Gare du Nord to Gare St. Lazare

Tamara, In a "time sensitive situation", the problem with using either Bus or Taxi is that traffic could be a problem. While 2.5 hours should normally be fine for travel by Bus, I'd prefer something a bit quicker. The easiest and quickest solution would be to travel via Metro or RER. From Gare du Nord, you could walk to the Magenta station (I can't remember if the route is all underground) and then take the RER "E" to Hausmann Saint-Lazare. When you arrive there, you'll have to walk to Gare St. Lazare. Another option would be to take RER "B" to Chatelet (direction Robinson) and then transfer to Metro Line 14 (direction St. Lazare). Chatelet is a larger transfer station, so some walking would be involved there also. When you arrive at St. Lazare, walk up to Gare St. Lazare (I recall there are lots of Escalators) Happy travels!

Barring traffic issues, bus #43 and bus #26 make the trip in less than 20 minutes. The ride from Magenta to Haussmann - Saint-Lazare on the RER E takes 4 minutes.

Looking at the map, it looks like we can connect to the RER directly from Gare du Nord. Technical question-can we use a credit card (no chip) to buy tickets from a kiosk or would we have to wait in line? Thanks for the help!

Ticket machines only accept chip & pin cards and coins. I assume you will get some euro bills from an ATM at Gare du Nord. There should be change machines there that will give you euro coins. A single ticket costs €1.70.

Tamara, At Gare du Nord with a magnetic stripe credit card you need to stand in line. Hopefully you don't get a clerk too lazy to help you and tells you to go to a machine instead.

I did the journey described by Ken (from Magenta to St Lazare) a few years ago and I know I was able to catch a train to Bayeux that departed less than an hour after my Eurostar arrival. With 2.5 hours, you should be fine regardless of what method you choose. I've taken the Eurostar twice into Paris in the last 3 years. One time, I used Euro coins to buy my ticket at a a machine. Last time, I stood in the queue and just bought the ticket but I don't recall waiting long. By the way, if someone offers to sell you a ticket in the station do not take them up on this. When I was standing at the machine digging out my Euro coins, there was a young girl who came up to me and offered to sell me a ticket at a reduced price. I'm pretty sure this was a ploy to take advantage of unsuspecting tourists by selling them used tickets. Will you be coming back to Paris at some time during your trip? It used to be that you could by a carnet of tickets (10 tickets) for Paris on the Eurostar (or in St Pancras). There was a slight mark-up, but it was convenient. I don't know if they still do this.

Thanks all for the tips! Laura, yes we will be returning to Paris a few days later so it sounds like the carnet is the way to go.