Hi everyone, I'm planning a trip to London and Paris in June. My partner and I land in London on June 9th, then are planning to take the Chunnel to Paris on June 12th. We will stay in Paris until June 16th and then take the Chunnel back to London and fly out of London on June 17th. I'm trying to see what would be the best thing to do in terms of train tickets. We plan on taking the subways most places everyday in each city so I wasn't sure if it was worth it to just get a 10 day Eurorail pass that appears to cover everything, but costs around $1000 dollars. Or if it is better to just buy individual tickets or separate city tickets? This forum always has such great advice from avid travelers and I really appreciate everyone's advice!
Posted by
Green Bay
20128 posts
Eurail Pass does not cover the Tube in London, or the Metro in Paris, so cross that off. I think you are best buying Eurostar tickets now for the London-Paris train and the Paris-London train. You will spend a whole lot less than $1000.
Looks like you can do it for $276 round trip for 2 with an early afternoon departure on the 12th and a mid afternoon return on the 16th. Buy them now before the price increases.
https://www.eurostar.com/us-en
For that matter, why not fly back from Paris?
Posted by
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
4046 posts
My advice: Pass up the round trip. (Also, to be petty, the "chunnel") nickname, a thing of the past. "Channel Tunnel" and "Eurostar" are much more common.)
To get back to practical advice, I suggest you consider flying into Britain and home from France, taking one train ride between the cities. These multi-destination plane itineraries are often cheaper than a round trip when you eliminate the cost of returning to the arrival city to go home. They certainly save precious vacation time. The combination ticket is for one complete itinerary, not two single flights, and priced by a multi-destination search function found on many on-line agencies and airline sites. (Or reverse it, Paris then London.)
Eurail only covers trains, not municipal transport such subways. You can check out the fares for Eurostar at https://www.eurostar.com/us-en/travel-info/eurostar-experience/the-channel-tunnel
In the London area, valuable information including fares is found on Transport for London , a government agency https://tfl.gov.uk/
For the Paris region, including Metro subway, streetcars and some buses, see https://www.ratp.fr/en
These websites detail various fare packages. Be aware that both are moving from paper ticketing to plastic. Also, in London, your ticket of any sort is used to enter and also to exit the Tube. That is, you present it twice.
If you want to take a day trip out of either metropolis, The Man in Seat 6 1 has useful advice about riding the rails practically anywhere.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Thank you guys!! This is really helpful. I agree, normally I’d fly into one city and out of another one. We were planning an entirely different trip with friends who cancelled on us recently and we already had flights in and out of London so are trying to pivot the trip. I’m glad I checked here first or would have made a big mistake buying expensive tickets that were unusable. Thanks again! :)
Posted by
Land of La
8679 posts
Use the term “ chunnel “ and no one in London or Paris will have a clue to what you are talking about.
The train between London and Paris is the Eurostar.
As you know your travel dates and to save money, best to book your tickets between the cities now.
https://www.eurostar.com/us-en
The subway in London is known as the Underground or tube.
The subway in Paris is the Metro.
Eurorail Pass won’t be of any help.