Paris - Gare du Nord

No formalities upon arrival. You alight the train and walk out of the station.

If you can manage your luggage on stairs, take the metro. Otherwise, the cab wait is hard to predict. Be sure that the cabbie is running the meter -- if he claims a fixed fee then get out of that cab, he is a crook.

The taxi line there can have a long wait. Plus whatever time to walk from wherever you are in the train to the head of the train. The taxi queue is hardly any distance from the front of the train, though.

This is not directly applicable to the question but I thought it might be useful for a person planning to take a taxi from Gare du Nord. I have been informed by someone who was just recently in Paris that the taxi stand at Gare du Nord is not where it used to be. Apparently, there is some work being done on the station ahead of the Olympics. I mention this because information that you have about the location of the taxi line might be out of date. The location is a bit further away: Exit the train into the station walk toward the front, then turn right and exit the building and you turn right again at the sidewalk (this is the location of the old taxi stand) and walk with the station on the right toward an archway over the road. At the archway, follow the signs to turn left and then another sharp left. Don't accept a ride from anyone who approaches you before you get to the head of the taxi line. My friend who was there says she was approached several times during her walk by people offering rides. Ignore them. Or skip all of this agita and arrange for a car with https://monchauffeur.sncf-connect.com/reserver-un-taxi-vtc.

Thanks for the update JHK. I had no idea !

So, to the OP, add some time for getting to the taxi stand from what I said in my earlier post.

So to clarify, there is no customs/immigration control in Gare du Nord when arriving via Eurostar from London?

So to clarify, there is no customs/immigration control in Gare du Nord
when arriving via Eurostar from London?

No. You will pre clear Passport Control before boarding in London.

I’ll confirm JHK’s info about the taxi stand being moved. I arrived from Amsterdam on April 14th. And yes, there were touts standing right in the exit doorway to the walk to the taxi stand right beside the supposed Security guard. Just follow the arrows. You are between plywood construction panels for most of the way and you do wind up at a line with a line monitor who will wave you to a taxi. Easier done than said, lol!!

So to clarify, there is no customs/immigration control in Gare du Nord when arriving via Eurostar from London?

That is correct.

At London all the security, British border checks, French border checks are all done before you go up to the waiting room. At Paris you literally step down off the train, turn to face the front of the train and walk along the train to the front and keep walking straight into the main concourse of Gare du Nord. No turnstiles, no red and green and blue doors, nothing.

Returning to the UK you go upstairs, go through the security, French border checks, British border checks and walk to the waiting room before going down to the train. On arrival you won't have contact with any customs officers or red and green doors, but you will walk past one way mirrors where you could be observed before reaching the ground floor and stepping through the frosted glass doors in typical UK fashion.

So unless you get stopped you will have no contact with customs officers in either direction after leaving the train.