Travelling to Paris - not Disney

[Dimplenose]

I hope you don't mind me asking a non-Disney question here but you've come up with some good Eurotunnel advice for me in the past.

This is a bit of a long question.
I'm planning to travel alone to Paris to meet a friend there.

I don't know whether it would be best to fly or take the train.

My local train service goes into to Waterloo which until November made Eurostar my automatic choice for transport. Now it's at St. Pancras I will have to allow an extra 40 minutes for the journey (it shouldn't take that long, but I'll need some extra for delays etc.) Also I'm planning to arrive back in London in the evening (8pm ish) and wonder if the area between St Pancras and Kings Cross underground is safe for a lone woman.

DH could drive me to Heathrow in about 20 minutes but I think I will have to allow 2 hours for check in, the flights are £20 cheaper than the train but once I get to CDG airport I will have to make my way into central Paris - I don't speak French. DH will be able to meet me at Heathrow when I return.

I don't know which would be easiest/safest. The price difference isn't really enough to influence my choice.

Any recent experiences or advice would be welcome.

Libby

 

[Cyrano]

Libby, I'm sure others will be better placed to provide advice but here is my input

My brother comes to visit us for a day while we are DLP. He lives in London and always chooses to come via Paris and Eurostar. The fact that it is door to door; effectively, is very appealing

 

[Ware Bears]

If you were to take the Eurostar, is there any chance your DH could pick you up from St Pancras in the evening?

 

[ema74]

Hi there,

We live in London, one stop away from St Pancras so for us it's easy. When we first went to DLRP we went from Waterloo and decided to take the bus to get there. It was a direct bus to Waterloo rather that change the tube twice. And we got to Waterloo in 30-40mins in the London rush hour
If I were you, I'd go on the Eurostar. It's less hassle, less time spent waiting and it's more comfortable. And since you'll have to travel to Heathrow (takes well over an hour to get to the airport unless you take Heathrow Express but you'll then need to travel to Paddington), I think Eurostar is definitely the best option.

Re: St. Pancras being safe... Kings X and St Pancras in one of the busiest tube/train stations in London. It's always packed with people and it's fairly safe unless you wander around the smallest and darkest roads but even then it's quite safe. And you'll only need to go from the Eurostar terminal into Kings X and that's not far and very well lit.

HTH. London isn't as scary as it seems

 

[ema74]

DH could drive me to Heathrow

Missed this bit... Sorry...

 

[Dimplenose]

Thanks for your replies - but I'm still dithering.

It takes us about 20 minutes to get to Heathrow - which is why it is so tempting, especially for the return journey.

I am slightly in favour of Eurostar - now I'm wondering whether to go out Eurostar and home by air.

Libby