Est. 2006
Shining a light on the green and gorgeous
Produced by Green Traveller Media
What is green travel?
Flight-free from the UK to Europe
Foot passenger ferries to Europe
UK to Ireland
Map of UK Ferry
Routes to Europe
Scotland to Europe
North of England
to Europe
Wales to Europe
Southwest England
to Europe
UK to Italy
UK to Spain
UK to France
Sleeper trains in UK
Train travel to Europe:
Eurostar Route Map
Under 5 hours
by train from
London:
Amsterdam
Brussels
Cologne
Ghent
Lille
Paris
Arrive same day by train from London:
Antwerp
Avignon
Barcelona
Basel
Bayonne
Bordeaux
Brive
Geneva
Hamburg
Interlaken
Lausanne
Marseille
Milan
Munich
Nantes
Nice
Toulouse
Turin
Valence
Zürich
Snow Trains to
French Alps
Require overnight stopover from London:
Copenhagen
Florence
Lisbon
Naples
Rome
Sicily
Venice
West Sweden
Train + Ferry:
How to travel by train from London to Paris, France
Travel by train from London to Paris in just over two hours by taking the Eurostar from London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord station.
Paris boasts a café culture and dining scene to satisfy even the most demanding foodie, a range of cultural attractions to suit all ages and interests, and some of the most alluring backstreets in Europe.
Yet with over 70 Michelin-starred restaurants, some of Europe’s greatest museums, beautiful open parks and endless art galleries, this is not just a city for young fashionable couples.
Flight-free travel from London to Paris:
Journey Time: from 2 hrs 16 mins
Sample timetable: Depart London 1.31pm, arrive Paris 4.51pm
Carbon emissions: 4.1kg (flight would be 64.2kg)*
Tickets provided by Trainline, which allows you to buy tickets for multiple train operators in multiple European countries. It does charge a small booking fee, but offers several useful facilities, such as a free email alert service to let you know as soon as bookings open for your chosen route so you can snap up the cheapest tickets when they become available.
How to book train tickets as part of a package with accommodation
If you want someone to book the whole journey for you or combine it with staying in hotels en route, get in touch with the travel agent Byway through its page for booking enquiries.
On Board Eurostar
For ticket types (Standard, Plus and Premier) and information on what it's like on board,
see our Guide to Eurostar
What's the journey like?
It's a direct train from London St Pancras International Railway Station to Paris Gare du Nord. It’s about 30 mins from London to the Channel Tunnel, then, after about 20 minutes, you emerge for the quick onward journey through the beautiful countryside of northern France into the heart of Paris. This direct service is a fast and efficient way to travel from London to Paris, arriving in the centre of Paris in just over 2 hours.
On Arrival in Paris
Bienvenue à Paris! Paris Gare du Nord is one of the busiest train stations in Europe. It is the gateway to Northern France, has connections to Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands, and is also connected by metro and RER to the other mainline train stations in Paris for onward connections to the rest of France and beyond. The station is in the 10th arrondissement (district) of Paris near the Canal St. Martin and the historic Place de la République, which has many bars, restaurants and cafés.
Hotels close to Gare du Nord 🚉
Grand Hotel de Paris and Hôtel Kabanel are just a few minutes walk from Gare du Nord (and Gare de L'Est so also great if you're heading out east). Rooms from about €100 per night.
Green Traveller's Top Pick 💚
Mob Hotel is a particularly environmentally friendly and socially conscious hotel that's in the heart of St Ouen, just a few miles north of Gare du Nord and close to the Garibaldi metro station (line 13). The hotel is all about being socially engaged within its neighbourhood (the artistic creations of local craftspeople are everywhere), but it also has strong eco credentials, such as water jugs rather than plastic bottles, refillable toiletries and organic cosmetics in the rooms. The restaurant is fully organic with a seasonal menu that draws on produce from farming cooperatives or direct from local producers (they also make their own honey and beer).
Eco-certified hotels in Paris ✔️
If you're looking for other green hotels in the French Capital, then these have all been certified by an accredited ecolabel: Hotel Gavarnie (near the Eiffel Tower and Les Invalides Museum) | Hotel Le Pavillion (a former convent in the Saint-Dominique area) | Amélie Hotel (2-star) | Hôtel Malar (10 minutes from the Champs Elysees).
Getting around Paris
From Paris Gare du Nord, you can take the metro to cross the city (there are 298 metro stations throughout the capital), as well as RER trains, which connect to many of the other main rail stations and Parisian suburbs. Just outside the station is one of docking station of the city’s successful self-service bike hire scheme known as Velib. The scheme allows you can pick up and drop off bicycles throughout the city at over 1,000 locations. You need a credit card to hire the bikes (a deposit is held as insurance in case you damage or loose the bike), but it’s free to use the bikes for the first half hour; thereafter it costs a few Euros depending on how long you take the bike.
Green Traveller's Guide to Paris
From the exquisite elegance of the Place des Vosges to the gargoyles of Notre Dame and the gracious boulevards built by Haussmann, it would be implausible not to love Paris. It is, of course, a city big on romance and on urban chic. And these striking factors result in no small part from the great seam of inventive energy here. Paris continually pushes the boundaries of landscaping, architecture and civic engineering. In 1889 Gustave Eiffel’s new ironwork tower was radical. Today such creative drive continues with a notably green theme. At Porte de Versailles, to the south west of central Paris, Le Projet Triangle is taking shape. A pyramid structure rising 200 metres, it is designed to optimise the generation of solar and wind power for use within the property.
For more information about where to stay and eat in the French Capital, plus local attractions and other things to see and do, see Green Traveller's Guide to Paris
Bon Voyage!
