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[Lincs Robert]

Anyone ever done it?

Fancy a city break for a few days & this came up as an idea.

[tunnie]

I've considered similar, going to Barcelona.

Morning Eurostar to Paris - Lunch in Paris - Then take one of them double decker high speed trains down to Barca and have dinner at around 8PM in Barca itself.

Certainly more appealing that flying! If not in a hurry that is...

[Mister Rog]

I've considered similar, going to Barcelona.

Morning Eurostar to Paris - Lunch in Paris - Then take one of them double decker high speed trains down to Barca and have dinner at around 8PM in Barca itself.

Certainly more appealing that flying! If not in a hurry that is...

Everything is more appealing than flying 

The only problem with the Barca plan is being sure that lunch in Paris will be fairly quick, unless it's just a grabbed sarnie. French often assume that you have at least two hours !

[tunnie]

I've considered similar, going to Barcelona.

Morning Eurostar to Paris - Lunch in Paris - Then take one of them double decker high speed trains down to Barca and have dinner at around 8PM in Barca itself.

Certainly more appealing that flying! If not in a hurry that is...

Everything is more appealing than flying 

The only problem with the Barca plan is being sure that lunch in Paris will be fairly quick, unless it's just a grabbed sarnie. French often assume that you have at least two hours !

I was thinking 8AM train from London, arrive Paris 11ish. Then take 14:30 train from Paris, so a good couple of hours for nice lunch and bottle of wine 

[Kevin Wood]

You just have to hope the overhead wires in the tunnel don't come down (again).

Did a weekend in Brussels which turned out to be very expensive for that reason. Eurostar are now with Tesco on my "wouldn't ssip on them if they were on fire" list.

If a plane crashes you can just wheel another one out of the hangar and carry on. Bit rough if you're on the one that actually crashes, of course, but life does go on. Same with ferries. Something goes wrong in the tunnel and everyone is screwed, and you'll get no help whatsoever from Eurostar, the masters of the "gallic shrug".

[Doctor Gollum]

Agreed, fly to wherever and be done. If you're feeling decadent, you can have lunch in a different city every Saturday...

[zirk]

Last time I was on the EuroStar went on the roof for some fresh air then some idiot followed me in the Tunnel with a Helicopter, had to get rid of him with a bit of Chewing Gum. 

[Marks DTM Calib]

Used Eurostar a lot and really like it, never had to much in the way of holdups and certainly no worse than what I have suffered with flights.

As for lunch in Paris, be aware that the area around Gare Du Nord and Gare Du Est is a shit hole and you need to get to Gare Du Lyon which is also a bit of a dump area (its about 10 minutes on the Metro so detour enroute)

[tunnie]

Used Eurostar a lot and really like it, never had to much in the way of holdups and certainly no worse than what I have suffered with flights.

As for lunch in Paris, be aware that the area around Gare Du Nord and Gare Du Est is a shit hole and you need to get to Gare Du Lyon which is also a bit of a dump area (its about 10 minutes on the Metro so detour enroute)

Yes I was thinking of going elsewhere for lunch, not near the stations, so trying to get a decent gap in-between services.

Option B was to stock up on lunch in Paris itself, get local wine/food/cheese etc, to then have lunch on the Barca train.

[TheBoy]

Drive instead. Nice doable in a long day if you share the driving, or easy 2 days with a stop around Troyes/Dijon area.

If you insist of anything that goes under the channel, take enough money for either an alternative home, or a one way Eurotrash ticket for when they refuse to accept your ticket due to their incompitence.

[Kevin Wood]

Drive instead. Nice doable in a long day if you share the driving, or easy 2 days with a stop around Troyes/Dijon area.

If you insist of anything that goes under the channel, take enough money for either an alternative home, or a one way Eurotrash ticket for when they refuse to accept your ticket due to their incompitence.

Not just me, then?

[Mister Rog]

Drive instead. Nice doable in a long day if you share the driving, or easy 2 days with a stop around Troyes/Dijon area.

If you insist of anything that goes under the channel, take enough money for either an alternative home, or a one way Eurotrash ticket for when they refuse to accept your ticket due to their incompitence.

Not just me, then?

Strange. I see a lot of adverse comments here about Eurotunnel. I use them a lot and I've never had any problems, and don't find them much more expensive than ferries, except for the ones that go at some godforsaken hour of the night, which I just won't use. Really is my preferred method of crossing, so I'm puzzled

[Lincs Robert]

Yep, Eurostar it is - to Nice ...

I've been to Barcelona before, don't want to see the insides of an aeroplane for a while (for some strange reason), and  want to relax .....

[TheBoy]

Strange. I see a lot of adverse comments here about Eurotunnel. I use them a lot and I've never had any problems, and don't find them much more expensive than ferries, except for the ones that go at some godforsaken hour of the night, which I just won't use. Really is my preferred method of crossing, so I'm puzzled

I too used to be a fan - it made Brakkers to Montpellier an easy run in a day, without having to hammer it all the way. Used many, many, many times, with no issues beyond the usual 1-2hr delays that seem to plague it.


But they will do *anything* to invalidate your return ticket, so they can arse rape you on the return €299 one way.  And the promises that "Customer Services will sort it all out when you get home" is crap, as like Chinese Ebay Sellers, all of a sudden they lose the ability to speak English.


The time "saved", assuming no delays, isn't really a saving, as the ferry allows you to grab a meal, thus not have to stop again for food.

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

It goes to French France. Therefore I would rather take an angle grinder to my gentleman vegetables.