Hi! I'm trying to plan my June honeymoon. We originally planned to use our miles to get a free ticket to Paris, spend 3 weeks in France and fly out of Brussels.

Well, silly me--we waited much too long to reserve our flights, and now there are NO flights into France for our dates (or even within 5 days.) The closest United can get us there is to London, and leaving out of Amsterdam. My fiance is still dead set on going to France though--neither or us have ever been, and he's always wanted us to go to Paris for our honeymoon.

Can someone tell me about traveling between London-France-Belgium-Netherlands? How much will train travel end up costing? Would it just be better to go round-trip thru London?

Thanks!

Between London and Paris, most people would use the Eurostar train. I gather prices can vary dramatically depending on how far in advance you book, etc. But if you're not plannning on stopping in London, there are discount airlines that fly b/w the 2 cities that would work. BMI and Easyjet are 2 that fly London/Paris. Here's another thread on that

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34732514

whichbudget.com is a good website for checking budget inter Europe airlines.

I think you'll find that travel between those places is pretty easy and reasonably priced. Last year, we took the Thalys train from Paris to Amsterdam, and it was a lovely trip. I think our tickets (purchased in advance) were just over 100 euro. We also took a BMI flight from Amsterdam to London, and that was very inexpensive -- less than 50 euro.

Personally, I prefer the train, so if it were me, I would take the Eurostar from London to Paris. Then, take the Thalys to Brussels (if you want to stop there) or on to Amsterdam. If you haven't spent time in Amsterdam, I highly recommend spending a couple of days there. It's a lovely city.

You'll be fine. Travel between all those places is very easy.

The Eurostar is great -- but ONLY makes sense is you want to spend some time in London. If you want to get straight to Paris - then you can catch a frlight from your London airport into CDG.

Are you flying into Heathrow or Gatwick? The train leaves from the center of London so after landing at LHR or LGW you'd have to travel into London and then transfer to Waterloo station and on to the train to Paris. By the time you did all of that you would have already landed in Paris.

So if you want to spend a couple of days (or more) in London - take the train. If you want to get to Paris ASAP then fly. Flying will often be cheaper than the Eurostar.

Travel from Paris to Brussels and then Amsterdam is easy by train. Or you can fly from Paris to Amsterdam.

Your plans are to spend your honymoon in France. If you've suddenly been seized by a desire to experience the complexity of London's infinite travel options as well, fine.

Otherwise, forget about train and forget about Easyjet, both of which are long-winded and, by the time you've paid for surface connctions, expensive ways of getting to Paris. UA flies only to Heathrow: the only sensible way of getting from Heathrow to Paris is to fly on BA, Air France or bmi. Which of these is best value changes by the second, but you'll probably find the mechanics easiest with bmi, which is a Star Alliance partner of UA.

Folks, tmway is flying into London on frequent flyer miles because there are no frequent flyer seats to Paris left on workable dates. Please don't fly off the subject! Train travel between London, Paris and Amsterdam is easy, fast and pleasurable. Paris is a great place for a honeymoon. Congratulations. Come and enjoy!

As far out as the SNCF site would go, way short of June, London to Paris roundtrips with a couple week stayover were available for as little as 70 euros. But someone who uses the train frequently may be be able advise you on what to expect in June.

Sorry, it's my head that's in the clouds this morning. Please accept my apologies!

As for the relative merits of air and train travel between London and Paris, is it harder to get from Heathrow to the London TGV station than from Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport to Paris?

Dave_in_Paris: No one even mentioned having FF tickets to Paris. It is VERY easy to book a separate ticket LHR to CDG. Nothing to do w/ their ff tix.

And yes, it is harder to get from LHR to Waterloo than it is from CDG to central Paris. It would either require a tube or train/tube journey w/ at least one change of lines or a very expensive cab ride of an hour or more. There is no direct train service from LHR to Waterloo similar to the RER in Paris.

Flying they get off one plane - and can most likely check their luggage through - and make an easy transfer to another terminal. Changing planes at LHR is easier than doing so at CDG.

If the OP wants to spend some time visiting London, the Eurostar makes sense. But it seems like they are flying into London simply because that is what they could get. If the trip is for Paris/France - then they should fly.

couldn't agree more
and if you can't book with miles, bmi now do bmibaby fares on the lhr-cdg route, so it would probably work out not much more than easyjet anyway.

The best Eurostar train (London-Paris; Brussels-London) fares must be reserved weeks in advance to guarantee a low fare - could pay lots more on the spot. Fares start at $90 one way or round trip to Paris or Brussels (but can't mix arrival and return cities), as low as $45 if under 26. Can reserve up to 9 months in advance but cheap fares are often non-refundable, non0returnable so be sure of you times. I always suggest contacting BETS (800-441-2387) who i go thru - Linda there is a wizz at booking low fares even when they may not be available on www.eurostar.com or raileurope.com - two other sources for info on Eurostar tickets in US dollars. For thalys tickets best deals are on www.thalys.com. Amsterdam-Brussels just buy at the station in Amsterdam - no need to reserve. Thalys and eurostar have mandatory reservations.

If you want to stick your initial plan of 3 weeks in France, then fly to London on your ff points, and immedately connect to another one way flight to Paris. Flanneruk indicated the airlines that fly out of Heathrow, he is absolutely correct, you don't want to waste your time changing airports or getting all the way to the train station. You should be able to get an inexpensive one way flight on these carriers if you watch for sales. Just be sure to leave your self several hours of connection time.

Amsterdam is a very easy and not very long train ride from Brussles. Tweak your itinerary to allow a few days at the end of your trip in Amsterdam and fly out from there.