Help! need accomodations in London and Switzerland

[gordita]

so I'm taking both sets of my parents to see london and switzerland around end of may timeframe.
we will be 6 of us....
we are having a heck of a time finding inexpensive hotels in london.
a lot of ppl have told us about stuff to do in london but noone can point me to an enexpensive hotel.
all they say is ' make sure your hotel is not far from a tube station'
so, anyone knows where I can find some hotel rooms ?
we would be staying in london for 6 nights.
if we were to book 3 rooms for 6 nights at about $100/night/room, u can see how expensive it would get.

does anyone have any ideas?

also, we will be in swiss for 5 nights.
any hotel ideas for swiss......? we don't want to stay in geneva and zurich bcoz the cities don't have much anyways, maybe around interlaken.....

finally, if someone has any hot deals for anything related to tourism in london and swiss, I would really really appreciate it!
am already nervous taking my parents and in-laws together on the same trip.......!

 

[Corn]

Sorry, can't help you with London.

I was in Switzerland 4 years ago and believe that you are making a wise choice by staying in the Interlaken area. It's an excellent central location to get nearly anywhere for day tripping.

As far as where to stay, we stayed Here. Decent hotel, comfy, clean, and located right in town real close to the train station. Should be pretty cheap.

Switzerland is beautiful.

 

[gordita]

good info, corn

 

[imported_waldo]

My brother rents a flat in London. 2 bedroom, don't know if it will work, but check it out. www.londonholidayflat.com

 

[gordita]

no other input.........c'mon....

 

[jspeicher]

big groups to london sucks. there are cheap hostels everywhere, but you might get smacked by the parentals for putting them up in such places.

 

[biostud]

maybe search for bed and breakfasts. Otherwise YMCA or similar, depending on how much luxury you want.

BTW I'm posting from london atm, visiting my sister.

 

[imported_Phil]

IIRC, you should be able to book a room at a Premiere Travel Lodge (double) for about £40/night.

 

[chcarnage]

Sorry for digging out this thread, but since your travel is about to start, you may be open to some last minute suggestions First, hotels in Switzerland aren't cheap... There are some relatively cheap youth hostels and backpacker hotels around but i would think twice before booking there because you said that your in-laws are going to be with you... Solutions of this kind are for young people who stay in their room only a few hours per day In case you've not already figured it out, here is the official website of Switzerland Tourism.

Second. I live in Zurich but i really try to not be insulted There is a ton of stuff and places to view and visit here. Wikipedia is a good start for more information if you're interested.

That said, it seems like you're more interested in central Switzerland. Well, I for one would not go to Interlaken. If your companions aren't into wandering, wellness and nature, man they will be bored in this 5000 inhabitants province nest.

Instead I suggest you Lucerne. It is smaller than Zurich or Geneva but it still gives you a lot of possibilities of what to do there. The old part of town is beautiful, as is the lake and the old Kappel Bridge. The Swiss Transport Museum exhibits many locomotives, automobiles, ships and aircrafts and is worth a visit.

Don't limit yourself to the place you are going to visit. You are going to be here around a week, thus i recomend one or two trips. Most spots in Switzerland are reachable by train in little time. If your companions have no special interest (landscapes, mountains or glaciers, wandering...) why not visit something the States don't have, like a medieval castle? Munot Castle in Schaffhausen is one of the biggest (and why not visit the Rhine Falls when you're already in Schaffhausen?).

Be sure to grab some chocolate and drink some beer of one of the small breweries... Souvenir hunting is easy, too... If you have any specific questions about tourism in Switzerland, just ask.

 

[gordita]

chcarnage: excellent thread.
yeah, our trip starts in two weeks.
we finally decided on staying in interlaken for 3 nights, 1 night in lucerne and 1 night in zurich.
I did manage to get hotel bookings for interlaken (Rugenpark) and zurich (zurich renaissance).
I still do not have a hotel booking for the lucerne stay. (any suggestions?)

apart from this, I have not even looked into stuff to do in london.

more than being excited to visit london and swiss for the first time, we are just stressed out to even enjoy it.
Also, a lot of people have given us so many varied suggestions, it has thoroughly confused us.
but I do want to thank everyone who has contributed to this thread.
I appreciate it!!

 

[chcarnage]

I know the varied suggestions problem myself At some point to stop listening and to buy a traveller guide or two is the best thing to do. If you can't do that, don't worry. There are tourism offices in every city here, they give you some basic stuff (like city maps, small guides, tourism advices and hotel reservation services) for free. They are normally located near the train station of the city.

Well I'm a bit in a hurry and will be afk until Tuesday but there's time for a few comments. I surfed around a bit and Interlaken is not as bad as I feared. It's not the center of Swiss night life but it seems fine. I'm not really into hotelling so sorry, no idea for your stay in Lucerne. In Lucerne there are basically three places to visit in one day. The already mentioned Swiss Traffic Museum near the lake, and the historical wooden (although partially destroyed and rebuilt) Kappel Bridge over Reuss River and the Lion Monument built to remember the Swiss Mercenaries who died in France anno 1792. I think that's just ok for one day

Your hotel in Zurich looks really comfy, wow... But it is in the outskirts of the town a few miles from where the music plays (tm). You could either visit the old part of town (looks nice and there are some things to see there like St. Peters Church with its Dial, it has a diameter of 9 meters), or you could visit the Uetliberg Mountain. It has the best viewpoint in Zurich on it (450 Meters above Lake Zurich) and a trainstation right on the top (reachable from Zurich Mainstation in around 20 minutes). If that is not your thing you could still visit something out of town like the already mentioned medieval castles. Munot and Kyburg are the nearest ones that are noteworthy. Anyway just pay attention that you don't spend the entire day at Glattfelden doing nothing.

 

[brigden]

Any hotel you find in London for less than $200/night (USD) will be a major disappointment, trust me.

 

[aphex]

I stayed in Balmers Herberge in Interlaken and loved it, was only like $25/night.

Granted though, doubt your parents will want to/nor be allowed to stay in a youth hostel

 

[gordita]

great info.
This weekend, I have to identify touristy sites in london and come up with an intinerary.
basically, this would be from Thursday morning 11.00am, May 26 down to monday night, May 30.
any not-to-be-missed sites in london?
any money saving HOT deals?
ideas?
thanks

 

[aphex]

Wesminster Abby
National Museum
Tower of London
Buckingham Palace
Parliament

 

[SouthPaW1227]

money saving hot deals?! go 5 years ago bud, your american dollar is worth a piss in the wind over there

 

[biostud]

Kings Road
Oxford Street

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

What does Rick Steves books say? He is usually good for finding cheap accomodatiosn.

 

[gordita]

Originally posted by: SouthPaW1227
money saving hot deals?! go 5 years ago bud, your american dollar is worth a piss in the wind over there

yeah...I realise my folly. however, I'm also taking along my parents as well as my parents-in-law.
sort off like a payback for all the good things they have done for me in my 28 yrs of existence.
since it's going to be 6 of us, costs can triple pretty quick and I was just asking if there were any deals to be had in london that I was unaware off.
after all, my plasma tv fund needs to be up there by xmas!!