Day trip to Paris by train - any way of doing it cheaply?

[minxthemanx]

I'd love to take the DC to Paris for a day on Eurostar - we're only about 35 minute drive from Ebbsfleet. The best price I can get on Eurostar in June is £479 return, which is way too much. Anyone found any tips/websites that might be more competitive? I've tried seat51.

I went to Paris for the day with some girlfriends. We went from Ebbsfleet for £69 - had a fantastic time and didnt feel too rushed. To get the £69 fare you need to book fairly soon after the seats become available. See how far in advance you can book at the moment - I think we booked about 10 weeks before and went on a Sunday as it was cheaper.

Have you tried the train and ferry each way? Will be slower but may also be cheaper.

Or even the coach? I chickened out of such a trip years ago because it was so slow but as a one-off it might be possible.

Yes the £49 each way seats are released early, so not for June but probably some for August or July. But to be fair that's still £100 each So depends on how many going

Cheapest way is driving. You can get a ferry ticket for car from £1 if you look for vouchers and book in advance. I would try and stay in a hostel or something overnight of possible as not a huge amount of time by the time you have either ferried and drove or 2 hrs on Eurostar each way

Forever - we paid £69 return when we went last month. We were in Paris by 11.45am and left Paris at 9.15pm arriving back at Ebbsfleet at 10.15pm. A long ... but amazing day!

Thanks ladies, that's what i was after, the £69 return tickets. But I can't seem to get anything under £475 return for 3 of us (2 kids). I'll have another go and maybe try a bit further ahead.

Ah might be as we always go at Xmas

This from the telegraph artice how to find low fares

On home page click "Paris Calling" £69 The next screen gives you a grid of the availability of the £69 fares - high availability means there are lots of trains with the fare - no availability, no trains on that day.Click in the day and then pick your train.

Looks like you will probably have to wait to September but will need to book now btw.

You need to phone Eurostar - seats are released slightly earlier (at the cheapest price) for phone bookings than they are online. Not many people know this! I've often booked by phone when the website says those dates aren't available yet. Tjhis means you get the pick of the cheap seats. You can ring and 'register interest' and ask them to phone you when the dates are released.

ooh, thanks twiglet I will try ringing them.

I seem to remember that seats are available on the phone for about 6 weeks or so further than the latest online seat shows. So if online you can buy up to August then on the phone you can buy up to September or October.

That only helps though if you want to go winter time and get the fares not yet realeased. If not, and you want to go in the summer/ autumn you need to hunt out the low fares using the fares grid. I don't think, though I may be wrong, the phone line will have additional fares for the period you are interested in - only that you can access winter fares not yet released.

Yes you're right, feelthis - sorry, OP - I didn't spot that you wanted to go this month

I found it was cheaper to buy 2 Paris-London returns and use the return portion on the way out and the out to return (IYSWIM) crazy but worth checking?