Day trip from London to Paris
 

Hello fellow travelers!

So my family and I (2 adults, 2 teenage girls) will be visiting England and Ireland this summer. We will be spending 5 nights in London in our own flat. Then exploring the rest of England/ Ireland. We have been to London a few times before but the girls haven't. We plan on seeing the usual sights. Do you think that with 5 days, we would be able to see a good amount in London and then take a day trip to Paris? We have everything pretty well organized so this is just a late minute thought. Also, what would be the most effective way to get to Paris from London? Eurostar or ferry?

Thanks so much in advance!

Chloe :-)

Eurostar is much faster (2:15-2:30 hrs. each way), an obvious consideration if you're thinking of a day trip; but it's not inexpensive.

Also the last train back to London from Paris is at around 9pm, which gets you back to London at a reasonable hour but, of course, means you have to finish dinner in time to check in at the station. (Earliest from London is sometime around 5 am, but I assume you'd probably go a little later).

The security for that train is interesting - but get there as early as they advise.

It's predictable that many people would be horrified to imagine 'doing' Paris in about 10 hrs. (which is the most you'd be likely to get), but I think it's an interesting challenge. You might try a separate post asking "if you only had 10 hrs. in Paris, what would you choose to do?"

Me? I'd take a taxi (save time, not money) from the Gare du Nord train station down to the general area of the Place de la Concorde/Tuilleries (or add some walking and start at Champs Elysee) and do a fair amount of walking along the Seine/museums and across Isle de la Cite/Notre Dame to the Left Bank (eat there, somewhere). Despite the leisurely pace (= time eater), I think I might take a bateau mouche ride to get back toward the Eiffel Tower.

Depends on what your bucket list for things you know you want to see. Will be interesting to see what others suggest.

Ah, we can always count on popov to turn on the charm!

What are your daughters' interests? London could easily take up 5 days or longer so going to Paris for the day partly depends on what they want to see and do in London.

The day trip is very easy, many people do it for business or pleasure.

A day trip to Paris could be fun. You won't see everything in Paris, but on the other hand you won't see everything in London in five days either.

If you do take the suggestions above for how to spend a day in Paris, note that the beateau mouche and similar sightseeing boats take about an hour and return to the point of departure, so you can not take them to get from point to point. They leave from near Notre Dame and near the Eiffel Tower. There is a form of transportation called the batobus that runs along the river from point to point.

Just remember that the biggest negative is losing an hour going from London to Paris. Your 2.5 hour train trip is 3.5 on the clock because Paris' time zone is GMT +1 and London is GMT.

Eurostar is the only way to go in 2:25 hrs. But for a day trip, it's going to be very expensive.
If you don't have a couple of days to spare, you'd do best to do day trips outside of London.

"But for a day trip, it's going to be very expensive".

Erm, no. The day returns are usually the cheapest fares of the lot.

he investment in time (2 time 2.25 hr plus 2 times getting to the station on time plus 2 times allowing enough time not to miss the train) is not worth the time you will actually have in Paris. And the cost will be 4 times a round trip ticket plus ??? times the cost of getting to the station plus ...

And what if it's raining?

Hi Everyone! Thanks so much for all of your advice. I really appreciate the time and ticketing information. Like cfc said, I think it will be a fun sort of challenge taking on a Paris day trip!
Thanks again!

Chloe :)

I don't think a 2.5 hr one-way trip means a day trip is out of the question, that's only 5 hrs out of the day. I've done several day trips that distance to places I really wanted to see, and never regretted it. You really probably don't want to spend 12 hrs touring a city. A lot of people aren't doing something every minute of every day, anyway, so it isn't exactly wasted time to sit on a train a few hours reading or whatever.

2.5 hours one way does not include getting to the station plus the time one should allow to get to the train and a buffer to avoid missing the train. Double for a round trip. Will 6 hours cover it? Will at least a 50% travel overhead make the daytrip less fun?

We've done something similar. Although we didn't start in central London but a bit west in Berkshire and we flew instead of the train. We ended up with about eight hours on the ground in Paris. We saw Notre Dame, walked through the Latin Quarter (stopping at Gerard Mulot for pastries) to Jardin du Luxembourg, took a cab to the Eiffel Tower and then a cab back to the airport. It was actually a really lovely day.

As long as your whole trip isn't this hectic, I see no reason not to pop over to Paris for the day! It will be a long, expensive day, but it may also be very memorable for your girls and they can nap on the train. There's plenty of time to hit a cafe in the morning, walk around a neighborhood, have lunch, go to a bakery and buy some macarons, take a boat ride, walk around a different neighborhood or go to a museum/site, have dinner. You may want to look into a walking tours, my kids always like them because they love to hear about the history. Have an indoor plan in case of rain (shopping, museums, restaurants). Also, the taxi queue can be long at Gare du Nord, so consider taking the Metro - it's very fast.

We've done the day trip. Because of the time change, I recommend taking the earliest possible train to Paris. Going back to London, the time change makes it only 1:30 by the clock, so you can take a late train and still arrive in London at a decent hour.

The day trip can be a blast...just do your research and visit the things you value most (and, hopefully, have short lines).

SS

Since your plan is to visit cafes and vintage shops, just stay in London. That's really not worth the hassle.

It's pretty nice to see these two big cities in the same day, so yeah you should take the day trip to Paris. The Eurostar is definitely the best option, as the fares for the return in the same day are the cheapest.