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Is it better to fly to Paris from London or take the train?

Take a train. The train will take you right into the city. I took the Eurostar from Paris to London. When you arrive in Paris, you can just hop on the metro or a taxi.

There are at least three answers possible for this question: 1. If you are already AT the (right) airport, and want to go to some destination NEAR the (right) airport, flying will probably be cheaper. And in some cases, you may be able to get something like a "Discover Europe" air fare on an airline like British Midland, or on BA or AF if you flew transatlantic with them. 2. If you are originating IN the city of London, and headed INTO the city of Paris, the train will probably be faster overall, and fairly cost-competitive. 3. Some hybrid answer may apply to your situation if you are originating from or headed to some part of London or Paris other than in the city itself. Best wishes, Rex [email protected]

As stated there are three possible answers: 1) Train 2) Train 3) Train. It takes three hours city centre to city centre and costs �79. No lengthy post 9/11 check in, no taxi fares. It's also a bit of an experience in itself.

Try 4 hours by train, 3 is a bit optimistic given timetables that I have read.

Whether the "real" answer is 4 hours or 3 hours....I can hardly think of a situation in which flying is better than the Eurostar (other than the one metioned by Rex - when you're AT the airport)..... I've flown it many times, and I suspect that I'll never do it again,,,,,If you just follow the "recomended" time to be at the airport before your flight you've eaten up more than 1/2 the total time alloted for the Eurostar!! and that doesn't allow for flight delays, cancellations, taxi rides, etc, etc, etc!! Best wishes for a great trip! Dave

Timetables may confuse - Paris time is an hour ahead of UK time. If the London to Paris journey time is three hours, the arrival time in Paris is four hours after departure time in London. There is also a 20minute check-in time (and on the return leg, waiting to check in at the Gare du Nord is not much fun); but anything's better than schlepping out to airports in my book.

Why is eurostar telling me it costs $139/adult & $69/child?

Any recommendations on a hotel or website for discounts in London. What should we take the kids to see?

I don’t know that I can add much here except to reiterate what has already been said and to add my personal experience. Last spring we flew from London to Paris then Paris to London via Buzz-Away airlines and it was fine plus is was super cheap, less than 50 dollars American, each for round trip. But one just can’t under estimate the expense and hassle of making your way from London out to Stansted, arriving early, putting up with the wait and rigors of boarding, hassling with baggage, baggage inspections, baggage delivery, arriving in Paris and getting a cab to wherever one is staying. On the way back the flight was delayed, our baggage was lost, yadda-yadda... We’d bought our tickets via computer and the printout did not list our terminal of departure from Charles DeGalle for the trip back. Of course we’d made no particular note of where we’d originally arrived. Buzz-Away is (was) part of KLH airlines and we didn’t know that as the office in Stansted had a Buzz sign above it, the one in Paris did not. There was quite a crowd milling around trying to find out where in the hell Buzz airlines window was. It really was a big, rushed magilla. Since I don’t really love flying that much in the first place I vowed that when I return it will be via the Chunnel. Again, this is not meant to reflect poorly on Buzz-Away, the flight was fast, smooth, and efficient, but when all is said and done flying is often nothing short of a pain in the neck. Actually, I doubt that going by air saved us much---if any---time.

...I should've said we proably didn't save much in the way of time...or money.

Make sure that you go by Eurostar, even though it costs more than the "regular" train. We took the regular last summer [not crazy about being in the chunnel for 20 minutes and wanted to save $ as we hadn't bought ahead.] What a nightmare! Going to Paris took just under 12 hours, what with being sold tickets for the Hovercraft ? that no longer crosses, just missing the bus to the ferry from the train station and many stops and 2 changes on the train to Paris. Our tip off should have been when we bought the tickets at Charring Cross station and the guy had to spend 20 minutes looking up the schedule and then copying it out by hand. And the line was short. How could we have been so stupid?!