tropo

I will be returning to London to see friends next year, and would love to return to Paris for a 5 night stay, allowing me to see more of the attractions of this city. I only had 2 nights stay last time, which was insufficient to see everything. Also on my last trip, I travelled on the Eurostar from Paris back to London, now I am looking for a different way or form of transport, rather than flying or rail. I heard sometime ago, that there is a coach that travels London to Paris, has anyone heard of this, is so what is the name of the company, and how long does it take? Time doesn't mean much to me, as I usually spend 4-6 weeks in Britain or Europe.

m_kingdom2

Why do you want to spend hours cramped in an uncomfortable coach seat when flying/train is so inexpensive?

WillTravel

NationalExpress.com will give you a cheap bus ticket, but it's a long ride.

mari3

Although it is still the train tracks under the channel...you could see some interesting countryside by DRIVING..!Hertz has a "Le Swap" program where you drive the car on the train in England, and drive off in Calais, France..drive a short way to the HErtz office and swap for a left hand drive in France. We have done it both ways... OF COURSE if you are only going to Paris, then it wouldn't be too practical to have the car. (WE drove down the Normandy coast, down to Loire Valley, and turned the car in at Orly airport before going into Paris. THis is just thought! AND I wonder if the coach does indeed drive onto the Channel train OR perhaps it drives onto the ferry! You might find sosmething on "google" under "Coach--England to FRance!" &gt

flanneruk

There are a couple of coaches a day that go direct, taking about 9.5 hrs, and a couple where you have to get off at the ferry port and get a different coach (about 10-11 hrs). For the whole network see www.eurolines.com, though you can organise the London-Paris bit through the National Express site.

BUT: Really don't expect too much. Billions of pounds have been spent ensuring that the ferry or le Shuttle experience (the look back to the White Cliffs on the ferry excepted) is as dismal as anything west of Moscow can be. The short route the coach takes through England avoids all the glories of the Kent countryside: the much longer motorway route through France goes mostly through the dullest paysage anywhere in France. You'll be spending all the daylight hours looking at Europe's dullest motorways and the vile service areas built along them.

However. If you can organise it, the ordinary roads of Kent are a joy. A few minutes' work with a map can devise dozens of really nice routes from Calais to Paris, either along the coast, or through the wonderful towns of Northern France, like Amiens and Chantilly.

The trouble is, the coaches don't take these roads. If you're averse to driving, you might try the way we all used to do this journey: going as a foot passenger on the ferry, then getting the bus into town and taking the subsonic train from Calais Ville (sadly, Calais Maritime - the station at the ferry - is now closed), rather than from the airport wannabe at Frethun that the Eurostar uses.

You'd probably be hard pressed to get off at, say, Amiens and look around if you wanted to get to Paris the same day. But if you've time to spare, why not overnight somewhere en route that so many people usually whizz through?

Getting hotel rooms without prebooking can be tricky in some of these towns at weekends, when half of London pops over on booze-buying trips. But during the week, they're virtually empty and seriously undervisited.

ben_haines_london

As FlannerUK says, there is a rail, boat, rail connection for about 60 pounds return or 45 one way. You can buy your tickets any day at window number 8 at Charing Cross station: they are valid for two months. The Thomas Cook European Timetable has times in table 9. They show connections from Charing Cross at 0700 (not Sunday), 0854 (Sunday), 0953 or 0954, and 1054 (not Saturday), to arrive at Paris Gare du Nord at 1720, 1920, 2020 and 2120. I prefer the views of Kent (countryside, orchards, Medway, Rochester and, fleetingly, Canterbury) that you have if you leave London Victoria at 0641 (not Sunday), 0904, 1004, and 1104 (not Saturday). The same ticket works for this line too. The Brasserie on the boats serves a good lunch, so my pick of the connections is Victoria 0934 (Sundays 0904), Dover Priory 1227, free bus, Dover Port 1300, see the cliffs and take lunch, Calais Port 1530, free bus, Calais Ville 1637 or 1653, Boulogne 1717 or 1733 to 1736 or 1742, Paris Gare du Nord 2020. When I reach Calais Ville station by free bus about 1600 I ask the ticket staff whether they have a fast connection by Eurostar for a few euros extra. If so I pay, and travel Calais Ville 1637 or 1658, Calais Frethun 1644 or 1704 to 1724. Paris Gare du Nord 1853. This is the Eurostar that left London Waterloo at 1511. Outside rush periods, you can ask which way the train will go, walk the platform at Calais Fretun to the front of the train, board there and sit in a seat not reserved for you, but convenient for a quick exit when you reach Paris.

Please write if I can help further.

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Shanna

Hi tropo - I've done the Eurostar and found it utterly ordinary. Fast but so what? However, years ago I took a train from London to Dover, ferry from Dover to Bologne, and train into Paris. I loved every slow minute of it. It was December and the seas were high. The ferry was full of people all ages enjoying the ride. I have some great photos. But since my Dad was in the navy, I generally like being on big boats. We used to always take ferries when I was a child, so I'm comfortable on them. But to me, that sort of trip is so much more relaxing and, frankly, romantic in a sense, than the Eurostar or flying. If you have time, the train/ferry will take a day - not a long day - and you'll arrive calm with a true sensation of having traveled.

Patrick

I can't help with specific suggestions, but more power to you tropo. I see an increasing number of people who don't understand the joy of "travel" itself. Many only want to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible. I admire people who enjoy the means to the end as well. Similarly, as I've been posting, people shouldn't be so quick to insist that a car is necessarily the "best" way to see a place like Tuscany, or that the best way to get between two cities is to fly as it's the quickest. Some of those people may be able to check off more places visited or have more time at their destination, but may never know or understand what they missed along the way.