Train from Bordeaux to London
 

We are thinking of dropping our rental car at Bordeaux and taking train to London.. We seem to think the train goes to Paris with a connection however we are confused with Rail Europe re stations in Paris ...we note the Eurostar leaves Paris Nord for St Pancras but it looks like the Bordeaux train goes to another station. Do we need to take a taxi across Paris to catch the Eurostar at Paris Nord.?

To find routes, I find www.bahn.de the easiest and quickest to use. I like the ability to see intermediate stops.


In any case, yes, the Eurostar leaves from Gare du Nord. The train from Bordeaux should go into Montparnasse, if I recall directly (I took it to Bordaux), so yes, you have to get to the other station. This isn't unusual, Paris has many rail stations as it is a big city, and trains leave from the direction most convenient (usually) to where they are going.

There are some trains that go to Lille and then you transfer to go to London, and yet others that go from Bordeaux to CDG airport where you can get on one to London. You still have to transfer at Lille on that one, though. But if you go from Bordeaux to Lille, you won't have to get across town, you might consider that. There is one at 9:23 (some days, at least), for example, that does that route and arrives around 4 pm.

I use www.voyages-sncf.com but some people seem to have problems with it. For booking, you can perhaps use www.captaintrain.com in English and to get better rates than Raileurope.

Just a minor correction. There are no trains from CDG to London. But, there are many trains from Bordeaux to Gare de Montparnasse. You can also return you car in Libourne, thus avoiding the traffic around the Gare St. Jean in Bordeaux, and get convenient TGV to Paris. You will then have to take a taxi to Gare du Nord. Allow enough time to get across Paris and get on your train without anxiety. If you are traveling during a busy time of day, a car service, such as DriveGT, might be a cost effective alternative to a taxi.

>>CDG airport where you can get on one to London. <<

>>Just a minor correction. There are no trains from CDG to London. <<

I'd say that is more than a 'minor' correction. ;) Getting a train to CDG is of no help at all getting to London . . . unless one wants to fly.

Yes - you'll take a taxi station to station.

according to the eurostar website, you can connect via line M4 of the metro:

http://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/travel...e-montparnasse

the info is towards the bottom of the link.

If you are willing/able to haul your luggage on the Metro, up and down stairs etc..

for what it's worth, nyt, the link says that there is a travellator at Montparnasse and I'm pretty sure that there are lifts and escalators at the Gare du Nord.

I suspect that the OP can check this on the internet if s/he likes.

Of course the metro is always an option -- but w/ luggage a taxi is much easier (even when there ARE lifts/escalators in the stations)

it depends on the time of the trains, JJ - if it's rush hour, the metro might be the better option.

Book your Eurostar ticket WAY early to get deep discounted fares saving hundreds for a couple over walk-up fares - www.eurostar.com. And on French TGVs book early too and at times first class is on a discounted ticket not much more than 2nd class and if not much more go in a more relaxed roomy style - for lots about trains and classes and Eurostar, etc I always spotlight these IMO superb sites: www.seat61.com - great info on discounted tickets; www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com.

If there is a train from Bordeau or Lilbourne that fits your time frame take it and then book a Lille-Europa to London Eurostar ticket - changing trains in the same station at Lille is of course infinitely better than changing stations across Paris. I'm not sure if there are such trains but believe so and would be worth coordinating with - those trains pass thru CDG airport and stop there.

PalQ's suggestion is excellent, and highlights a weakness of the Bahn.de site.

Do a search for Bordeaux-London, and you get a series of similarly-timed, apparently one-change, options.

Investigate them, though, and almost all these alleged "one change" possibilities require going to the metro, crossing Paris, then changing again.

A couple, on investigation, turn out to be more or less cross-platform changes at Lille - though since you have to go through security and UK immigration at Lille, you need to allow 30 mins for the connection. But, because getting a TGV to Lille requires a relatively inefficient, slow, routing, the elapsed Bordeaux-London journey time is always slightly longer than the messy cross-Paris version.

Far more of that time is spent dozing, looking at scenery, reading or dealing with the ghastlily mismanaged queueing system at the Gare du Nord. So the Lille version makes for a much less painful day.

Might this be one instance where floying is more convenient and not necessariy more expensive?

http://www.flylc.com/directall-en.asp

TGV leave most days or daily Bordeaux at about 11:30 and in just over five hours you are at Lille-Europe to rendezvous with Eurostar trains to London - but there are not many such direct Bordeau to Lille trains so if that one is OK get discounted tickets on it ASAP or as Michael says consider flying.

Unless you get those at times hard to get deep discounted TGV and Eurostar tickets it could cost you much more than flying let along being a lot longer.

Wow guys and gals, this is so much information - many thanks for all your input - I will print off and go through each reply. It sounds like Bordeaux/Libourne might be the best option and travel to Lille. Many thanks again.