St Pancras Station for Eurostar Breaks

Since the new high speed one line was completed a couple of years ago, the journey through East London and Essex is so much faster and you wizz through Ashford and arrive at the channel tunnel entrance at Folkestone in no time. Then there’s the rush through French countryside and as you enter the suburbs or Paris, a curious thing happens. All the French people on the train get out of their seats and start getting their belongings together and queuing up in the carriage corridor. There’s still five minutes left to travel and everybody is going to arrive at Gare du Nord, so why do they do it? It’s a mystery.

Having booked the Eurostar breaks only, we had to find a hotel for our stay in Paris and that’s something I’ve done lots of times before so it’s not a problem, it’s just that there’s a little concern over getting a reasonable hotel these days since the prices have gone up a bit, year after year in Paris. If you go by the websites, then you’d think you have to pay £250 a night ( or rather two hundred and fifty Euros) but that isn’t actually the case. Simply by asking it is common to obtain a 20% discount off the advertised rate for a room, but if the first two or three hotels you look at are already fully booked, then it does make you tend to accept the first vacancy available after that so beware.

Choosing which quarter you want to stay in Paris is the important thing, and after staying in the Latin Quarter so many times we decided to try the Marais instead this time and it worked out really well. The Marais has plenty of interesting streets to wander about in, lively cafes, tasty restaurants and colourful people. It’s all there. The best way to show you how much we enjoyed our Eurostar break in Paris this time in the Marais I think is to included a bunch of photographs from the trip which I hope you enjoy looking through and inspire you to maybe visit the Marais yourself next time you’re travelling to Paris for a short city break by Eurostar from London.

I often go to France, since I like the atmosphere of the cities there and it's suitable for a short break since it is so accessible. Over the years I have spent several short breaks as well as longer trips in Paris and other french cities such as Lille, Dijon, Marseille and Rheims.

But you know, France can be very similar all over due to the centralised state and homogenous culture. It's lovely, but it's always French. So how about eurostar breaks to Brusses or Bruges or even Amsterdam for a change?

Have your weekend break in Bruges. I was wondering how to spend a weekend and came across this option: Take the Eurostar and have a break in Bruges with all those fantastic waterside vistas and ancient buildings. I aquired a tatse for flemish food when I was in Lille, so this seemed to be the next logical step for us. And there are many other interesting destinations in France and the Benelux.

Posted via email from Eurostar Breaks to Paris

My husband and I would like to book a day trip to Bruges on Eurostar from St Pancras on 12th July (our 40th Wedding Anniversary) We would like a deal on first class and we are both senior citizens

Eurostar breaks to Bruges can be booked first class to Brussels, the trip taking 1 hrs and 51 mins. Change trains in Brussels onto the half-hourly InterCity train to Bruges, no reservation required, which can be included in your Eurostar ticket.

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

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.

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…

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.

Paris Eurostar breaks are the fastest way to escape from London to another country for a couple of days.  Having booked the Eurostar tickets online, you can turn up at St Pancras station half an hour before departure, check in and be away on the most exciting train in Europe. Hurtling through the countryside and underneath the English channel you arrive at Paris Gare du Nord in just over two hours and walk straight off the train into the streets of north Paris, ready to amble along the boulevards Magenta , Madeleine and rue la Fayette. In this area it is possible to wander down a side street and find somewhere to eat, drink and sleep just by walking in to a cafe, bar or hotel and seeing if it takes your fancy. There’s no need to book a rigid itinerary unless that’s what you want to do.

Eurostar breaks for Art lovers

Paris is the best place for Art lovers who want to visit several galleries in one weekend by taking a eurostar break to Paris and then getting about on the Metro or the batobus. There are so many to choose from:

• The Musee d’Orsay – A huge art gallery in a disused railway terminus
• The Picasso museum – a collection of Picasso paintings and artefacts to rival Spain
• The Louvre – The most prestigious and famous art gallery in the world
• Rodin Museum – Sculptures by Rodin in a grand house and gardens

Rodin's The Kiss

That’s just the beginning. If you can do a little bit of reearch on the ground once you arrive in Paris you can discover a whole world of little open house exhibitions, studios you can visit, events and happenings with artists converging on Paris from all over the world for it’s inspiration and reputation. Al genres are represented somewhere in this fantastic city, it’s just a matter of keeping your eyes open and being willing to explore some of the less well known areas, making the most of  precious eurostar breaks from the very start.

I have to look at Eurostar breaks from a London perspective for now, being based in London myself having access to the St Pancras Eurostar terminal within what, about twenty minutes or so. That means I can leave work on a Friday afternoon if I’m prepared, get to the Eurostar station for about five thirty and then be on the six o’clock train to Paris. So for me, Eurostar breaks mean principally weekend breaks to Paris.

Eurostar breaks to Paris

Paris is a city you can never tire of, so I try to get in several Eurostar breaks to Paris every year. Living in London, you’d think something other than just visiting another city would be called for and to be honest, most city breaks in Europe wouldn’t hold any attraction for me but Paris is not just any city. It’s the most popular visitor destination in Europe by far, and that’s for a whole host of good reasons.

Eurostar Breaks Sacre Coeur

Take the Sacre Coeur for example, illustrated above. There are always hundreds if not thousands of tourists on Paris breaks walking around the stepped gardens, the little square with all the touristy artists and enjoying the view across Paris. That doesn’t mean it’s a place to avoid though, the atmosphere is pretty easy going and it’s a place you can return to again and again whenever the busy streets down below get a bit much, which isn’t too often either, I hasten to add.

Weekend Eurostar Breaks

Eurostar Breaks - St Pancras

I’ve already explained why I like getting on board Eurostar breaks to Paris for my weekends off, and I work hard during the work so why shouldn’t I relax in France for a day and half as often as I can possibly get away with it? It may be different for you. You might be in the enviable position of having a bit of time off during weekdays and not just weekends, which means you’re in luck. You’ll be able to take midweek Eurostar breaks and have a much more flexible itinerary, avoiding the busiest Eurostar trains and getting the lowest fares.