from les halles hotel to gare du nord

If you will already have your tickets (is it the Thalys high-speed train to Amsterdam?), you won't need to be at the station much ahead of time. But you will need to allow for getting to the Metro or RER station, waiting for and getting on that train, making the journey (six stops on Metro line 4, one stop on RER B), getting upstairs into Gare du Nord, and getting to the platform for your 8:25 train.

I'd strongly recommend the RER "B" train over the Metro for this trip. The fare is the same for each (and, yes, you'll all need tickets, which you can buy in advance). Paris by Train has info about both options, plus Gare du Nord. Either train will be crowded and you'll want to take care with your luggage. A taxi might take a little longer, or might not. It will cost a little more, but be a lot more convenient and probably about as fast, especially if you order it ahead of time.

I don't think you can afford the time for the hotel breakfast that morning. If my wife and I were doing this, we'd have the hotel arrange for a taxi to pick us up about 7:00, or 7:30 at the latest. That would give us a good margin for possible delays and traffic. We'd have a quick breakfast at Gare du Nord if time allowed, or eat on the train (if it's the Thalys they have a snack bar). We're especially conservative about these things (well, she is), but we wouldn't be managing kids as well as ourselves.

Spring for the taxi, let breakfast wait till you can enjoy it!

Monday morning traffic in August that early in the morning between Les Halles and Gare du Nord will be about zero.

I'm also of the type who would skip the hotel breakfast and use that time to get to the train station - once you're safely there, you can buy breakfast items in the station and take them on the train. (that will be better than whatever plastic food they are selling on the train.) For a train that departs at 8:25, there's no way I would sit my four-person family down to breakfast at 7 am, knowing that it would take at least a good half hour and then you have to go back upstairs and get bags, go to bathroom one last time, etc. etc. you're better off leaving the hotel 7:15 or so and getting to the station early.

And really you're so close, relatively speaking, to Gare du Nord, that I don't know that i'd mess with the metro. It would take you longer to get down into and come back up out of the metro . . .you might as well hop in a cheap cab and just skip over there. (By the way, the metro won't be crowded, either, that early on an August morning -- it's a totally different game on the metro in August than any other time of the year.)

Just my .02!!

OK thanks, that's kind of what I was thinking about the cab... might just be easier all the way around. Metro or train ride is short, but adding in all the walking to get to it... yes we have the tickets already for a Thalys train, but still, better to be early.

We will just grab a quick cab I think and then pick up breakfast for the train. I am guessing Gare du Nord is a big place and will have food? Although my kids eat usually before I can even sit down... so we will head to the lobby to pick up at 7:15am taxi and they can scarf and food they want between 7-7:15! Husband and I will wait and eat in a more civilized manner on the train. :)

Thank you!!

for travel purposes kid tickets for the metro are available for kids aged 4-9. 10 and older are adults for transportation in Paris.

I'd take a cab with 4 people and I would aim to be there half an hour to 45 minutes ahead in order to buy a picnic to take on the train -- breakfast rolls and juice and such and also maybe sandwiches for later and water etc. There is a bar car on the Thalys but you will do better on selection at the station. I do remember getting yogurt on the train and you can get coffee and drinks.

While the specific track may not be up until about 20 minutes before departure, I like to be sure I am there early enough to account for mishaps along the way. 4 people missing the Thalys would be a petty catastrophe as walk up tickets are about 3 times what you probably paid getting them well in advance. The Thalys goes from platforms towards the center of the array and they always use the same 3 or so tracks next to each other.

Yes good advice, thanks everyone. We will just plan to arrive pretty early - you are right I definitely don't want to miss and get new tickets because the ones we have I got dirt cheap 90 days out! :)

Thank you!!!

PS - Janet I was looking at your travel blog for Spain - we may be heading there over Spring break 2016 for a soccer trip and want to add on some of southern spain, especially Ronda! :) I enjoyed reading it!