Travel Between London/Paris

Eurostar is your best bet especially if you can buy the tickets several weeks in advance when the discounts are the highest. The budget airlines are attractive but you need to figure all of the additional costs - transportation to and from distance airports, extra fees for check-in, luggage, etc.

Easyjet will get you from Paris de Gaulle to London Luton for seventy five bucks (base price) or so. You'd need to add in the cost of getting to and from the cities to the airports. Paris will be about twelve bucks; I have no idea about London. Eurostar.com probably has discounts for advance purchase, but might be more expensive overall, but is probably faster. The old-fashioned way (trains or either end of the Calais-Dover ferry) is more fun.

I would say Eurostar would have to be faster. Assuming a 45 minute flight, 45 minutes to get in from Luton, 30 min to get to CDG, you are at 2 hours already versus the 2 hrs 15 of Eurostar. Given any sort of delay such as having to wait for the RER, not catching the bus to the train at Luton, etc, it could well be more than this. Granted that Eurostar has a 30 minute security check procedure, with the airlines its 2 hours. I don't know if environmental considerations weigh on you, but the electric Eurostar is far greener per person than flying. Easyjet can be cheap if you buy in advance, but I would think advance purchase on Eurostar could be competitive.

I paid $62 for London to Paris on the Eurostar and booked the first day the tickets were available, 120 days before departure. Much better to take the train IMO.

Are you up for an 8-hour ride? Your absolutely cheapest way to is to take an overnight Eurolines bus and save yourselves the cost of a night in a hostel or hotel. If you book well in advance, you can get a youth fare (under 26) as low as €30. See www.eurolines.com. However, if you book well in advance at www.eurostar.com, you can get a youth fare (under 26) as low as €43 for a 2hr15min very relaxing train ride.

ditto on the early fares on eurostar[INVALID]that's what we did. i ended up having to buy a one way back from paris to london (long story) and it was more than twice what i paid for my husband's round trip! (his RT ticket was $80 USD, my one way was $222! and we were on the same train!!!) the secret to saving money really is booking as far in advance as possible[INVALID]this is true with rail travel as well as budget air travel. have a great trip!

Thank you for your advice! It has been very helpful.