imo, the car rental cost would be much less than 4 return tickets from London to Paris. Plus for going around in paris, with small kids (4,7) much easier and faster in a car..right? and we go by our own schedule...stop/start anywhere...food/restrooms..etc.

is it a straightforward path / tunnel ..from london->paris? i understand customs/immigration will be there..but besides that..do u have to take any ferry for the car...or drive all the way?

By the way, and this is meant in a kind way, no one calls it the Chunnel. It's the Channel Tunnel.>

Well most Americans do and the name 'Chunnel' it seems, per numerous discussions about this before here, was coined by a British newspaper.

>>and the name 'Chunnel' it seems, per numerous discussions about this before here, was coined by a British newspaper.<<

and that's <i>exactly</> why it didn't become popular usage in the UK and continues to grate on the ear.

snlife

There is no undersea road. At Folkestone, after you drive through French immigration, you drive your car onto a train.

The incremental cost in a car hire of buying the right to drive a British car abroad, plus the cost of the cross-channel shuttle, will almost inevitably come to several hundred pounds. Finding somewhere to park in Paris, plus tolls on French motorways, will add still more.

Add everything together and you will find the drive to Paris costs several times more, and takes at least twice as long,as doing the sensible, comfortable thing and flying (if you're starting at Heathrow) or getting the train(If starting from central London).

>>Plus for going around in paris, with small kids (4,7) much easier and faster in a car..right? <<

Never, never, never. Understanding the traffic and parking rules, finding your way around narrow one-way streets, finding a parking spot, negotiating with the police and insurance companies once you've picked up the inevitable ticket and minor scrapes and scratches......you will no longer be on speaking terms with each other, or anybody else, within a matter of hours. Trust me.

>>and we go by our own schedule...stop/start anywhere...food/restrooms..etc<<

That's what public transport is for, in Paris as in any other European city.

"And I need to plan going from lhr to Paris and back...anyone share their experience of car travel on this route?"

If you are going to France, then buy a plane ticket TO France. Don't faff on with having to pass through immigration, collect luggage, get to the car hire place, drive in some of the heaviest traffic in the world whilst jetlagged, whilst trying to get used to driving on the other side of the road with a steering wheel on the other side of the car, then paying extra to take the car out of the UK, paying for the ferry both ways, then trying to work out how to drive a car with the steering wheel on the other side of the car whilst driving on the side you are used to, then spending hours finding parking in Paris every time you try to go anywhere, paying an astronomical fee for it and cursing each and every EXPENSIVE scratch that WILL appear on your car.

Apart from that it's a great idea.

To snlife - you do not want a car in Paris. Public transport is the way to go or walk.

If you hire a car in Britain and take it to France, you have a right hand drive car in a country full of left hand drive cars, not a good idea. Plus the cost of getting it over there.

If you do take the car (and I think it's a bad idea), you drive to Dover from London, go through customs and immigration, drive onto the train as Flanner says above, then wait for the train to travel through the tunnel. At Calais you drive off the train and drive to Paris. You must get permission from the hire car company to do this.

If you get the Eurostar (passenger train) you get on in London at St Pancras and get off at Gare du Nord, in central Paris. It's a wonderful way to travel.

To get the cheapest fares on the Eurostar, book as far ahead as possible. Tickets become available 3 months ahead of time.

Kay