Have been on a couple of sites, including Eurostar, to make a res from London-Paris, returning Amsterdam-London. Have found no way to do it a s an open jaw trip. Is there any advantage to trying to do it this way. or do I just book it as tewo one way trips?
Also, while on the subject, what are the pros and cons of flying London-Paris vs train? How early does one need to get to the station for the train? How early for this type of air travel?
Thanks for any advice!
Is there any advantage to trying to do it this way. or do I just book
it as tewo one way trips?
Just book it as two single tickets.
Also, while on the subject, what are the pros and cons of flying
London-Paris vs train?
Pros of flying:
Cons of flying:
How early does one need to get to the station for the train?
Eurostar now recommends 90 minutes unless you have a Business premier ticket.
In addition to Badger’s excellent points, a huge advantage of the train is that you are traveling city center to city center. To fly you also need to factor in the time and expense of getting to and from airports. I can’t think of any reason I would choose to fly unless I was already at the airport and just transiting through.
Eurostar recommends being 90 minutes in advance at the station. That is ridiculous. It is becoming as inconvenient as air travel, but slower...
it isn't their fault
But from what I've heard they are working on increasing capacity at St Pancras.
Fly London to Paris entails maybe an hour to get to an airport depending on which one. You can take a very long tube ride to Heathrow but I think we paid $20 or so for a train to Gatwick. Then if you arrive in Paris CDG (Charles De Gaule), it's a 45 minute train on the RER B into the city and then some metro rides. Plus the 3 hours in the airport, check in of baggage, etc.
So I would take the train too.
In fact, you don't need to stop in Paris. You can take the train instead to Brussels. Or from Paris Gare du Nord (I think thats where you arrive on Eurostar) then take another train to Strasbourg, Bordeaux or Marseilles within another 2-3 hours.
Eurostar prices vary like airline tickets. I took Eurostar from London to Brussels, and I checked the dates and found one day that was less than half the price of some other days.
Flying entails wasting a lot of time at airports and getting back into city center.
Rail is more comfortable and more fun.
