My son will be traveling with a group of kids to abroad program in London. They want to do a little sight seeing on the front end. Plan to land in Madrid, fly to Paris, then to Brussels and train to London.
Any travel advice appreciated. Especially, moderately priced, but safe places to stay in those cities? Things they must see or do? They have a couple days in each city.
Thanks!
How many in his group? When Happykid and her two BFFs went to Europe, they figured out that the three of them could stay at nicer places in better locations than hostels for the same price. They did their research with Google maps, and made most of the hotel arrangements with Booking.com
Look at ricksteves.com. That site has a travel forum for questions, and a forum for reviews of hotels and restaurants. It also has videos of the top sites to see in each city.
They will have no time in Madrid. Day 1 jet lagged. Day 2 travelling to Paris.
London, Paris and Brussels are all really close together. During study abroad in London these students can visit Paris or Brussels at any time. I have been to see the Eiffel Tower fireworks on New Years eve and got back home that same night. The journey is 2hrs 15 minutes, but the time line is through the channel so if you leave Paris at 2pm, you will arrive London 3.15pm. Really, you can pop to Paris for dinner or a day or a weekend any time (though note that train tickets are VERY expensive last minute. However advance tickets are from £60ish return)
Madrid is the outlier in the plan. Therefore I would recommend spending the whole 6 days in Madrid (or at least Spain) and leave Paris and Brussels for later in the year. Otherwise, this trip will simply involve trains and airports, and very little sightseeing at all in Spain.
My daughter used airbnb. With a group, not sure if that would work though.
How long is this pre London trip?
My kid did a study abroad in London…he got there about ten days before classes started…so much to see in London they just did that first.
Then they travelled during their school breaks, pans did a relaxation trip to Almeria at the end of the term.
Since these kids already have their travel plans, I would suggest hostels. Some are actually pretty nice.
I agree that airbnb is the best option for cheap places to stay.
For sights: Madrid check out Plaza Mayor. Paris book tickets now for Eiffel as it sells out quickly. Otherwise goto Trocadero and watch the Eiffel from there at sunset. Brussels goto centraal and walk around the square and try the chocolate. Paris to Brussels may be easier on a train.
Make sure they have a chip and pin credit or debit card as most small places won’t take the American credit card if it requires a swipe. Otherwise they have to carry a lot of euros in cash.
London-Paris by train, then to Brussels, with maximize time spent on location. 
it’s like a 2hour train ride from each to the other.
In addition, your son will have long weekends and “half terms” (breaks) that will make it easy to travel to Spain, the South of France, Italy Prague, Budapest…
The flights to Madrid are already booked. They arrive in the AM and will spend three nights in Madrid. Then three nights in Paris. Two nights in Brussels. The will have long weekends in London to see London and even Ireland. There are four to six kids … not positive yet.
I would suggest they take the train to Brugges for a day trip from Brussels. It’s one of onky a couple of cities that didn’t get flattened during WW II. It’s really an interesting city…neat canals, and just interesting, I thought. Different that Brussels. The train ride is not expensive.
Watch out for pickpockets! And have fun!
If they like museums, in Madrid there are El Prado, Reina Sofia, Thyessen(sp?). Retiro Park is also nice, as in the Royal Palace. Historic cities that are easy day trips are Toledo or Segovia.
One need not buy a ticket to get a good view of the Eiffel tower, only to go up to levels. A night time cruise on the Sienne is great.
What are the dates for the travel?
Hi, cupcake.
Middle of June - leaving around the 15th. Has anyone used hostelworld-dot-com to book?
Yes, my kids are extensive travelers and have used hostelworld, hostelbookers and airbnb.
My well traveled kid has also used hostelworld, hostelbookers and arbnb as well…all have worked out well with some research. Hostels are very different from what they were back in the paleolithic age when I was a college student!
Do kids these days still use the Let’s Go books? Those were the super-low budget travel guides for European travel 30 years ago. Curious if they are still used.
My kids don’t use travel books at all. They don’t want to carry the weight and they do everything online/with smart phones. yelp, tripadvisor, lonelyplanet to name a few online sites.
Check out hotel ibis in all three locations. Very nice budget hotel chain, clean, modern, functional, good central locations, always great reviews, amazingly inexpensive and have the best price guarantee. I think they would allow 3 student to share a room for a small extra fee. They can make reservations now, and cancel within 24 hrs without any penalty. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Ibis.
I’m a fan of those hop-on hop-off busses that take you to all the main sights in the city with recorded commentary. It’s an efficient way to get a good overview, and many of them offer discounted passes for a second day. Booking online in advance usually gives you an additional discount.
Pickpockets are real, especially in Spain.