Rail in London

Hi,

I'm traveling to London for a week sometime this summer, what should I look for railwise? Whats the rail from London to Paris like?


I looked at the Eurostar, seemed to me like it took as much time as Acela from NYP to Boston, but went a lot further and faster. It had NYP-BOS Acela prices at their highest, but no lower price alternative like the Regional in US. Are the lower prices at certain times? All I want to do is see the Louvre and back to London (kinda looking for a reason to take it).

harryguy082589 wrote:Hi,

I'm traveling to London for a week sometime this summer, what should I look for railwise? Whats the rail from London to Paris like?


I looked at the Eurostar, seemed to me like it took as much time as Acela from NYP to Boston, but went a lot further and faster. It had NYP-BOS Acela prices at their highest, but no lower price alternative like the Regional in US. Are the lower prices at certain times? All I want to do is see the Louvre and back to London (kinda looking for a reason to take it).

It is certainly practical to use Eurostar for a day trip to Paris. I have done it, starting quite early, going to a business meeting in Paris and returning in the evening.

If you book in advance it can be quite reasonable in price. The walk-on fare bought the same day is a different matter.


Second class is quite acceptable. There is a snack bar and a trolley service.

(Warning: a fire near the tracks in the exit from Waterloo and Victoria on Friday last caused all services to be cancelled for 24 hours. They are not flexible enough to start and finish trains at Ashford. People could have taken a Charing Cross train to Ashford from nearby Waterloo East.)

At Waterloo there is an automatic check-in - put your ticket in a machine, then a security check and a passport check. Then you wait in a departure area until the train is called. After that there are moving walkways up to the platform level.

The first part of the journey is on the third rail and is not all that fast, but once you get to Fawkham Junction you pick up the High Speed One line and whiz along. In the tunnel speed drops to about 100mph and then speeds up again once you are on the other side. The TGV Nord follows the main motorway much of the way and it is a pleasure to see the cars drop behind.
http://www.eurostar.com/dynamic/_SvBoEx ... y=UK&VT=EB