Eurostar to Paris
Discussion
Tabs said:
Going to Paris for the last stage of the Tour de France in 10 days time. TripAdvisor reviews on Gare du Nord are not very favourable. For a first time traveller there, is it as bad as they make out, especially returning?
We've done it twice, first time with a 3 year old, pushchair and luggage and second time when she was 7 or 8. Can't say that it was particularly bad at all, there's not much after check in and few places to sit, but the station before check in is huge with plenty of shops etc. Outside is a bit rough, but I wouldn't say any worse than any mainline station in the UK. I’ve done it a huge number of time because I used to visit my best pal in London regularly and made use of the old £69 day return as I preferred paris over London. He go to work for the day and I’d pop to France for breakfast. It’s a lovely way to travel, don’t worry about the reviews.
I've been doing the final TDF stage the same way for a few years and in my experience, the Gare du Nord side is better organised than St Pancras in terms of actually getting on the train - St Pancreas is utter chaos at times.
The area around the station is fine - just keep your wits about you as you would/should in any city. Paris is brilliant and you'll have a fabulous time.
However, I'm not sure I'll use Eurostar again as I woke up on Monday morning in Paris last year (with a hangover
) to find that my train had been cancelled and after many frantic phone calls, the best they could offer me was a seat on Tuesday evening 30 hours later. I had to find my own way home in order to be at work on Tuesday as originally planned and they wouldn't even refund part of the ticket. (cost me around £200 to get back on Monday)
The area around the station is fine - just keep your wits about you as you would/should in any city. Paris is brilliant and you'll have a fabulous time.
However, I'm not sure I'll use Eurostar again as I woke up on Monday morning in Paris last year (with a hangover
) to find that my train had been cancelled and after many frantic phone calls, the best they could offer me was a seat on Tuesday evening 30 hours later. I had to find my own way home in order to be at work on Tuesday as originally planned and they wouldn't even refund part of the ticket. (cost me around £200 to get back on Monday) Gassing Station | Holidays & Travel | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff