Eurostar Breaks

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Eurostar Breaks to Lille

Eurostar breaks to Lille in northern France should not be overlooked when planning short city breaks from London. We don’t know so much about Lille in the UK apart from being a Eurostar station on the way to Paris or Brussels, but the city has both an international history and a modern claim to fame in the art world and museum sector. So what is there to see in Lille of special interest to the busy tourist? Well there’s the magnificent town square first all, with its grand buildings and famous Christmas market. Then there is a classical art museum that is second only to the Louvre in the whole of France, with collections by all the grand masters.

Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille

Getting to Lille couldn’t be easier with Eurostar Breaks from London arriving in Lille only one hour and twenty minutes after departing from St Pancras. So that makes the Lille appear close to St Pancras than some parts of South or West London, let alone Manchester or Brighton. The return journey usually takes five minutes longer for some reason, maybe it’s because the trains have to go uphill to get from France to England

Lille for Eurostar Breaks

Lille is close to the border with Belgium and has been part of the Flemish state in the past, so some of the atmosphere and traditions of Lille are more Northern European than typically French, so that makes it an interesting culture to discover. It’s very much a part of modern France now though as far as fine dining and general good living are concerned. In the summer there are plenty of good brasseries that lay out their outdoor terraces in the little squares and pavements, while in the winter there are beautiful dining halls and grand hotels in which to escape the sometimes bitter continental weather.

There’s even a substantial zoo or rather parc zoologique which can be a pleasant place to while away a sunny afternoon, with free entrance, picnique spots and of course well looked after animal enclosures which delight both children and adults.

The first ever patisserie, Meert is located in Lille, not Paris, so how about that then? There you can learn how the waffle was invented and take away delicate little fruit cake creations that look far too beautiful to eat.

I’ve only just started to mine the surface of what Lille has to offer, as there is a flourishing modern art scene which would be difficult to pin down to any one specific venue, as it changes all the time but do have a look at the swimming pool, a former Art Deco public baths called simply “La Piscine”. Another is at Wazemmes, la Maison Folie which has art exhibitions and theatre on the first floor, and on Sundays the busy Wazemmes market is a huge attraction just outside the gallery.

Longer Eurostar Breaks

Eurostar breaks to Lille, being so easy to fit in to a busy lifestyle can provide a tempting taste of what the area has to offer, and I’m sure once you’ve been over and had a quick look around you’ll be dying to come back for a longer stay, maybe after seeing the Christmas market and understanding the potential for a relaxing summer break in the North East of France. I’m thinking that a Eurostar to Lille and then car hire for a short week would allow for the flexibility of a smart city break and the chance to explore some of the rural north of France.

picture credit: Peter16

Technorati Tags: Art, Art Deco, Belgium, city break, euro, Eurostar, Eurostar Breaks, gallery, Hotel, Lille, Louvre, Manchester, Meert, North East, patisserie, Piscine, train, Wazemmes, zoologique

UK holidaymakers heading to the continent on cheap Eurostar breaks helped boost sales over the summer.

The Channel Tunnel high speed train company said that the £59 return offers triggered an 8% rise in passenger numbers. That’s despite a weak pound chipping the value off European breaks and short holidays for British travellers.

While Eurostar’s overall passenger volumes for the nine months of the year so far are 0.9% down at 6.9 million, the firm said that revenues were almost 7% ahead of the previous year in the third quarter.

Eurostar said the 11% growth in outbound passengers outstripped a 7% increase in travellers inbound from Europe, with 2.6 million travellers using the Eurostar service between July and September.

There were also signs of recovery in the business market with a slight rise in the number of travellers on business orientated Eurostar breaks.

Chief executive Richard Brown said:

In recent weeks a number of our major corporate clients have eased their business travel restrictions. Although it is early days, this may be a sign of an upturn.

Prices are likely to be keener for Eurostar breaks passengers next year with other companies able to to run similar high speed services through the Tunnel to destinations in Europe.

Technorati Tags: breaks, Channel Tunnel, Eurostar, Eurostar Breaks, eurostar service, high speed train, holiday, passenger, short holidays, train

Hi there. My boyfriend and I are hoping to go on holiday somewhere in Europe to have a triple celebration (his birthday/valentines day/our 5 year anniversary). But everywhere I have looked seem to be quite expensive (£200 + for a few nights) and we are on quite a tight budget as you can tell! I have looked on lastminute.com and teletext holidays, along with other websites, but I’m wondering if anyone knows of any package deals/eurostar breaks etc on other sites? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

For £200 it would be a miracle to find a city break for two, as a European break means two return flights, which even with a budget airline company will cost about £120 minimum.

Although Sardinia can be cheap depending on where you stay, the flights there will usually cover most of the £200 anyway. (Eurostar is also extremely expensive which i have never really understood.)

Alternatively, what you could do is drive yourselves to Paris or Rouen (which would be cheaper and close enough to visit Paris during the day). Taking the Eurotunnel will set you back about £70 each way, depending on the time and date you go through it.

Otherwise, you’ll have to loosen the purse strings,

If not, somerset is quite nice this time of year…

Technorati Tags: bargain, breaks, budget airline, city break, city breaks in europe, Europe, Eurostar, Eurostar Breaks, eurotunnel, lastminute, package deals, Paris, return flights, somerset

30th July 2003 – 208mph Eurostar breaks the UK rail speed record – we will wait many years before this record is broken!

Duration : 0:2:37

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Technorati Tags: CTRL, Eurostar, HS1, Speed Record

Eurostar did a new record between Brussels and St Pancras, with a travel time of 1h43 without ever breaking the normal speed limits. Can someone explain me why their scheduled timetable has a fastest travel time of more than 1h51 and not the 1h43?
Thanks a lot

Recovery time and pathing allowance. The former allows for permanent way slacks (or speed restrictions) and any slight delays enroute. The latter allows for the fact that the train might have to give way to another train at a station or junction.

The 1h43 run was staged so that the track would be perfect and no other train would be in the way.

Basically it allows the train to arrive on time.

Technorati Tags: Brussels, Eurostar, speed limits, st pancras, timetable, train, travel

I took my mum to brussels for a treat and really enjoyed it. We stayed in Novotel and travelled there first class on the eurostar from waterloo in London.
Hope you enjoy. Your comments and ratings are appreciated.

Duration : 0:9:41

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Technorati Tags: atomium, Belgium, Brussels, City, Eurostar, explore, Grand, Novotel, Place, sights

Eurostar Breaks Online – Buy 1 get 2 nights free

Details Buy 1 get 2 nights free on Eurostar Breaks from £85pp Includes 3 nights hotel breakfast and return travel on Eurostar September /December 2009

These offers are going to be available for Eurostar breaks right up to December but only when you book online.

Technorati Tags: breakfast, December, Eurostar, Eurostar Breaks, Online, return travel

Eurostar breaks close to passenger milestone

It has been revealed that we are now very close to a major passenger milestone, with the 100 millionth customer due to check in to travel just like all the others on Eurostar breaks on the morning of Friday 28th August 2009. The lucky 100 millionth nominal traveller should look forward to VIP treatment from the English and French crew. Eurostar, the high-speed train operator launched services on 14November 1994 and now offers direct links to Calais, Lille, Paris and Brussels, as well as connections within France, Holland, Belgium and Germany. On the travel routes to Paris and Brussels from London, Eurostar now claims a market share of 75% despite competition from airlines.Richard Brown, chief executive of Eurostar, said: ‘We are proud and delighted to be ready to carry our 100 millionth traveller nextFriday. We are preparing ourselves for our 15th anniversary on 14 November and look forward to welcoming the challenges with on-rail competition from next year. However, we are confident that our knowledge of operating across three countries and through the Channel Tunnel sets us in good stead for our next 100m Eurostar travellers.’

Eurostar’s high-speed rail network now connects more than 200 British towns and cities to the continent, making Eurostar breaks one of the easiest ways to get away abroad no matter where in the UK you startout from.

Technorati Tags: breaks, Brussels, Calais, Channel Tunnel, Eurostar, high-speed rail, Lille, milestone, Paris, passenger

. . . namely that you can’t sell Eurostar tickets.

I really want to sell them otherwise they’re just going to go to waste. Any ideas?

You’re right, Ebay UK refuses to carry Eurostar tickets. But on the other hand Ebay France does carry Eurostar tickets. It seems that lots of English people have cottoned on now.
So they will probably carry Eurostar vouchers. I’ve sold plenty of Eurostar tickets on the French ebay, including signles from Londnon to Paris.
Another idea would be to simply go to Waterloo Station or Gare du Nord and sell them to someone queueing to buy tickets.
There are also a couple of French web sites re-selling railway tickets, including Eurostar (kellbillet.com and trocdesprems.com) but they are not really geared for selling vouchers but you can give it a try. Incidentally, reselling tickets in France is only legal if you sell them for not more than the price you paid.
How much do you want for them by the way and how long are they valid until?

Technorati Tags: couple, ebay, Eurostar, eurostar tickets, France, french web sites, gare du nord, Nord, Paris, railway, vouchers, waterloo station

As part of eurostar’s Little break, Big difference campaign, 15 fashion bloggers were taken on an exclusive trip to Paris to experience the difference a little break can make.
Find out more at www.littlebreakbigdifference.com

Duration : 0:1:20

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Technorati Tags: Eurostar, eurostar little break, fashion, fashion trip, little break, little break to paris, little fashion break, Paris, paris blogger trip, travel