gare du nord to st lazare station.

Check ratp.fr/en to see if there is an issue with the RER E (I think there is work being done now until mid-October but I am not sure). At Gare du Nord, walk towards the front of your Eurostar train and exit to the main station concourse. The Métro and RER (suburban trains) entrances are on your left – just look up and follow the signs for RER Line E. From Gare du Nord, take the RER line E to Gare Saint-Lazare. Take the line E trains towards Haussmann St Lazare (your stop). If RER E is not running between the stations, you can take Bus 26 but I would take a taxi. You can get step by step instructions for connecting from Gare du Nord to Gare St-Lazare including directions for how to find the legitimate taxi line at http://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/travel-information/connections-information/travel-through-france/paris/connecting-gare-saint-lazare

Coming from London? So you've got luggage? Just take a taxi.

Having luggage does not necessarily require one to take a taxi. I see people all the time on Parisian trains and buses with luggage and I have done it myself without any problem or hassle. Having more luggage than one can easily manage then, sure take a taxi. But if you can manage the London Underground you should be able to manage a one stop ride in Paris. If you decide to take a taxi at Gare du Nord, do not accept any rides from people who approach you and be sure to go the correct taxi pick up line. There have been reports on other forums about people getting ripped off by drivers at Gare du Nord who had metered taxis. In those cases, it seems like, from what I can gather from the reports, the passengers did not not exit Gare du Nord at the official taxi stand area.

JHK, thank you for the information. I have not been able to find the in depth information you spoke of in the Eurostar site but I will keep looking. And Tim, yes we r coming from London and we do have luggage but as JHK said that doesn't mean you have to take a taxi. We have a rule that you have to be able to manage your own luggage by yourself so we travel with a carry on :) I think we have roughly 2 hours to get off the eurostar, locate the next train and buy a ticket. Let The Games Begin :)

Whichever way you do it that should be plenty of time.

You can get a carnet (recommended) or a Paris Visite (strongly recommended to carefully check if the numbers add up - unlikely in your case) both onboard the Eurostar at the bar cars and in the departure lounge while waiting for your train to be called in the Eurostar area of St Pancras, on the right hand side just across from the Caffe Nero. In both places they add a small fee, but for the convenience of no lines, ability to pay in either currency, and fluent English (mostly) they are much easier than lining up in Paris.

Be sure to check in plenty early at St Pancras International.

According to the current update, you will be one day ahead of the major disruption in Belgium affecting all trains into Belgium - which won't affect you.

You may be affected by the Nationwide strike by SNCF starting at 1900, depending on your arrival time in Paris and time of your train from St Lazare.

The text of the Eurostar statement regarding the SNCF strike tomorrow reads:=

SNCF Industrial action from Wednesday 7th October 2015:

Industrial action is planned in France from Wednesday 7th October at
19.00 CT until Friday 09th October at 08.00 CT.

Most French high speed services are expected to run as normal, with
some regional trains affected.

For more information on specific French rail services affected please
check www.infolignes.com.

Eurostar services will be running normally.

if you have a smartphone/tablet, try to download the RATP app (Paris' official transportation company). From there you can put in your starting and ending locations (and there are prompts so just typing the first few letters of the stations you want will cause the full name to appear as an option to choose) and plan your journey. There are a few different combinations you can try, like faster route vs less walking vs no bus option, etc... It will give you step by step directions, and even a little map. I used that app faithfully while in Paris this summer and it's awesome.

Hi,

You basically have three choices on public transportation from Nord to St Lazare. I've done it by bus #26 as pointed out above, which you board at the bus station just outside of Gare du Nord. It's also opposite of the big Nord Terminus Hotel. The other choice is the RER E, have taken that too to get to St Lazare. But I was without luggage. Since you have the luggage, forget the Metro option. My suggestion is to take the RER, much easier to get on with luggage. You won't be the only ones getting off at St Lazare with luggage.

Thank you one and all for the information. Our plan is to take the rer and buy our book of carnet ahead of time. I need to double check out tickets but I think the strike will not affect us....unless they just stop the train wherever it is when the strike occurs????? One last question. ...what is the easiest way to buy the ticket for the rer? Self service machine, etc.

Hi,

I believe the Metro ticket is good for the RER from Nord to St Lazare.

If you buy your carnet ahead of time just use the first t+ ticket off the top of the pile for the RER. Keep it with you on the trip, you will need it to exit the RER at the other end.

Thank you everyone..we made it!!! Finding the eurostar was very easy only "blimp" was I got my refund from my oyster card via a machine and it gave me pounds. I was hoping to just get a credit on my credit card but a few pounds for another trip does not hurt :) we did buy a book of carnets for 15 euro but we had to use a credit card (only form of payment they would take) and it looks like our bank is converting using pounds not euro so that made 10 carnets was 22 plus dollars but it was nice having them in hand for the rer train. The other mistake we made was carrying our luggage up 66 steps....I uttered a "oh shit" when I got to the top and saw the escalator we obviously missed :)

".I uttered a "oh shit" when I got to the top and saw the escalator we obviously missed :)"

Ah yes - I've made that mistake many times in many places. I now try to look a few times, or ask, before assuming there's no elevator or escalator.

Lol and I thought I was the only one that counted the number of steps when I hauled myself with or without luggage up and down the metro station steps. Glad you made it safely ;)

Glad to know we are not the only ones that have missed the escalator! I am use to carrying my bags up and down stairs while changing trains, etc. I should have known there was another option when I saw the stairs because I have never had to carry my bags up that many stairs, usually it is just a flight of stairs at the most :) Does make for a good travel story though.

I usually do not count the stairs, there were just so many I thought I would just concentrate on the counting and not look up!

Did I mention we are 62 and 74? LOL...can't call us whimps.

Good that you packed relatively light since you had to do the stairs. I did the stairs but without luggage as it was a day trip to Normandie. You're good troopers, plain and simple!

You get adept at spotting the escalator signs after a few long hauls up the stairs. We actually bought a little duffle bag for our side trip to England from Paris last week so we were not hauling a heavy bag on the Eurostar and metro.

FWIW a 'carnet' is 10 of a particular ticket -- you can get a carnet of tickets from CDG to Paris i.e. 10 of those ticket at a discount, or what is usual 10 ordinary Paris metro/bus tickets. The whole set is a carnet so it isn't 10 'carnets'. Used to be a booklet apparently hence 'carnet' but now just 10 loose tickets. (and they last forever, so save the leftovers for your next trip)