Buying Eurostar ticket in Paris
 

We will be taking the Eurostar from Paris to London one-way in October. I know you can purchased advance tickets in the U.S. for a set date/time. <BR>I want to know if anyone has bought tickets directly in Paris and what the cost difference might be? This would give me a little more flexibility for travel. <BR> <BR>Looking forward to reading your comments. <BR> <BR>Julian <BR> <BR> <BR>

In 1995 we went from London to Paris. Tickets can be purchased at the Train stations, the Eurostar runs out of Gare du Nord (there are six train sytations in Paris). The difference in price is quite high. You can get more information from Eurrail - the site is Eurrail.com I think. We went second class, which was considerably cheaper and the only difference I saw was 5 seats across verses 4 seats, so it is like an airliner in that respect. The sesat are reserved, so if you wait till you get to Paris, make sure you make a decision on time and date soon after your arrival. There is a lounge on the train, but everything is very expensive. You are able to get up and move around, but at least in second class ther is not a lot of luggage space. The trip takes about 3hours from Nord to Waterloo Station in London. There are several trains each day. Now you probably have more information than you need. <BR>Bon Voyage!

We called Eurostar when we were in Paris to reserve the train crossing. We had Eurail passes which gave us a discount and I think we paid around $80 or $100 one way. Have you checked Rail Europe's website www.raileurope.com. You can also reach Eurostar at 1-800-EUROSTAR. I would wait until you get to Paris to reserve.

There are many rates on Eurostar (week-end, one-day excursion, weekday departure, under 26, etc. ) It is quite complicated, but doable, to study them on their Website. The problem is that, for each rate category, there is a limited amount of seats that is allocated. And of course the cheapest ones disappear very quickly. So I would say : the sooner the better (but beware : those special rates are normally non-changeable, non-refundable, the way it goes with cheap air fares).

This may not work for your itinerary -- but we got a great deal this summer from a Virgin Atlantic "add-on". We flew Virgin from Boston to London, (also a good deal) and bought the Eurostar "add-on" from Virgin for $99 round trip, London-Paris. We told our travel agent the date and approximate time train we wanted, and she took care of the rest. It was a great trip, we'd do it again. Check Virgin's website (www.fly.virgin.com) for more info. <BR> <BR>Bon voyage! <BR>

I suspect you'll save money by purchasing the ticket in the U.S. I waited till I was in Paris (August '98) and paid about $260. to London, lst class. Went lst because companion insisted- the extras are not worth it. As I recall the cost in US was $199, which would have been a considerable savings. <BR>