London to Paris - 1 day trip
 

My husband and I will be visiting London over the holiday and would like to spend a day in Paris while we are in Europe. Is this a feasible plan? Do we need to reserve tickets ahead of time? Any suggestions would be helpful.

I did it once,about 10 years ago. I took a very early flight,got into Paris around 10:30, from Charles De Gaulle. Took the RER into Gare du Nord, them you can get either to Les Halles, or Opera, some major touristic point. I would suggest not to waste time by visiting museums, or going into atractions, but to stroll, and take the subway, and visit places as much as possible. The view from the Palace of Trocadero on the 16th. arrondisement into the Eiffell Tower, and the champs de Mars on the other side of the river is breathtaking. Buy from the airport, one pass, all the zones. It will be the best and the most economical way. during the holiday, there are street vendors selling crepes. These are huge crepes, filled with whatever you want, or if you are near the restaurant Chartier, on 7 Fabourg Montmartre, you can have a traditional meal, very simple, very cheap, in a turn of the century original interior restaurant, served by traditional Parisian waiters. You have a line, but it is a very high rotation restaurant.I was in Paris during the holiday 2 years ago. The lines everywhere were a lot shorter than any other season. Notre Dame has a beautiful creche, and the line is not so big, since is near the Seine, you can have a nice view of the Seine, cross the bridge and you are in the Ile de La cite, then the Rive Gauche.
It is doable, but if you can, you should stay overnight. Hotels are not as expensive as in London, and you can have a really nice meal, and then stroll along Champs Elysee, and see why is called City of Light.

To which holiday do you refer?
If one day is all your schedule permits it is feasible, though you may well enjoy more an overnight in Paris. I prefer train to plane - about the same total travel time (or less) and a much more comfortable journey. Transit time on Eurostar is around 3 hours each way, with the last train of the day from Paris leaving about 9:30 PM. You can check schedules and fares at www.eurostar.com but don't be misled by what may seem to be lower fares on discount airlines. The train takes you city center to city center, while to fly you must spend the time and money to get from the airport into the city at both ends.

If you are only going to do a one-dayer go Eurostar. You do need to get tickets in advance in order to get a low fare. They now have a one day fare (you must return the same day) for about $92 - check their website. Tickets need to be bought about 60 days in advance I believe for that one. It takes a little less then 3 hours and you go from Waterloo Station to Gare de Nord, both in the center of the cities. For either it is easy to take the Tube/Metro or a cab.

Hi Kathryn

I strongly urge you to make it an overnight to Paris.

Otherwise, I suggest that you save Paris for its own trip.

That plan is doable. Our original plan was to do the same, but then we decided to take the early afternoon train to Paris, sightsee, spend the night, wake up early, sightsee, then take the early evening train back to London. Either way you will have fun, hopefully. It will be hectic, but plan what you really want to see and it can be done.
When we arrived in Paris, we rode the subway to the Lourve (which was closed, but walked through the gardens), then we walked up the Champs Ellyce, saw the Arc de Triomphe. Rode the tube over to the Eiffel tower (couldn't go to the top do to high winds, but had fun watching the light show). Went to hotel late at night. Woke up early. Toured Notre Dame, La Conciergerie, Sainte Chapelle, went back to climb to the top of the Arc de Triomphe, went to the Lourve, went to train station and rode back to London. Hectic, yes!! But a lot of fun for us.
At the Eurostar station you can by Paris museum passes and Paris subway passes. Do this. It is nice to arrive in the city and be ready to go.

Eurostar sells special day trip tickets as well as round-trips in effect Mon-Thur on any train for about $90 round-trip. Though the 60 day advance pruchase requirement has been abolished, it's wise to buy as far in advance as you'll know you'll be going as these discounted tickets can be hard to get as there is a limited number sold at that price. The day return can be used any day, the regular Mon-Thu round-trip only on those days. Due to the recent opening of a 47-mile segment of high-speed line in England, travel time between Paris and London is now down to just over 2.5 hours each way. Besides being able to taste London for a few hours, you see lovely countryside in England and experience the world's fast-in service passenger train going up to 186 mph.

Here's another vote to at least spend one night in Paris.

While spending a night in Paris would be great, I completely understand the constraints of time on your trip. If all you have is a day, do the day trip.

We are going to London over Thanksgiving (11/26-12/2), and will be going to Paris on the Sunday of our trip. (I picked Sunday because most all of the tourist attractions in Paris are open, whereas it has been my experience in the past that some things in London are closed, or close early on Sundays)

I booked Eurostar round-trip for $94/person on raileurope.com. We will take the first train out of London and arrive in Paris around 11am, returning on the last train back (leaves Paris around 9pm). We plan to visit the major sights, Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysees, Arc du Triomphe, Notre Dame. Just plan to do a lot of walking - you can see so much more of the city that way vs. taking the Metro (Paris' subway) from point A to point B.

The Eurostar is great -- city centre to city centre in under 3 hours. If you try to fly, you WILL spend more time getting there, when you figure in the time it takes to get to the airport, checking in early for flights, etc. And you will likely spend more money as well, with the cost of airport transfers included.

Granted, my wife and I have both been to Paris before, so we are fairly familiar with where we are going. But get a good map and guidebook and you will be fine. Have a great trip!