Priceline Hotel: Paris & London via Rotterdam

[TravisGA]

Good afternoon everyone!

I am new to this site (Was referred by a coworker). He gave the site and the people raving reviews! I have read through a lot of the recent posts and everything else I need to.

Please let me explain my scenario;

A friend of mine is beginning a 6-month long term in Rotterdam, Netherlands. My wife and I have already booked flights to visit him (while we can stay with him for free!). We are leaving Friday March 18th and returning Tuesday March 29th. We are departing Cincy, Ohio + a layover in Chicago, IL + an incoming flight into Amsterdam, Netherlands. We have the same route back and we are really excited! This is our first trip to Europe!

While in the Neterlands we plan on taking a train into Paris Saturday March 19th and spending the night in Paris, returning to Rotterdam Sunday March 20th. We want to find a very clean, very safe place to stay BUT (like everyone else) want to do this at the cheapest possible price in the best possible location. I have never utilized the bid your own price options on price line. Any recommendations and / or advice you seasoned travelers have on hotels / hostels / sites would be GREATLY appreciated!

And..

We plan on spending the entirety of the week (M-Fri, March 20-25th) in the Netherlands and then take another weekend trip to London, UK. We plan on leaving early Saturday morning, spending all day Saturday in London, and spend the night in a hotel, wake up Sunday, do it all over again, and travel back to Rotterdam Sunday evening. I am looking for similar advice on lodging in London as stated previously with Paris.

Also, does anyone have any travel advice while we are staying in Rotterdam (essentially 30 mins away from Amsterdam)? We are up for traveling anywhere in reason but would like to be able to come back to Rotterdam and sleep for free every night!

PLEASE HELP US!

Thanks EVERYONE!

TravisGa

[Andrew-NL]

Hi there,

Welcome to the site - its pretty cool and a great community! I am not the best to help with the Paris and London questions on hotels, but in terms of things to do in and around Rotterdam, I can make some suggestions as it is where I live. It is really well located and train travel is fairly well priced in Holland and comfortable.

If you are going to Paris, you could probably arrange a ticket on the way back that gives you a few hours or even a day in Brussels or Antwerp. Antwerp, centre of the diamond trade, is certainly worth a visit, and you can get there from Rotterdam in about an hour so don't feel you need to do it on the way back from Paris! If you travel to Antwerp at the weekend, it's usually worth paying the extra to sit in the first class carriage because the train gets quite busy.

In the Netherlands, a trip to Amsterdam is almost obligatory and it is a beautiful city. But you can also take a trip to Utrecht (45 mins from Rotterdam) Haarlem (45 mins) and Delft (20 mins). From Rotterdam a fun trip (half day) is to take the water bus by the Erasmus Bridge and visit Kinderdijk (a UNESCO heritage site with I think 12 windmills in a row - it is very photogenic, very Dutch and taking the water bus costs something like EUR 4 return). You are a bit early for the tulips, but Keukenhof will be open (http://www.keukenhof.nl/). Further afield, Maastricht is definitely worth a day trip! It is in the South, so the culture and feel of the place is different to Holland.

Just a few tips! Have fun

Andrew

[peacenik18]

Hi TravisGA!

I traveled to London for the first time last spring. It was an amazing experience and you're in for a treat! I didn't know about this forum and had never done Priceline then so I booked directly with a hotel for the Kensington area; it was very clean, safe and conveniently located. It was cheaper then booking in central London too. The tube in London is very easy to learn and read on the fly and within a few hours I felt like I was a pro at navigating it; you also never feel very far away from anything since their mass transit is so good. There is a hop-on-hop-off tour that stops right at the Gloucester Road Station which was a wonderful surprise!

If you're looking for a more touristy (but still very safe & clean) area - I'd also recommend Mayfair - Soho but the hotels tend to be a little more pricey.

Good Luck!