Introducing
Eurostar...
Eurostar is the
high-speed passenger train from London to
Paris via the Channel Tunnel. In London, Eurostar now leaves from
the beautifully-restored St Pancras station, and in Paris it
arrives at the equally historic Gare du Nord in the city
centre. Eurostar
runs every hour or so throughout the day, taking just 2
hours 15 minutes now that the whole UK
high-speed line has been competed between London and the
Channel Tunnel. On the special high-speed
lines, Eurostar reaches 186 mph (300 km/h). From
central London to central Paris, Eurostar is faster than
flying as well as more comfortable, more convenient and more
reliable. It's not surprising that Eurostar has now
captured over 70% of the London-Paris market from the
airlines...
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A
Eurostar at St Pancras International...
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Eurostar
1st class...
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Eurostar
2nd class...
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Eurostar fares are like airline fares. You must book
in advance for the cheapest seats, if you wait until the day
of departure it will cost you a lot more. If you book
early, London to Paris fares start at £59 return 2nd class
or £149 return 1st class (limited but reasonably good
availability at these prices, no refunds, no changes). There are no Eurostar services on
Christmas Day. Some Eurostars stop at Ashford in Kent,
many call at Lille in Northern France, a few call at Calais
Fréthun station a few kilometres outside Calais.
One-way fares on Eurostar...
There has always been a problem with one-way fares on Eurostar.
If you ask for a one-way journey you will normally only be offered an expensive
£155 business-orientated fully-flexible one-way
fare, even when a cheap £59 return is available
on the same train! However, as of October 2007,
Eurostar have at long last introduced an affordable £44
one-way fare, at least on a trial basis. This can be bought online at
www.eurostar.com. If you can't find this £44 fare,
the time-honoured method of travelling affordably one-way on
Eurostar has always been to buy a return ticket and throw
away the return portion after using the outward part.
There are no problems in doing this, as everybody does it!
See this
advice on buying one-way Eurostar tickets.
If you're only
going from London to Paris, the easiest
and cheapest way to buy tickets is online at
www.eurostar.com. Tickets will be sent to any UK
address or you can choose to pick up tickets at the station
before departure (useful if you live in the USA, Canada,
Australia and so on). You can also book by
calling Eurostar on 0870 5 186
186 (+870 5 186 186 from outside the UK). Eurostar
bookings now open 120 days (4 months) before departure. If you are going beyond
Paris,
www.eurostar.com can book tickets to the most popular
destinations in France, although it is often better to book
journeys beyond Paris at
www.raileurope.co.uk
or
www.voyages-sncf.com as
explained below.
Eurostar moved to St Pancras on 14 November 2007...
The final section of high-speed line between London and
the Channel Tunnel opened on time on 14 November 2007.
Eurostar now uses St Pancras as its London terminal,
no longer leaving from Waterloo. An all-new Eurostar
timetable has been introduced and the London-Paris
journey time has been cut to just 2 hours 15 minutes, city
centre to city centre.
PDF format timetable for the new Eurostar service,
November 2007 to July 2008 What's it like on board Eurostar?
What's the journey like?
See the Eurostar page for more information about
Eurostar, including station facilities at St Pancras, checking in, luggage arrangements, food
and drink on board, and an account of the Eurostar journey. You must check-in for your Eurostar at least 30
minutes before departure (15 minutes for 'Business first'
ticket holders), to allow time for a security check before
accessing the terminal departure lounge. There is a virtual tour of Eurostar at
www.eurostar.com.
The environmentally sound way to travel...
Eurostar has
commissioned research estimating that a trip from London
to Paris on a Eurostar train emits 11 Kg of CO2 per
passenger, over ten times less than the 122 Kg per
passenger emitted by a London-Paris flight. In
addition, planes emit the CO2 directly into the upper
atmosphere, where it does 2.5 times the damage of the same
CO2 emitted at ground level. Another good reason for
treating yourself to a train journey!
More information on the
environmental impact of trains versus flights.
City breaks to Paris (Eurostar + hotel):
You can find short breaks to Paris combining Eurostar and
hotel at
www.eurostar.com and
www.lastminute.com. This is often cheaper than
trying to book Eurostar and a hotel separately
(allegedly, buying a hotel-inclusive deal can sometimes
be cheaper than buying a normal Eurostar ticket on its
own, if all the cheaper fares have sold out). To
pre-book city tours or evenings out whilst in Paris, try
www.isango.com
It's still possible
to travel from London to Paris by train and ferry if you
want. It takes about 9 hours,
and you now have to buy separate train and ferry tickets.
Taking train and ferry also normally costs
more than a cheap return ticket on Eurostar. But on
the plus side, you get to sail across the English Channel
from the White Cliffs of Dover, you avoid going through
the Channel Tunnel if that's an issue for you, and if you
have to travel at very short notice when all cheap
Eurostar tickets are sold out, it can sometimes be
cheaper, as the domestic trains and the ferries are both
basically a 'walk up, buy a ticket and hop on' type of
service. For more information,
see the London to Paris
by train and ferry page.
UK towns & cities to Paris
with a Eurostar 'through ticket'...
You can now buy through tickets from 68 UK towns and cities to Paris,
at the
Eurostar website.
Click here to see the range of UK places served by the new through tickets,
and book online. Generally (though not always), this is the cheapest
option.
UK towns & cities to Paris
with separate Eurostar & UK train tickets...
Alternatively, you can buy a train ticket to London
separately from your Eurostar ticket. You can either
buy a normal domestic ticket, at whatever the cheapest
price happens to be, or you can buy a ticket to a
destination called 'London International', designed for
use with Eurostar tickets. There are European Open
or Saver fares from most UK stations to 'London International
CIV',
which include the Underground
fare across London to St Pancras (if required) and which
generally have
few or no time restrictions. This is the
major advantage, as it means you can travel affordably
even in the Monday-Friday business peaks if you need to
connect with a Eurostar. To check prices from your
local station to London International, and to buy these
tickets online, see the
How to
buy train tickets page.
West of England or South Coast to Paris...
If you live in the West
Country or along the south coast, also consider a ferry crossing
from ports such as Plymouth, Poole, Southampton or Portsmouth
to France, then a train
onwards to Paris. Step 1, check ferry routes, times and fares at the
Seat61 Ferry shop, or at
Brittany Ferries,
www.ldlines.co.uk
or
www.condorferries.co.uk. Step 2, check UK
train times from your local station to the UK port using
www.nationalrail.co.uk.
Step 3, check French train times and fares from the French port to Paris, and book online, at
either
www.raileurope.co.uk
(in English, for UK residents) or
www.voyages-sncf.com (English button at the bottom).
Allow at least an hour, preferably 90 minutes, between train and ferry on both
sides of the Channel.
Scotland to Paris...
You can book through
tickets from Glasgow or Edinburgh to Paris by daytime inter-city train &
Eurostar at the
Eurostar website. Alternatively, a time-effective way to avoid flying
is to hop on the overnight Caledonian Sleeper from Inverness, Aviemore,
Aberdeen, Perth, Dundee, Glasgow, Edinburgh to London, then take a morning
Eurostar to Paris. See the Caledonian
Sleeper page, then book Eurostar separately at the Eurostar website.
Allow plenty of time to cross London, including time for the Eurostar check-in
and any delay to your sleeper train from Scotland to London.
Northern Ireland to Paris...
You can buy a
Belfast-London combined train+ferry ticket using
the booking form on the Northern Ireland page, which also has timetables,
fares & advice for this journey. Then book Eurostar separately using the
online booking form above. Allow plenty of time to cross London, including
time for the Eurostar check-in and any delay to your train from Stranraer or
Holyhead to London.
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London ► Calais & Lille by Eurostar...
Regular Eurostars link London with
Lille (Lille Europe station, an easy 500m walk from Lille city
centre) and a few Eurostars call at Calais Fréthun, a couple
of miles from the town of Calais itself. Go to
www.eurostar.com to check times, fares and to book online.
The other way to reach Calais is by train and ferry via
Dover, see the London to
Paris by train and ferry page.
London ► Boulogne, Etaples, Le Touquet, Amiens & Northern France...
The easiest way to reach any of these
places is to take Eurostar from London to either Calais
Fréthun (though only a few Eurostars call here) or Lille
(served by regular Eurostars throughout the day), and change
there onto a French regional train. The good news is
that the online system at
www.raileurope.co.uk
(in English for UK users, tickets sent to any UK address) or
www.voyages-sncf.com (in several languages, tickets sent
to any European address) can book both the Eurostar and the
regional French train. The not-so-good news is that
neither of these websites is very good at identifying journey
opportunities. So the best way to check train times and
buy tickets is this:
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Go to the German Railways all-Europe
online timetable,
http://bahn.hafas.de. The English button is at upper
right. This system is excellent at identifying journey
opportunities, even ones which involve a change of train.
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Enter 'London' and your final
destination, for example 'Boulogne', 'Amiens', 'St Quentin',
Le Touquet or 'Etaples', whatever...
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Find a journey option that looks
suitable for you, and make a note of the trains. Some
suggested journeys will involve a change at Lille (often
involving an easy 500m walk between Lille Europe station where
the Eurostar arrives and Lille Flandres station), some a
change at Fréthun and occasionally even a change in Paris (via
Paris is admittedly a long way round, but it can sometimes be
a better bet).
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Now go to at
www.raileurope.co.uk
(in English for UK users, tickets sent to any UK address) or
www.voyages-sncf.com (in several languages, tickets sent
to any European address), and first book the Eurostar from
London to Calais Fréthun or Lille and back.
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Still at
www.raileurope.co.uk
or
www.voyages-sncf.com, click 'add another ticket' and book
the regional train from Calais Fréthun or Lille to your final
destination and back.
The train & ferry alternative...
Alternatively, you can travel from
London to Calais, Boulogne, Etaples or Amiens by ordinary
domestic train to Dover and ferry to Calais,
see the London to Paris by
train and ferry page for more information.
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