Eurostar > Reviews > Nice, relaxing way of getting to Paris

Author's product rating:   

Frequency of trains	Satisfactory
Reliability of trains	Always on time
Comfort of trains	Very comfortable
On-board facilities	Good

Advantages:	Quick, reliable and gets you into the centre of Paris
Disadvantages:	Time taken to get to Waterloo, Paris terminal was small .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

When I recently went to Paris with my girlfriend there were really two options of getting there; flying from Bristol or getting the train to Waterloo and then getting the Eurostar to Paris. I preferred the train but my girlfriend preferred the plane, but cost won through and due to a good deal we got through Eurostar, the train it was.

Ignoring the travel to London Waterloo, the first experience of the Eurostar was collecting the tickets. This was very simple and was done through their electronic machines and was completed in about a minute. This then allowed us to go through security and wait in the departure lounge. The facilities here were ok but minimal, a few bars, delis and souvenir shops.

The trains themselves are very long. The seats had plenty of legroom, much more than the usual economy plane seat or the usual UK trains. The journey itself went very smoothly and within about an hour we were underneath the English Channel and nearly in France. The French portion of journey was the longest but also went very smoothly. Overall we left on time and arrived on time and the journey was comfy, all you could ask for really.

The only real complaint is the size of the departure terminal at the Gare du Nord as it is far too small with seats for only about a fifth of the number of passengers that each Eurostar train can actually carry. If there were 2 trains due to depart, then I dread to think how busy it would have been.

Overall, I would recommend Eurostar for travel to Paris if you are in London or within an hour or two's travel of London as it is a much more relaxing way of getting to Paris than flying. Within a few hours you are at the Gare du Nord and can then travel anywhere in Paris. The Eurostar is nothing like most of the trains in the UK as they are clean, comfy and most important of all, ON TIME!