arrival at Gare du Nord

I was just there a few weeks ago to take the Eurostar and had luggage. I am not sure on the exact specifics, but the station is very well marked and signs are posted all around. As I recall, the RER is on the left side of the station as you get off the Eurostar, which will be on the right side of the station. Most all entrances to the RER have ticket booths or machines. Don't worry, I arrived at this station from the Paris metro with suitcase and managed to find the left luggage place, where the eurostar was and how to re-enter the metro again.

The detail and photos and map on this page should help you. http://parisbytrain.com/gare-du-nord-photos/

Thanks Charles and Rose Helpful information. I read over that Link Rose, it looks good.

Hi, On wandering the station with luggage, Gare du Nord has no coin lockers only left luggage facilities where you have to check in the luggage. There is one way avoid standing in line to get a carnet of Metro tickets at Gare du Nord...go to the book/magazine store with the red sign "Relay." They sell the carnet of Metro tickets.

You can buy Paris metro tickets at St. Pancras Station in London.

I think you can still get a carnet in the departure lounge at St Pancras. They probably put a mark-up on it, but I still think it's worth the money to avoid the huge queues and broken ticket machines at gare du Nord metro station.

The mark up at St Pancras as I remember was quite thin. They also sell the Paris Visite.

You can also buy your carnet (10 tickets) for Metro/RER right on the Eurostar train in the lounge car. There is a very slight mark up in price from what you would pay at Gare du Nord ( I believe it was about 17 euros instead of the usual 13,30), but was worth it to us not to have to worry about it once arriving in Paris.

We always take a taxi to our Paris hotel and the taxi rank is to the right as you exit the train. There is a method to ensure that you are in a carriage near the front of the Eurostar since it is around 200 meters long. We book seats near the front to ensure we are near the front of the taxi rank, or in your case, boarding the RER. We print off a copy of the hotel website with the address on it and hand that to the taxi driver. Even thought we speak phrase book French, it's easier on both of us to have the printout.

You might be happy to know that the very useful Paris By Train is run by a young man from Vancouver. His photos are reassuring in what can be daunting surroundings.

Thanks everyone for all the helpful information. I hadn't been on here to check recently. This is good stuff. We have the options of St Pancras, Eurostar or the little shop that someone mention. Good stuff. Thanks everyone.