, they're running a really great promotion right now that can get you a great hotel somewhere for a night for the cost of a night at her local Radisson (which can be had for as little as $60 or so, especially in Texas, which is where you're from if I remember correctly). They're running an offer for 50k bonus points when you register and stay at a Radisson in the US before 12/30. That many points can get you a night at a really fabulous and expensive European hotel in Paris or London or whatnot. It might even be enough for two nights at some of the lower end hotels. If both her and her fiance do it, that's two nights. The whole thing is explained better here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/club-carlson-formerly-radisson-goldpoints-plus/1275678-stay-one-night-radisson-earn-50-000-bonus-points-please-read-first-post.html

AND if you redeem the points before the end of January, they're running another promotion where they refund you 9k miles for every award stay you make.

I'm not doing an unnecessary stay at a hotel for this but I am spending an extra $30 or so to stay at a Radisson this weekend when I go to California for a wedding instead of a Best Western.

I didn't find Amsterdam dull at all, I do find Paris quite dull though, so it's horses for courses.
Food is much better in Paris than Amsterdam though. mmmmm food.

You know, I really enjoyed Milan as a weekend away place, it's pretty, food is great, you can walk around, shopping is excellent, airport to town is 15 minutes, it's cheaper than Paris etc.

What are your London plans? Going to hit up Westfield?

My favorite European cities are Berlin and Barcelona. Berlin is SUCH an interesting city, lots of history and complexity. I really love it. Barcelona is just a lot of fun. 

If your visiting Edinburgh I recommend staying at Maggie MacKenzies Dovecot House B&B in Corstorphine, its a superb b&b that my friends from Orlando stayed at in 2009 and 2010. It's not in the town centre so its quiet and is only a 5min walk to bus stop where you can catch any bus heading into town taking about 8mins depending on traffic or you could just jump in a taxi. Maggie is a wonderful host who will look after you. http://www.dovecothouse.co.uk/

My BF and I went to Amsterdam around this time last year. It was nice to see the Anne Frank Huis, the Red Light District, Sex museum, go ice skating and do other things, but it was VERY cold and rainy. I did like Amsterdam but I felt like we didn't get to enjoy it enough because we hadn't planned a lot to do (our fault). I wanted to go bike riding and do a few other things but it was just bad weather. It was a cheap trip. I think we got two nights in a POSH hotel and two round trip fights from Luton for £250. Though I would recommend doing Amsterdam in the summer Maybe try Spain? We considered going to Spain when I have been in the UK but it wasn't in the budget, but its probably a great place to go for good weather and nights out.

alanB - thanks but if we do stay we stay central so we can come and go ;-)

Jenny_ell - that was my thought - DH and I will do it when its warm!

aimless - that is an aawesome deal and they are in CA but I dont tink they can do it by the end of the year but what a great score! I would love to go anywhere, just have to remember its Jan haha

CB - umm I expect to see you! We get down on a Wed and leave Friday.  I know Thursday is when we are trying to go see wicked as we a friend works for Thomas Cook told us of a site for Jan/Feb they do half price tickets!  We want to do the London eye of course and the bus tour - of course (I have never done it).  We will coordinate but love to meet for drinks or even dinner with us!

Paris! Paris! Paris!!!!! 

alanB - thanks but if we do stay we stay central so we can come and go ;-)

Jenny_ell - that was my thought - DH and I will do it when its warm!

aimless - that is an aawesome deal and they are in CA but I dont tink they can do it by the end of the year but what a great score! I would love to go anywhere, just have to remember its Jan haha

CB - umm I expect to see you! We get down on a Wed and leave Friday.  I know Thursday is when we are trying to go see wicked as we a friend works for Thomas Cook told us of a site for Jan/Feb they do half price tickets!  We want to do the London eye of course and the bus tour - of course (I have never done it).  We will coordinate but love to meet for drinks or even dinner with us!

Well I'm always around numpty I'll give you the "real" london tour   lastminute.com is pretty good for tickets or try ebay, you can get ridiculous ticket deals on there, especially mid week

Check out Lastminute.com for a Eurostar and hotel package especially since you will be in London anyway. Have you see the Get Into London Theatre promotion yet??

I booked tickets last week for a weekend in January. Two people was £320 depending on hotel class.

Olive - thanks for that but we wont leave right out of london - I have to break it up I have a doggie ;-)

Get into London is where I am getting the tickets from for sure!

CB - Its on...Wednesday night drinks or something

NOW - since I booked our paris trip and DrSuper - we are staying at the Henri based on your recommendation ;-)

How can I get a sim where I can use internet for the 4 days we are there as my UK sim would bill the heck out of me!?

Olive - thanks for that but we wont leave right out of london - I have to break it up I have a doggie ;-)

Get into London is where I am getting the tickets from for sure!

CB - Its on...Wednesday night drinks or something

NOW - since I booked our paris trip and DrSuper - we are staying at the Henri based on your recommendation ;-)

How can I get a sim where I can use internet for the 4 days we are there as my UK sim would bill the heck out of me!?

Hmm, Sim wise, probably nowhere, they're all extortionate when abroad, Giff Gaff and three charge £1.50 per MB abroad. O2 charges £3 a MB

Could get a Giff Gaff sim and put a tenner on it, I doubt you'd use THAT much data.

good idea cb! I will do that!