London and Paris accomodation

Where's the cheapest central place to stay? (other than couchsurfing!)
I've found Dover Castle Hostel in London for 80 pounds a week - is that as good as it gets?
The only cheap French place is refusing to answer my emails. Any ideas?

What are your dates again? I think London accom prices have pretty much been hiked up for the entire summer, rather than just a certain 3 week window...

Have you tried Air BnB at all? Might be nice for your mob to have an entire apartment rather than having to put up with a grotty hostel (and a lot of the cheap London ones really are quite revolting!)

Lucky Luke wrote:What are your dates again? I think London accom prices have pretty much been hiked up for the entire summer, rather than just a certain 3 week window...

I've noticed that - on hostelbooker it says 9 pounds a night and when you go to book it is 40!
We'll be in London Mon 1 October to Monday 8 October (hopefullly!)

I second the link to air bnb...most hostels in london are gross...even the popular ones near kings cross...I recently stayed in london but it was at a proper hotel and wasn't cheap so that won't help...

I myself am traveling to London in just 5 days; unfortunately, the host whom I found through Airbnb had cancelled, and my further search to find a replacement on a short notice proved impossible. At least the administration promptly refunded me the money (plus $100.00 penalty), but I would much rather have the apartment than the money.

Well we've booked at a Formula 1 hotel in Paris....half the cost of the cheapest airbnb apartment (although it would have been eva so romantic to stay right in the centre of town).
And a grotty-looking hostel in London, but at 80 pounds a week we'll overlook the dirty toilets!
Can let you know just how bad they are on our return.

Will you have tents?

You could try the Crystal Palace Caravan Club Site

Paris is my dream destination for like, forever, so thanks for this thread and the links, I'd go check it out and see if it fits my budget.

The Formula1 Hotel in Paris was fine. It was in zone one of the metro and very close to a station so access to the centre was easy. Right across the street was a mall with a large Carrefour store and so we were able to save a lot of money on food. (No kitchen, but we bought roasted chicken and salads and ate in our room without any complaint).The hotel itself was clean.

The Dover Hostel in London was cheap. There were small supermarkets nearby and we ate a fair few tv dinners! There was a small kitchen with microwave, oven and stovetop. It was the only communal space in the hostel and was always full.
We had a room right above a bar which played LOUD music until 2am every night. After plenty of polite grizzling on our part we were moved to a room three stories up.....and the roof leaked!
There were only a couple of toilets and showers on each floor, and while we had read reports that they were grotty, we would say they were not that bad. Not as clean as I would keep them, but not the horror story we were expecting. The bunks were old and bendy.
Breakfast of cornflakes and toast was provided. There was free intermittent internet access.
Would we stay there again? If we were there for a week we would and we would request being upstairs. If we were only there for a few nights, we'd stay at the St Paul's Hostel, where we spent one night (but it was more pricey)