I'm sure this question's been asked and answered but I can't find it anywhere, so here goes:

What would you recommend as the best mode of transport for a family of four (kids are 10 & 7) to get from Paris to London, with luggage. We will be first timers in Europe.

The options I know about are:
1. Eurostar (kind of expensive and maybe a bit boring?)
2. Drive (no)
3. Fly (prefer not to but might be the cheapest?)
4. Train-ferry-train (leaning towards this for the experience but is it too hard?)
5. Swim (might be a bit hard with the luggage).

All suggestions gratefully received.
Thanks,
Pumblechook

I was given a recommendation (but for a different journey)to try Easyjet or Ryanair, both offeringn low-cost airfares.

For sheer convenience, Eurostar. I don't know what price differentials are for your dates/ times but it's much easier to get to and from your hotels to the Eurostar terminals than it is to get to and from airports. Also there is less waiting around.
Train-ferry-train seems a bit convoluted and a waste of your precious vacation time.

Are you in a hurry? How much luggage? The train-ferry-train idea might be fun for your kids. I did it a few years ago mostly because I wanted to visit a few places in the Kent area, and I really wanted to see the white cliffs of Dover, cross the English Channel, etc. I enjoyed it. We actually had a car on the England side from London to Dover and spent a couple of days. Then train from Calais to Paris.

It wasn't difficult but takes several hours between the ferrry, the trains and the connection from ferry to train (they have a shuttle bus). If you have "normal" amount of luggage (one rolling and one daybag each) it wouldn't be hard. If you have limited time then flying is your best best. But read the threads on Ryanair, etc - they have luggage restrictions and don't fly in/out of Paris/London themselves but rather from towns a ways out.

I cannot believe that anyone would consider a Eurostar trip boring. I don't think your kids would find it boring compared to slogging it to and from the airport, checking in, going through security and then waiting to board. Though more expensive, Eurostar is an experience in itself, and if at all affordable, not to be missed. Less than 2 hrs, centralParis>central London and only 20 minutes in the Tunnel.

Hi P,

The train-ferry-train is fun, but it takes the whole day.

The Eurostar is the most convenient. I think you will find that purchasing the tickets hrough the French train company SNCF (http://www.voyages-sncf.com/) will be cheaper than ordering through Eurostar.

If you can, get the 60 day leisure fare.

Your cheapest bet is to fly, but the check-in times, taxiing on the runways, and waiting for your baggage can take a lot of time, plus you are far from each city center.

Eurostar will be more expensive, but will take you from Gare du Nord right to Waterloo station in London. The kids will enjoy the ride. But don't expect sheer excitement. The train travels (other travelers can correct me) about 120 mph accross France - rolling green hills. You don't even know you've gone into the Chunnel, until the light outside the windows disappears. The for 20 minutes, it's like being on a train or bus at night. If you look hard through the glass, you can see the walls. The the train travels at a leisurely pace through England (maybe 60 mph?) right into the train station. From there you can take the tube, grab a cab, etc.

Have fun!!

Pumble
The long way via the Channel is great and an adventure.However,the Channel CAN get chunky.Eurostar is great and fast.Might be your kids could be the only ones in their respective classes to go under the Channel.

Having done Eurostar, train-ferry-train, and flown both standard and discount air (RyanAir), I'd go for Eurostar. When comparing costs don't forget to add in getting to and from the airports as well as the extra time for check in, and the overpriced and limited selection airport food. If you fly RyanAir, they leave from Beauvais which is a good hour or so from Paris and requires taking a bus at additional cost. If you can get a tremendous deal flying would be OK. But the Eurostar still wins for convenience and comfort, as well as probable overall time savings.

Having flown many times between London & Paris we decided to do the Eurostar this spring. It was more of a hassle then flying ever has been. First of all, it is more expensive (even it's cheaper fares cannot compete with the low cost flights). Lines were long to get through security and then there was the "waiting around factor", which is similar to waiting for a plane. Yes, you do depart and arrive at the central part of the city, which is nice but that's about all I can say was in the "good column".

As for boredom, well it's not terribly exciting We saw plenty of young kids that were either talking on cell phones or playing computer games, or just plain fussing and getting up and down, none were looking at the scenery that I could tell. My husband fell asleep - so much for exciting scenery! The tunnel portion is not very interesting, it's a tunnel and it takes about 20 min. I would say the kids we saw on both our rides were not particularly interested in their surroundings, one girl actually talked on her cell phone for 2 solid hours and never once looked out the window that we could tell. I guess many kids do find trains boring! (I enjoyed the scenery, but then again I enjoy travel).

Luggage can be a pain in the neck because unlike the plane where you check it in you carry it with you on the train. We had enough room to put our luggage in the area in the rear of the car (plus our seats were close to it so we could keep an eye on things, but if it is very crowded luggage placement could be a problem.) There are racks overhead for "carryon" types of bags.

Our train was late leaving London (30 min) and the one we had from Paris back several days later was 1 hour late leaving. The both crept along in many places (did go faster in France) so if you want to look at the countryside in England you have plenty of opportunity to look at the sheep and farms. The tracks in the UK are not yet dedicated to Eurostar as I understand it, so they must go slower there.

As for food on the train, you can take your own, there are sandwich shops in both terminals. The prices are a little high, but they do have a captive audience so to speak (I think a lot of people just went to get something to eat to have something to do).

As for the Gare de Nord terminal, we found that people were smoking all over the place (despite no smoking signs) which was not pleasant in light of the fact we had a hour delay.

I also bit the bullet and bought our tickets from the website that Eurostar directs you do in the US. There is a service fee plus $11 (I think that is what we were charged) to have tickets shipped out to you via Airborne Express. I had ours about 2.5 months before we went.

Thanks everyone. Looks like Eurostar gets the most votes (notwithstanding your considered post Lori). Now to hunt down the best fare ...

Pumblechook, we just did the Eurostar from London to Paris. Checking in was a similar hassle to flying, i.e., slow-moving lines through security, etc. But everything else was smooth as silk. I think the advantage of city center to city center is tremendous. And while your kids might not find it that interesting, your point to point time will be a lot shorter than any other form of transportation.

When I checked for fares online, I found most of the bargains to be geared toward weekend round-trip tickets. We paid $139 one-way per person, which was the best I could find.

Most of the agencies I found charged an additional per ticket service fee, plus a delivery fee. I did find one that charged a $7 flat service fee, no matter how many tickets, and a $6 flat surface delivery fee (tickets are shipped from central California). This might save you some bucks since there are 4 of you. Contact [email protected].

And by the way, while it's been many years since I took the ferry across the English Channel, it was a rough crossing every time with lots of people hanging over the side. Maybe that's improved since then, but wouldn't want to risk it with 2 kids!

last month i took eurostar from london to paris and my friend flew BMI to paris. after we got there we compared notes, and we agreed i had the much easier and relaxing time between the two. so much so that he trained back to london. just take some picnic items w/ you and enjoy the quick ride. also the trip time is to be shortened by 30 minutes this august i believe. and the fares advertised in Paris were for 35 euros. the train is 75% empty anyways.

becuase luggages are not checked-in Eurostar, is this one of the great disadvantages in Eurostar, together with the fact that you have to roll heavy luggages all the way inside the train which you don't do in a flight.

some of us plan to sleep for 3 hours, so as far as CONVENIENCE is concerned, does the luggage issue in Eurostar even out the city-transport issue of cheap flights?

I've done them all (except bus) -- flying, train+ferry and train+hovercraft, and would never do that again. It's not difficult, just a big pain and takes ALL day pretty much. YOu do have to drag your luggage around transferring between the train to ferry and back. I don't like ferries much, but kids might, I suppose. Even though a lot quicker than the ferry, I really didn't like the hovercraft for comfort.

I too have made this trip via every means available, but since the Eurostar came around, have used it last dozen or so crossings. No rival for convenience and minimum amount of time spent communing with your luggage. Just want to add two things: the train takes 3 hours between the cities with 1 hour time difference (both 2 and 3 hr durations are mentioned above) and also that I believe you can check baggage (tho have never done so). And, there are children's fares available fyi.

One of the advantages of Eurostar is that you don't have to check your baggage in. When the train arrives at your destination, you just get off, walk to passport control and you're usually out in five minutes. In France, the trains go at 300 km/hr (186 mph), but they're slower in the tunnel and even slower in England. The first part of the high speed line to London opens in the autumn, and will cut about 20 minutes off the journey time.

I vote Eurostar. We have done all the options and we like Eurostar best. We have always been able to check our luggage, so unless there has been change just recently you should be able to do so. The train-channel crossing-train is interesting but it does consume a lot of time, and if weather is bad can be quite rough. Last time we did that there were children barfing in the center of the boat because the seas were so rough and it was a real smelly mess. Take the Eurostar.