Eurostar food is it ok/ can you get other choices before boarding? Any other Eurostar tips and taxi. Tips at gare du bord

[ParisCityofknights]

As above or below !

I last went on the Eurostar about 20 years ago !I remember gard du bord to scary so I'm wondering to safely get a taxi .

And if we can't take food to the train is there anywhere to buy lunch before we get on it or will it be good food ?

I went on Eurostar last year from Belgium. I bought a sandwich on the train. It was fine - nothing special. Prices similar to airlines iirc. There should be info about facilities on the Eurostar website.

https://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/travel-info/your-trip/stations/paris-gare-du-nord#Departure-process

Where are you travelling, London to Paris?

There are lots of nice cafes outside queue at St Pancras. I like EL&N. You can take food and drinks through security unlike planes.

Brussels midi has lots of options too, ECKI does nice food.

Gare du Nord doesn't have much in station itself but nice boulangerues with sandwiches just little way down the road. not open on Sundays today. I've never been scared there, trend to just walk to central Paris.

Last time I took the train from Paris I bought a baguette from the stand outside the station. You cannot take any dairy or meat products into the uk so you need to eat everything beforehand. I haven’t travelled since this restriction was brought in (foot and mouth)

There's a small supermarket type shop inside the gard du nord now where they sell drinks, sandwiches, salads etc

I found link to nice boulangerie short walk from Gare du Nord, like another poster says you must finish eating this on the train if meat or dairy as not allowed past UK customs https://maps.app.goo.gl/fX6gqu3XotYSRnPg9

There's lots of places to buy food in Gare du Nord and several cafes in the Eurostar departure lounge itself as well as an onboard cafe.

Depending on where you are heading you can get a metro or RER train from Gare du Nord. You need a navigo app on your phone as they've stopped paper tickets. These also work on buses. There is often a lot of traffic immediately around the station, but if you really want to get a taxi, come off the Eurostar and turn right following the signs to the authorised taxi rank.

If you are travelling from St Pancras in London there are loads of cafes in the main station concourse and an M&S food right next to the Eurostar departures. After check in/security/passports there is a Pret in the departure lounge.

@DropOfffArtiste thank you !
So we can take food and drinks on?

Does the whole family need the navgo app and do we buy tickets on the app ?

I was thinking st pancreas end but gard du Nord helpful also actually as our train back will be quite late

What should I do if I am travelling in a group or with my family? | Île-de-France Mobilités https://share.google/k3uVpe6z9sRGcdlY1

All instructions here in English. Hope you have a lovely holiday!

Inside the departure lounge at St Pancras there is a pret a manger and another cafe so you can get sandwiches and hot drinks there. Gare du Nord has lots of cafes inside the departure lounge but they were a lot more expensive than the ones in the main station.

@ParisCityofknights I just went via Eurostar to France and back last week. You can purchase a travel card for the metro on board the Eurostar itself.
We got a Eurostar ticket that included food on our outbound journey . But on the return we had lunch in a restaurant just outside the Gare du Nord. We have done it a few times and there are a lot of cafes/ restaurants on the opposite side of the road. They know people are catching trains so they are very quick . Food is reasonably priced but drinks are very expensive (10 Euro for a beer , 5 Euro for a cola )

St Pancras has a food court opposite the main departure board - M and S, Pret etc - and cafes along the mall.

If you have the fancy class ticket (forgotten what it's called but depending on time of booking and which train can be very reasonable) you get a lovely time of day appropriate meal delivered to your seat. Have been there for breakfast lunch and dinner and it's always been a real treat for me. Plus in the evening you get complementary wine!

Otherwise yes there are lots of station options. Gare du Nord had lots of work done and the area directly around the station was quite lovely when I stayed there last year (give or take one corner which appeared to be filled with men selling cigarettes). There are taxi ranks directly outside as well as the Metro so you can leave promptly if that's what you wish.

I wouldn't wait to eat on the train, I ended up eating Maltesers for dinner last time as there really wasn't much else! Both stations have plenty of options to choose from.

You can take food and drink through security at all eurostar stations. Whatever you take has to go through the seciety machines so liquids in sealed containers (so buy coffee from inside the termin9)

There are no restrictions other than the standard ones for entry into the EU or UK. So alcohol is fine but there are duty free limits and the EU dont allow meat and dairy in and at the moment neither does the UK due to foot and mouth in areas of Europe.

I remember the last time we went to Paris (last year) the metro was a bit annoying because the DC don't have mobiles to get the app so we ended up all getting the cards instead.

Gare du Nord I feel has improved lots - there's a nice Starbucks, a whsmith type shop for magazines and souvenirs and a playground directly outside (or I could be confusing it with Gare du Lyon)

@IHateAlzheimers just ordinary tickets here but that sounds wonderful

You can take any food you like onto the train. You just can't leave the train with any uneaten food that can't be imported into your destination country. We took a big shopping bag of loads of different kinds of foods (family of fussy eaters, no two people eat the same things) and just binned the leftovers before we disembarked.

The on board food is fine for quality but expensive and very little that met the requirements of some members of the family. Take your own food, you'll be fine.

@DropOfffArtiste

You need a navigo app on your phone as they've stopped paper tickets.

We went last week, at the Navigo ticket machines at GdN we bought a Navigo pass ( a tough waxy paper card just smaller than a credit card ) and loaded it with 7 journeys. Paid with credit card contactless at the machine.
Each one way journey on the Metro is €2.55, but so is the RER double decker train out to Versailles.

We used Les Frenchies YT channel as research for the 3 full days we were there.

Notre Dame - we joined the end of the queue at the far end ( away from ND ) of the square but we were walking inside just 15 minutes later.

I always take an M&S picnic onto the train. I’ve never been stopped. Just make sure you eat it on the train if it’s meat/dairy.

I would get a meal or snacks at St Pancras, the onboard food is OK but limited and they can run out if it’s a busy service (when I went in February, they’d run out of G&Ts 😮).

They sell the card Navigo easy tickets at the onboard buffet bar, preloaded with two single tickets. You can then top them up via the Bonjour RATP app on a mobile phone. The old “carnets” of paper tickets are gone. Don’t ask me why they can manage contactless cards on the metro yet…

If getting the taxi, only get it from the official taxi rank. Beware of touts trying to get you to take a taxi at the Eurostar platform exits.

@tanstaafl that's so helpful thanks does each person get them ? Or one for a family it maybe old news but ive read they have people watching for rappers and if you do the wrong thing it can get quite scary.