First time travelling through Paris.

[Jellyboobs]

We're planning to go to visit a friend in central France, and will get the Eurostar over to Paris and change trains there. I've never been so I'm wondering how much time to leave between connections, can anyone help?

Thank you!

The Eurostar train will arrive in Gare Du Nord station in Paris.

I would allow around at least one hour always allow at least an hour between the Eurostar arriving at the Gare du Nord and your connecting train leaving one of the other Paris stations, with the following exceptions: (1) if your onward train leaves from the Gare de l'Est, 45 minutes between trains is sufficient as the Gare de l'Est is only a ten minute walk from the Gare du Nord. (2) if you are catching a sleeper train that you can't afford to miss, allow longer, at least 90 minutes between trains if the sleeper leaves from Paris Austerlitz or Paris Bercy, at least 60 minutes if it leaves from the nearby Gare de l'Est. (3) If your onward train leaves from Paris Montparnasse TGV station I'd also allow longer, perhaps 90 minutes, as there's quite a walk from Montparnasse metro station to the Montparnasse TGV station.

On the return journey, you need to allow for the 30 minute Eurostar check-in at Paris Gare du Nord as well as the metro journey. So allow at least 90 minutes between your train arriving in Paris and the departure of your Eurostar from the Gare du Nord back to London, with the following exceptions: If your train arrives at the Gare de l'Est, 60 minutes is sufficient between trains as it's only a 10 minute walk to the Gare du Nord; (2) If your train arrives at Paris Montparnasse, allow at least 1 hour 50 minutes as it's a fair old walk from Montparnasse TGV station to Montparnasse metro station.

That is brilliant! Thank you so much!

The Man in Seat 61 has written an excellent guide to changing stations in Paris:

www.seat61.com/Paris-metro.htm#.VLUpscm8riE

And traveling by Eurostar:

www.seat61.com/London-to-Paris-by-train.htm#.VLUpbsm8riE

Definitely follow the minimum connection times, which include extra time in case the Eurostar is late into Paris. If you miss your connecting service you may need to go to the ticket office at the departure station and ask them to book you on the next available service (French long distance train services only let you travel if you've been allocated a seat, so you can't just turn up and get on any service as you can in the UK). If your French train journey is on a high-speed train and you bought it as a through ticket (ie Eurostar and TGV in the same booking) then they'll re-book you on another service without charge. If your Eurostar is delayed get the conductor to stamp the back of your ticket and show that at the ticket office at the departure station.