Paris to London and back, doable in a day ??
 

My friends want to do a day trip from Paris and see London quickly. Is this doable and if so what are the choices of transportaion and how long would they take. Thanks in advance.

Well, it would be a long day but you could certainly see something of London. Eurostar would probably be the best option, as it would take you from the centre of Paris to the centre of London - I believe the journey is 3 hours each way. So feasibly you could leave Paris on the first train at 6.30am, and be in London at 8.30am (local time). The last train leaves London Waterloo at just before 7.30pm, and you'd be in Paris before midnight, tired but happy! If you were realistic about what you wanted to see in London, it's a great idea. An orientation trip on one of the hop-on, hop-off tourist buses would give you a sense of the layout and architecture of the city; a look at some of the major works in one of our fascinating art galleries - maybe the Sainsbury's wing at the National Gallery - would give you a taste of the cultural life of the coutry. Lunch in a pub would put you in touch with the locals and you could even squeeze in an afternoon matinee at the theatre!

Thank you Lindsey

I have done it one time and it is tiring but worth it. I did take a nap in a park to recharge my batteries. I left on a 7 am train and returned on a 7 pm train. If you go on weekends or holidays you can get a day trip fare on the Eurostar of 85 euros in second class. Order your tickets from the SNCF website. Have a nice trip!

My vote would be it's too far for a daytrip. It can be done, but would be a pretty exhausting day. I think you would be better off doing a daytrip outside of Paris (Versaille or somewhere equally as close). By the time you hassle with train stations, etc. you would probably not enjoy London as much as you would on a separate trip in the future. We did do the London/Paris trip a few years ago but split our time with 5 or 6 nights in each city. If you decide to try the London trip though, my vote for best site is the Tower of London and the Tate Modern (two very different sites). Enjoy your trip.

You could do it. Just be realistic about what you want to see. If you took a bus tour and just drove by the main sights, then decided to visit in depth one or two places, that'd be about all you have time for. Just remember, you'd be literally "seeing" things, and not really delving much deeper. I did this the London-Paris way instead, and all it did was fuel the fire to go back and spend much much more time in Paris, which I did the next trip.

Can the trip be done? Yes.<BR>Should it be done? No.