london to paris day trip - doable?

It's perfectly do-able. Book the earliest train over and the latest one back (eurostar.com), as far ahead as possible to get the least expensive fares. If you have a good bus map for Paris, you can do your own tours for not very many euros. (PM me for info on how-to) Or you can take the hop-on/hop-off tour bus from Gare du Nord.

It is certainly doable and lots of folks do it. But relative to the expense and how little you would really see of Paris, I would save it for the next trip. Just personal preference.

We did a day trip from London 2 years ago. It is definately doable and we would do it again. We took earliest Eruostar to and lastest from.

Make sure you plan. We took subway from Gare du Nord to Notre Dame, also went to Eiffle Tower, Arc, walked the Champs and a couple hrs at Louvre (though prefer Musee D'orsay). Plan what you want to do and how to get from place to place so you can maximize your time there.

It is a busy day, but you can nap on your way back to London.

You'll get up at 5am in London, catch the 6am train to Paris, get there around 9am (you lose an hour). Spend all day in Paris, catch a late train home (let's say 9pm) and get back to your hotel room around midnight. Doable? Sure! Do you want to have to leave Paris at 9pm? Nope.

Stay overnight. Many good inexpensive hotels in Paris. Linger out in the city of light until 1am. Enjoy a Parisian breakfast the next morning and have no regrets!

We did it last May. it is Doable, but busy. However, I'm glad we did it as it gave us and our children a taste of Paris and now this year we are planning to go back for a longer period. I'd do it. Even though we walked and saw a lot that day, I wasn't as tired as I thought I'd be on the ride back, so yes I do feel it's worth it.

Corey: Yes, it will be a long day, but one filled with pleasure, and though you do lose an hour on the way over, the continent being an hour ahead of the UK, you get it back on the way home. You can always snooze on the train back .... it will be night time with nothing to see out the window anyway.

It is very doable. Just like Norma said get a good map of the metro and know what you want to see. Plan out your day before getting there, you will be glad you went. Have fun.

We did a packaged day trip on the channel tunnel train to Paris a few years ago. It included a 1/2 day "tour" of the sites and then a few hours on your own. We had planed to see the Louve. Wouldn't you know it- the museum workers decided to strike that day at noon! it had something to do with the EU and the eruo conversion from the franq. Unfortunately, this trip "spoiled" France for us. I found the people rude and the city dirty. I know we should probably give it another chance, but we just haven't been interested. If you really are interested in Paris- either give it several days now or wait for a trip when you can give it proper time and enjoy it.

Toni, I am really surprised to read that the people were rude enough to turn you off Paris.

We've been to France three times in two years (I'm soooo lucky!), and each time we spent some time in Paris. I found the French in general to be polite, friendly and helpful. They were always keen to know where we were from. They're not into the huge fake smile/grin that is common on this side, but I would go back in a heartbeat! I'd even live there if the opportunity presented itself :-)

Doable; but if 1st trip to the UK/Europe, I'd leave Paris for the next time. To do that day trip with just a week in Europe (England) would not make for a pleasurable experience. You'd short-change England, and Paris would be but a blur; and an expensive one at that. Check the Search box above right and query 'London to Paris day trip' or something similar; there are many, many opinions.

Yes, very doable. I actually asked this same question back in September and planned to do this same day trip. However, my plans changed a bit due to the Eurostar tunnel fire and I actually stayed overnight in Paris. My recommendation would be to try and stay overnight, but if time does not allow this I would absolutely go there for the day. I saw so much in the one day I was there, and was exhausted by the time I sat down to eat dinner at 10pm, but it was blissful and so worth it. Have a great time!!

I've done the trip before. We used Britian Shrinkers. They have fully escourted and unescourted day trip. Google it if your interested. Love the trip. It's well worth while. You could do it on your own also if you like. Eurostar is wonderful.

It is doable. We did it last year, but wouldn't do it again. It's just too hectic and we felt rushed the entire time.

If this were my first trip, I would spend all of it in the London area. You will never run out of things to do!

On our first trip to London, we quickly realized that our American way of touring sites - by budgeting only a couple of hours - was interfering with us enjoying the depth and richness of Europe. For example, we assumed we'd see all that there is to see in the Tower of London in 2 hours. In reality we spent the good part of a day there and could have stayed longer. The same applied for Windsor Castle, the British Museum, and just about everywhere we went. There was so much to absorb that we would have missed if we attempted to do anything else.

Also, London is so large that you will spent a fair amount of time getting around. But that's part of the experience. We loved riding the Tube with the locals and the tourists, people watching a Trafalgar Square, and walking the length of St. James Park.

In short, on my first trip to London I would focus on London and save Paris to a subsequent trip.