Train from London To Paris

The earlier you reserve your train tix, the lower the price is. For April 22, the least expensive fare is now $199. For September 22 the lowest fare is $68.
www.Eurostar.com

What must see in London and Paris for the first time?

What are you using to plan your trip? I would suggest obtaining good guidebooks covering London and Paris - you may be able to borrow from your local library. The Rick Steves city guidebooks are excellent.

There is also excellent basic information here on the website:

https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/england/london

https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/france/paris

In both cases, click on At A Glance to open a list of top sights for each city. Click on Watch for links to Rick Steves videos.

YouTube is also an excellent resource for travel planning - search on each city and you will get listing's for numerous tourism videos.

It's even cheaper to fly, and a lot faster. British Airways will get you from London to Paris is 1 hour 15 minutes, for $61. It's very possible you can even beat that fair.

If you want to stay about a 5 minute walk from the Louvre I'll suggest Hôtel Molière. I stayed there 4 nights in DEC and was quite happy. Nice rooms, great location, excellent staff.

It’s very unlikely that you could fly cheaper than the train, especially if looking to book now for September. The post above has ignored any extra charges on the flight or the cost of getting to and from the airport. And it will be a lot more hassle, getting out to the airport, the check in and security processes, immigration and baggage at the other end and then getting into Paris.
Flying would make sense if your start point is the airport. As you will be in the city it makes no sense.

It's no harder to take the tube to Stansted than to take it to the where the Eurostar commences. You will still have to go through immigration, etc. My round trip to London last weekend was $80 including a checked bag. The tube station is one floor down in the airport and takes you right into central London. They have planes every hour. I like trains, but I'd rather fly, especially when it's faster and cheaper.

British Airways will get you from London to Paris is 1 hour 15 minutes, for $61.

Plus at least an hour to get to the airport in London, plus being at the airport at least two hours prior to your flight, plus around 45 minutes to an hour deplaning and making it through French immigration and collecting luggage if any checked, plus at least an hour getting into the center of Paris.

That looks like six hours to me.

Getting between the two by train : 30 minutes to get to the train station, tops; requirement to be at the train station 90 minutes prior to departure; 2 hr and some train ride; and since you took care of emigration and immigration processes both on the front end in London during the 90 minutes, you simply walk off the train in Paris and to the metro or taxi without further formality. 30 minutes to get to your hotel, tops.

Four and a half hours.

The tube doesn’t go anywhere near Stansted. It’s a regular train which takes 46/47 minutes from Liverpool St and costs £25.

You can also check multiple departure times the same day, and I think 3 service classes. They are a bit like air tickets. Note the very early, and REQUIRED arrival time at the station for immigration and customs BEFORE boarding.

Getting between the two by train : 30 minutes to get to the train station, tops; requirement to be at the train station 90 minutes prior to departure; 2 hr and some train ride; and since you took care of emigration and immigration processes both on the front end in London during the 90 minutes, you simply walk off the train in Paris and to the metro or taxi without further formality. 30 minutes to get to your hotel, tops.

Kim, actually you only need to arrive 75 minutes early now; at least that's what our instructions were for our recent trip from London to Paris this past Sunday. But everything else you said was correct.

Security was also easier than airport security since you are not limited when it comes to liquids, and there's no need to place them in ziplock bags. The security line was very quick.

Overall, having just used the Eurostar, I would vote for it hands-down in terms of convenience. FWIW, our standard tickets were only $65 per person, as I booked them as early as I could. And I loved that I was able to book a table for no extra cost. It made it a lot nicer as my grandkids had their devices out and it was easier to eat in our seats.

I agree with Mardee. The train was a very easy and pleasant experience. I was checked in to my Paris hotel within 35 minutes of arrival at Gare du Nord using the metro.

I was able to take advantage of a January flash sale for my March 31 trip and paid only £35 for my standard seat.

Definitely another vote for the train. It was such a comfortable ride and everything went so easily. Much more room too. Have done the airline also and based on the train experience will not be flying again.

To answer your question about must-sees, these are the top sites in each, in my opinion:

London: Tower of London, British Museum, Westminster Abbey, V&A, walking along the South Bank, St Paul's (there are many more but I tried to limit myself to ones I 100% would not miss)

Paris: Louvre, Musee d'Orsay, all the sites on Ile de la Cite (Notre Dame, Sainte-Chappelle, Conciergerie), Ile Saint-Louis, Montmartre and Sacre Coeur, walking around St-Michel area, going up the Eiffel Tower, and if you have time, Versailles (again there are loads more but these, to me, are the ones not to miss)

And yes, definitely book train tickets ASAP, they get very expensive. Flying can work out cheaper but train is 100x more convenient.

Thank you so much for all your help and recommendations.

Granted I have never flown between London and Paris, given the hassle of getting to an airport from central London and Paris as a visitor, I would continue to choose taking the train. It’s great that you know your dates, so book now and the price will be very reasonable. For what to see, in London, museums (pick the one that interests you), Tower of London, Hampton Court, Borough Market, Globe Theatre. In Paris, any museum but do check out the Orangerie and Orsay, and then the usual like Versailles, Eiffel Tower, etc. As someone else suggested, get both the Rick Steves guidebooks for the cities as it will help tremendously with planning. See a show in London if you can. We stayed at Rydges Kensington in London and liked it.

Yes, taking the train totally makes sense and I already booked the train tickets as suggested. I also reserved the hotels in London and Paris as recommended on another post. The sooner, the better.
Thanks again for all your recommendations