violet2

Has anyone gone to Paris for one night from
London? Did you use a tour company?

What was the cost?

Do you think 1 1/2 days is enough to hit some of the high points?

We're going in July.
Thanks!

Indymajic

You can take the Eurostar direct from London to Paris, it takes about 3 hours. Try RailEurope.com for prices. It is pretty expensive, but if you are short on time, it might be worth it. You also can take a ferry, but you have to get from London to the Coast and then from the coast of France to Paris. I think the travel time would more than double. You could also Fly, but personally if I were that short on time, I would just stay in London.
Anyway good luck.

ira

Hi violet,

I agree with indy. One day in Paris is not enough, especially if it is your first time.

Save Paris for a trip itself.

Scarlett

Sometimes, all you have is a weekend and it would be a shame to miss even a day in Paris !
We stayed in London one year and left Friday morning, first train out to Paris. Stayed at the Lutece on the Ille St-Louis. Left Paris last train out on Sunday night. Of course, it was not enough! All the years since have still not been enough
You can see a few things, the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, it will be a wee taste to get you back asap!
you don't need a tour company, whatever the cost-it was the price of the train tickets and hotel one night + food.
Go for it~

Scarlett

I'm sorry-I meant that we left SATURDAY morning, coming back Sunday night..

janis

I usually try to discourage friends from doing a day trip to Paris - Just too expensive for too little time in Paris. But an overnight trip is entirely different - especially if you can do a saturday night stay which often gets you lower fares.

The main tourist areas of Paris are very close together and you can walk everywhere. The main sites not in the very center are Sacre Coeur and Versailles. So if you skip those two you can see a LOT of Paris in 1.5 or 2 days.

I would not do a tour though, unless you get a REALLY amazing price. Sometimes I take a tour to get really cheap fares and accomodations - and then ditch all the "tour stuff". But you can easily do an overnight trip to Paris on your own.

flanneruk

At a guess, I'd say that 70% of the 20 million people in Greater London and Greater Paris have gone to the other city for an overnighter. Lastminute.com does a range of train or plane + hotel packages: shortbreak.com (and a gazillion others) offer similar deals. European consolidator sites (try ebookers.com) offer particularly good plane rates (planes are usually cheaper, if you try hard, as they're a lot less convenient) if you stay away on a Saturday night, though many of these sites don't include Easyjet, who often offer the best rates.
Can you "do" Paris overnight? Of course not. Can you have an enjoyable time and get a flavour of life among the French? Absolutely. Is it time better spent than in London? No: any time spent away from London is time wasted, IMHO. But in this, as in all things, only you can judge what works for you. Do you need a tour company? Whatever for? Get a carnet on the Metro and just potter around

carylnco

Instead of taking the train try looking into flying instead. You save on time and money and it is definately worth it.
You can fly to Paris from London for under 50 pounds return at the moment and it only takes an hour.

KathrynT

One adventage of taking the Eurostar, though, is you depart and arrive in the center of each city saving the time and trouble of getting to and from the airports. You might save some money but I'm not sure it would be worth it.