London Day Trip from Paris?

[naldridge]

I've been reading Europe Through The Back Door and in it (2010: p.76) he lists "My Favorite Home-Base Cities and Their Best Day Trips." One of the day trips he mentions is Paris from London (a 3 hr. train ride).

Has anyone done this?

I'm assuming that the opposite could be done too (stay in Paris, day trip to London), which is what we'd be interested in. It would definitely be a LONG day but would it be worth it? How would transportation work, since it would include the BritRail?

I never thought about taking a day trip to London but now that I've heard about it I am very interested. Thanks!

Nicole

[Eagle]

naldridge,

While it is possible to take a day trip from London to Paris (or vice versa), I'm not sure it's worth the effort.

Given the travel times each way, that doesn't allow much time to do much sightseeing. Keep in mind that you'd also have to allow adequate travel times from your Hotel to the departure stations (London St. Pancras or Gare du Nord, as the case may be) and the time to and from the sightseeing locations.

I suspect this would be a more realistic trip for someone that's already been to either Paris or London and just needs a few hours to see a specific sight.

Hopefully the others will have some thoughts on the matter.

Cheers!

[WillTravel]

Naldrige, I agree with Eagle on this. It would also be quite expensive for such a trip, given the limited amount of sightseeing you could do. I did a similar trip to Antwerp from Amsterdam, which is a shorter train ride, and Antwerp is much smaller and more compact, and I was still somewhat dissatisfied with the experience (partly because I hadn't slept well the night before due to jetlag).

[naldridge]

I looked at train schedules and it is possible for us to leave Paris (Nord) at 6:43, arriving in London (Saint Pancras) at 7:58. We could then leave London at 20:04 and arrive back in Paris at 23:26.

While this doesn't allow for time spent to and from the train station & attractions or the time we'd need to arrive at the train station prior to leaving London, it would give us almost 14 hours in London. Tickets look like they would be about $100 USD per person, round trip (and I've heard there would be a discount since we'd have rail passes including France - right?).

I haven't done much research on London but would there be any sights close enough to the rail station (and close enough together) that we could see a few things before heading back?

Our other option would be to finish up Paris, take the train to London (in the early AM as well), spend the night and leave late morning or early afternoon for Bruges, which is our next stop anyways. We want to do a day trip to Brussels but we could wait until our last day for that, spend the day there and then hop the train from there to Amsterdam (our next stop). This seems like it would cut down on travel (less back & forth to our base city).

This is all new to me though, so I really appreciate your help and suggestions! Thanks!

[WillTravel]

There are lots of sights near St Pancras that are good to see, and you could do a lot on foot, and also by tube. So if this works best for you, then do it. Just make sure to account for London traffic so that you get back to the train station on time. In fact, I'd probably start by doing my sightseeing away from the train station, and then gradually circle back so you aren't far away. Remember the check-in times that are more stringent for Eurostar than a regular train.

[Eagle]

naldridge,

Also keep in mind that London and Paris are in different time zones AFAIK. Departure times for trains or planes are usually listed in local time, so keep that in mind.

Cheers!