D. Carroll

Has anyone taken the Eurostar from Paris to London? I am planning to travel from Paris to London and back and am debating between flying or taking the Eurostar. I will arrive in Paris on a Monday and plan to depart for London on a Thursday returning the following Tuesday. (And then will have to go home the following Sunday. Darn.)<BR><BR>I can get round trip ticket for around $120 if I fly. (Either Air France or British Midland.)<BR><BR>The Rail Europe web site is a little confusing about whether flights are one way or round trip but I would prefer to buy my ticket once I get to Paris anyway. Has anyone done this and approx how much does it cost? I figure by the time I get to the airport early for the flight, it wouldn't take much longer to take the Eurostar.

elvira

hokey dokey, here goes:<BR><BR>I have done the Eurostar several times, both directions and/or roundtrip, Paris and Brussels.<BR><BR>If you are NOT at the airport to start your travel, then the Eurostar works best (center of Paris to center of London, no 2 hour arrival before departure, no 30-60 minute ride to/from the airports). For fares, schedules, promotions, go to<BR>http://www.eurostar.co.uk/index.html<BR><BR>If you can grab a good price on a promotion before you leave, do it. Same day fares are high, and promotional seats are usually filled (believe me on this - a planned $79 fare turned into $350 when I tried to get it the same day I was travelling). Trains from or to each airport are around $10+; Paris to CDG or Orly via cab is about $30, London/Heathrow is about 1/2 again as much.

D. Carroll

Thanks Elvira.<BR><BR>I've been doing more checking since I posted. Found SNCF website and looks like I can book a first class fair for 190 euros vs. the $220 second class fair on the Rail Europe web site so I may go ahead and do that. (The second class was 95 euros RT on SNCF but at 190 euros, I think I'd spoil myself with first class.)

JOdy

It's not that long a trip to spend the extra money!! we get the senior rate , 2nd class price but 1st class seats..the seats are not that different, bring a picnic lunch...skip the 2nd cl service bar..if you can do without wine which you get in 1st . you;ll have enough left over for a good meal in London!

Maybe

I will be in Paris next week for 10 days. Is Eurostar fast enough to take a day trip to London just to take a peak for a future visit? Where in Paris do you board and do you stop centrally in London so shops/restaurants/sights are walking distance? I should know this by now, what is the conversion rate dollars/euros?

Ruth

Maybe: you can get most of the answers to your questions from Elvira's post above, but briefly - yes, you can do a day trip if you are prepared for a long day. The trip takes about 3 hours, Gare du Nord in Paris to Waterloo Station in London (be prepared for the 1 hour time difference). Waterloo Station is not within walking distance of ALL the sights in London (nothing is!) but it is right next to the London Eye, and opposite the Houses of Parliament. A one day travel card (zones 1+2) allows you to travel all day by Underground and bus, to see everything else that you might want to - or there is the hop-on hop-off bus tour which takes you round all the sights. Dollars to Euros is (very roughly) 1:1, but the UK is still using pounds (a few shops will accept Euros, albeit at a very unfavorable exchange rate). Better to get a few pounds out of an ATM at Waterloo for your day in London.

Veronica

I purchased the Eurostar tickets on-line at Eurorailways. It is around US$178 for 2nd class round trip tickets.

D. Carroll

I decided to go ahead and purchase my ticket from the SNCF website. (Go to www.Eurostar.com when you click to book your ticket, it will take you to the SNCF website in English.) The price for the 2nd class ticket was 95 euro TOTAL for a round trip (that's approximately $83!). I had been checking for a few days but wasn't able to actually check the exact dates I wanted (leave Paris on 18 April and return on 23 April) because it won't let you book more than 2 months in advance. I was going to wait a few more days and double check before I booked here, but in checking around I happened on the French web site and a little pop-up window indicated that this is a special fare only good from 16-24 Feb. I just have to present the credit card used to book the ticket at the window to pick up my ticket. I'm not sure what the price would have been if I waited until tomorrow -- if I misinterpreted the French pop-up window, it could be the same; if not, I don't know but probably still cheaper than buying through Rail Europe. (The UK site showed London to Paris as 70 pounds for the 14 day advance RT so I was using that as a reference point.)

Vincent

Just a little precision: for some obscure reason (certainly has to do with the famous "rip-off Britain" theory), RT tickets are 30 % more expensive if you start your journey in London than travelling from Paris.