I used the search function and found similar queries, but the answers just didn't do it for me.

My husband, 17 year old daughter and I are spending 8 nights 30 so miles south of London over Thanksgiving time.

A big reason for this location decision is we were able to trade for a really gorgeous timeshare -- 1800 sq feet and lovely. (So I'm not so crazy about spending the night at the Eurostar destination.) I'm excited to see London again and the area.

However, I keep getting tempted with the Eurostar, in particular a day in Brugges, though Paris would be fun too. We were in Paris last year, so have some familiarity. Exciting!

They are leaving me in charge of all planning. Which is fine with me.

Who has done a one day Eurostar trip from London? Did you have a blast? OR were you exhausted and feeling out of pocket?

Sure, there are plenty of things to see in SE England and London, but variety can be so exciting.

Who has strong opinions about Eurostar day trips?

Thanks for indulging this question. (Hopefully)

If you have an unlimited budget, go for it, but for normal budgets it's about the most wasteful trip no matter how early in the day you leave and how late you get back. Compute the per-hour price of actually being in Paris that day, and it's for you to judge if it's worth it - only you can answer that.

WK

My first time to Paris was a one-day trip from London. While it was great to see the city, it just wasn't terribly worthwhile for the amount of time you actually get to spend there doing the tourist thing (about 6 hours) although it did whet my appetite for more. It is terribly exhausting though. I was in my late 20s and was wiped out; I have no idea how my 50 year old mother survived it, to be honest!

I have also done the one-day excursion from Paris to Bruges/Brussels and that was similarly long and tiring. But it was fun and we did get to see places we might not travel to purposefully for a whole vacation.

It's up to you entirely, but you're going to be doing a lot of commuting from 30 miles out to see London itself and with just 8 days, I'd probably focus more on staying in and around London.

Efficacy of day trip i'll leave to others but for your daughter at least the train trip on the bullet train may be the experience. Day return tickets cost $94 thru RailEurope in US - for pounds: www.eurostar.co.uk - may be more or less. But to get these tickets you must book in advance usually - especially on Friday, Sat and Sun and often available only on earliest trains. can book 90 days in advance. In US i recommend Linda at BETS (800-441-2387) as i've worked with for years and she is a Eurostar whizz, from car layouts to booking. I'd say a day trip to Bruges is better than Paris perhaps as Paris is so overwhelming and Bruges is doable in a half day. For Bruges, all Eurostar tickets come with a free ABS ticket (All Belgian Stations) ticket where from getting off the Eurostar in Brussels you then can go free to Bruges and back. Bruges is one of the most medieval looking cities north of the Alps.

Hi G,

It's about 4 hr from London Waterloo to Brugge.

If you want to see a different currency on any version of the Eurostar website then the ONLY way to do it is to delete the Eurostar cookies on your computer, you can't just go from www.eurostar.com to www.eurostar.co.uk and expect to see prices in GBP.

What about Lille? It's a quick(er) trip and easy to do in a day. I like a one day trip- keeps you very focused! And if that's what you'd like to do, then go for it

Eurostar is offering a promotion through the Telegraph newspaper for people to book two for one tickets to Paris and other locations. It came out to 58 GBP for two people, round trip! Fantastic bargain.

http://eurostar.com/UK/uk/leisure/la..._promotion.jsp

You have to get the passwords for the promotion though, which are available here:
http://www.buyonegetone.co.uk/exclus...-telegraph_134

Make sure you follow the instructions carefully. The rates are only available on certain times and days, so if you're flexible this could save you a good chunk of change!

Hey guys,

Don't forget the Eurostar two for one deal right now. Roundtrip into Paris for 58 pounds for TWO people (about $50 USD a person)

Read this thread for more how I used it to my advantage
http://tinyurl.com/s8yap

Here's the actual information:
http://eurostar.com/UK/uk/leisure/la..._promotion.jsp
http://www.buyonegetone.co.uk/exclus...-telegraph_134

Haha, it appears Robespierre beat me to the punch!

alanRow: my old computer in the US - i go to www.eurostar.co.uk and i get fares in British Pounds so what you say is not true in my case, which is why i say to go there. Perhaps in the UK it's different but why? Sincerely.

I have twice done the London-Paris one day Eurostar trip. Loved it! I must admit I did not do too much the next day..rather tired, but worth it. Brugge is a good, small, walking city. I think it would be great for a one day. But check your connections into London..the Eurostar waits for no one.
Remember London Walks for excursions in London!

Thanks for the response and help! Byron at BETS said he could get me $100.00 (58 pounds) for a daytrip. I guess it's up to me and I'll have to think about it. Thank you for the links,, though. BETS has got to be the friendly, best travel agent around.

The 30 mile commute into London is nothing, just relaxing. Whether the $300.00 is worth seeing Brugges or spending time in Paris is another question I need to think about! Glad to see at least one person, Elainee, enjoyed this day trip. Elainee, I am a huge fan of London Walks. And Fodors!

Travelgirl2 discussed www.eurorailways.com with me on another thread. Certain dates/times (not all) were cheaper than the eurostar.com site

PalQ - From my experience, alanRow is right. I expect the reason you see prices in pounds is because, "way back when," eurostar.co.uk was the first Eurostar site you visited. Conduct a little experiment. I'll bet if you go to eurostar.com, thinking you'll see fares in US dollars, you'll see them in pounds. You would have to delete your cookies and register all over again as an American at eurostar.com to see fares in dollars.

Giselle,
We did the EuroStar day trip to Paris and I booked it as part of my USAirways vacation package to London. I've forgotten how much I paid for 3 of us.( We took our 16 year old granddaughter on a 6 day trip to London for her 16th b'day). However, we were pleasantly surprised that it was part of a tour package. I thought we were just paying for the train tickets! A coach picked us up at the station in Paris and took us on a quick city tour. Then we were dropped at the Eiffel Tower where as part of a tour it allowed us to bypass the long line for the Eiffel Tower and then we had (included) a boat trip on the Seine. We had free time in the afternoon for our own sight seeing before meeting the coach for return to the train.
This was in Dec. of 2004 and I was 61, my husband 62. It was a long day, but VERY worthwhile as a quick intro to Paris for our Granddaughter. Check out the various tour groups in London if you want to go that way. You'll see a lot in one day AND have free time as well.
Go for it and enjoy!!!
Carol

Giselle: Which timeshare resort is it? If in Kent/East Sussex it might be more convenient to take the Eurostar from Ashford instead of going into London . . . .

AlanRow + tim S- yes www.eurostar.com gives me fares in pounds so i'll correct future references for fares in pounds to visit www.eurostar.com right? But for me www.eurostar.co.uk is the same which led to my mistake - dazed and confused but now understand why alan says that. Thank you both.

Just to add that if I intend to travel Eurostar I always check the prices in USD, EUR & GBP by deleting the cookies and seeing what comes up cheapest for the particular trip I want to make.

Janis, it is Brantridge Park in Balcombe, just outside Crawley. The Michelin route guide says 1 hour 10 minutes to Ashford.

The special (rats!) doesn't extend until November.

The person at BETS told me I wouldn't save anytime from Ashford, but I can't see how that possibily could be...maybe it's a matter of how many trains stop there.

I also wonder what the parking fee at the Eurostar Ashford station is. I can perhaps find out on the web.

Thanks for your help!