Transportation from London to Paris
 

Asking for a friend:

What would be the least expensive, most efficient way for three adults to get from London (they'll be around the airport area) to Paris. They'll have suitcases.

Thanks for your help.

Around which airport?

Near Gatwick, there's no real alternative to going into town and getting the Eurostar train.

Near Luton or Stansted airports, it's almost certainly quickest, and if booked properly, about as cheap, to fly: go to the airport websites, check operators and see what flights are costing foir when they're travelling.

Near Heathrow or City, it's quickest to fly, but probably pricier than the train. Varies by the second though, so check the best rate the operators (again available from the individual airports' websites) are offering against the best you can get from Eurostar.

Sometimes, the Eurolines bus is cheapest - but takes about 10 hours and goes from central London, so they've got to add the cost of getting into town.

If you can find one of the specials offered by a discount airline, it might be the cheapest way to do it, although the price will be much higher than the penny or £5 advertised special.

If the airport in question is Heathrow, then they can fly to CDG on either BMI (www.flybmi.com) or British Airways (www.ba.com) for as low as 38.50 GBP, including taxes and fees. Book as far in advance as possible to get these fares.

There are several ways--RER (train), Air France bus, Roissybus, taxi, private car service--to get from CDG to central Paris. The RER costs E8.10 and includes transfers to the Metro in the city.

That said, the Eurostar is the most relaxing way to go. City center to city center is less than three hours. Book up to 120 days in advance at eurostar.com. Fares vary widely depending upon day of the week and time of day. Sometimes a return (roundtrip) ticket is cheaper than a single (one-way) ticket. If so, book an arbitrary return date and throw away the unused portion.

If you "have suitcases" do check on the restrictions for the low cost airlines. They allow practically nothing in comparison to what's allowed in the US - or even majors in europe. You don;t want excess bagge costs to drive your budget ticket price sky high - or worse yet find out they're too large to go on the plane at all.

There are so many options (as you already can see from the posts) we will just confuse you unless you tell us WHICH airport, and WHEN is this trip. The "low cost" airlines are really low cost only if tix are booked well in advance.

So give us the details and we will be able to give you the best info.

They'll be near Heathrow and are going week after next.

Eurostar is likely to be very expensive, booked at short notice. BMI flies to Paris from Heathrow, with one-way "Tiny" fares around 40 pounds each (including taxes). Go to www.flybmi.com.

You might find cheaper fares out of Stansted or Gatwick, but then there would be the added cost, time and general hassle factor of travelling to another airport.

The other low-cost route is EasyJet - Luton to CDG.

Although it's often the case that you can't get good deals on low-cost carriers without a lot of lead time, now and then you can, so it never hurts to check.

Of course, check http://www.whichbudget.com to see this is in fact the case. And it doesn't hurt to check regular carriers either.

There's simply no way to tell what is the best and cheapest way without more details. Everything can vary by date, time, flexibility, etc.

Actually, it,s an easy drive from London to Paris.Hire a car. Take a ferry or the tunnel. It's probably just as quick as flying and around the same price BUT YOU ARE IN CONTROL!!

Coincidentally Leigh, that's what I just suggested to her. She says her brother's nervous about driving so I suggested she have her hotel look into the cost of hiring a car and driver. Do you think that would be a good idea? If so, can you recommend any car services?

A car and driver from London to Paris would be incredibly expensive, unless you just happened to find someone who was going there anyway and would let you tag along.

But would it be more expensive than three people purchasing airfare, do you think?

Definitely. Even a cab ride around London for 100 miles could easily cost more than 3 people purchasing airfare, never mind going to France.

Oh, well. I hope they rent a car. I think that would be the most cost-efficient thing to do and I don't think the driving will be as bad as they think.

Thanks for all your help.

>It's probably just as quick as flying and around the same price BUT YOU ARE IN CONTROL!!

Don't.
1) it will be about 6-8 hours
2) leave a professional to do the driving (in this case a pilot or train machinist)
3)renting a car one way from UK to France is going to be roughly as expensive as airfares or train tickets.

In any case - from central London, the train is much faster to paris than flying, and faaaaar faster than driving.

I don't know if it's true of all rental companies, but I just checked Auto Europe (www.autoeurope.co), a consolidator that has contracts with several rental companies. According to the AE site, one-way rentals are not allowed from the UK to continental Europe.

Obviously, the URL in my last note is missing a "m". It should be www.autoeurope.com.

Really? Gee, you'd think that people would be doing that all the time.

They'd have to get back to London to fly home but I'm sure they wouldn't want to have a car in Paris.

You are right, a car in Paris is just a bad idea. My husband and I took the train from Amsterdam to Paris, roughly about 4 hours and it was a very easy transportation system to use. I think the extra money you might pay to use the train is worth it. You don't have to pick up or drop off a car and you don't have to worry about finding your way around a foreign country. For simplicity sake, I think the train is the way to go.

I agree. We took the train from Venice to Rome and loved it.

I think that's what they'll end up doing, despite the expense.

Sorry - but driving from near LHR to Paris is simply an idiotic idea.

Only a FEW of the problems --

1) driving a left hand drive UK car on the continent

2) some rental agencies do have plans where you drive to Dover, turn in the car, take the ferry and then pick up a left hand drive car in France - but it is very expensive

3) It would take about 10 to 12 hours minimum - probably more when including waits for the ferry schedule.

4) hiring a car/drive will cost much more than 3 airfares

Those are just SOME of the issues.

Plain silly idea . . . . .

Well, janis, that's, um, why we come to this board...to ask questions.

Yes, you asked and lots of us answered.

My point was in response to LeighTravelClub's suggestion to drive it.