Help us get to Paris in October please.

[MegCleary]

My lovely mumsnetters who have always helped us. I need to get a family of four to Paris near October half term. DD will be 17 and doing A-levels art and graphics and she really wants to see Paris for inspiration.

We live in the arse end of Norfolk so could fly from Luton, Stansted etc or I was wondering whether the Eurostar worth a punt? We would probably have to stay in London the night before for that (would probably have to do that for an early flight anyway!!). Out the 25/10 back 29/10.

What area in Paris best to stay? Usual museums and sights to see. Hotel or air BNB?

The hive mind has always helped us, advice appreciated.

Thanks all so much

I prefer Eurostar so I'd recommend that. As a thought though, you can get direct trains from Luton/harpenden/st albans to St Pancras international and they start early early. Would it be easier to park and stay near there and get a super early train? It's very easy.

If you want to explore Paris then aim for central hotels. Agree with pp for suggestions.

Just an alternative routing suggestion - you could fly from Norwich airport to Amsterdam and then train it from there. Avoids London and you can get direct to Paris from the Schiphol airport train station. I would price up the various options - Eurostar is incredibly expensive these days.

We are also in Norfolk (east) we drive to hatfield which is about 2 and a half hours and then get the train direct to St Pancras.

The Musee Picasso and Palais de Tokyo are both wonderful museums, people under 25 often get in for free in French museums. Some are closed on Mondays

We did the Eurostar in December, so much easier than flying. We staying in London the night before as we had something we wanted to do in London too, took the first train out at 6am, felt like we were there in no time. Then got the train the other side to the hotel. Really simple. Wish I had a backpack instead of a suitcase though that is the only thing. Had a wonderful few days there. Took the last bit one train home to get the full last day there, hotel was happy to hold our suitcases for the day. Way better than when we flew last time.

The musée D'Orsay is my favourite museum in the world. It has my favourite collection of paintings and the architecture is lovely.

I wouldn't bother queuing to go inside Notre-Dame but the sculptures in the arches in the front are quite cool, the central one is my favourite. www.friendsofnotredamedeparis.org/cathedral/artifacts/portals/portal-of-the-last-judgement/
The church Sainte-Chapelle is on the same island and has beautiful stained glass. Both are walking distance to the Musée D'Orsay.

I'd skip the Louvre as it's busy and unless there's something specific you want to see, it's too large a collection to really see. The musée de l'orangerie is still worth a stop though. It's at the other end of the gardens.

Is there a particular style of art your DD is interested in seeing?

*HPFA *that sounds useful, but I don't understand exactly what you mean. What is "London International" station? Are you saying you need to buy a Eurostar ticket online and then try to change it at another station? I'd be very grateful if you could expand, I'm looking at going to travelling to Pairs more frequently over the next year and it sounds as if this might be a way to do it cheaper.

Hi @DelphiniumBlue.

The rail companies do a very poor job of advertising this option.

The "London International" refers to the fact that you can ONLY use this ticket if you're travelling on the Eurostar or the Stena Line service so it's not any particular station. If you arrive at Euston for instance you then use the ticket on the Tube to get to Kings Cross.

There is one online retailer that sells these but I prefer to buy at a ticket office. Apparently at some smaller offices they don't always know they exist so you may have to tell them the destination code which is LNE. You can buy one ahead of time so long as you tell the clerk what day you're actually travelling. Take a printout of your Eurostar ticket as proof.

Their big advantage is they allow you to travel at peak times for a cheaper price - one trip I did I was travelling Oxford-London before 9 am and the reverse a week later at 5pm - the ticket saved me a cool £60. However if I know I won't need to travel at peak time I just buy a normal off-peak.

Hope that's all clear. There's really detailed information on here:

https://www.seat61.com/european-travel-from-uk-regions.htm

We drove and live near Bristol. Prompt start drove to Eurotunnel then ditched car in pre booked car park next to our airbnb. Was easy we were there by 5pm.

Lucked out with supercool loft with mezzanine airbnb that they still talk about.

If they like fashion go to Galeries Lafayette and Louis Vuitton gallery. Our teen girls love Paris it’s always their first choice of
trip.

Musée d'Orsay

Ibis hotels are fine - we stayed in sacré couer near the moulin rouge but I think it's not that safe anymore

I'd train / Eurostar on the Wednesday evening and stay in Paris rather than London and then go from there

We stayed at the Travelodge on Greys Inn Road on Sunday night and caught an early Eurostar on Monday. It was clean and comfortable and there are plenty of places to eat nearby.
The Musee D’Orsay is stunning, one of my favourite places.

Don't drive to London, get the train.

Opt for a budget hotel on the outskirts, not an Airb&b in the city, your holiday might be ruined by the anti tourism protesters. Travelling on the metro is fun and everything is within easy reach. Also budget hotel means 2 bedrooms is easily affordable. Have the best time.

There are no flights from Stansted to Paris as it's less than 300 miles and would not be profitable as there are so many alternative routes!

The Louvre is shut on Tuesdays.

@HPFA @DelphiniumBlue the other advantage of this special ticket is that it counts as a single through ticket with the Eurostar, so if your inbound train is delayed, Eurostar are obliged to put you on the next available one. https://www.seat61.com/european-travel-from-uk-regions.htm

We drove for a long weekend (we live in North London). Got a 1030 Le Shuttle, then drove the 3 hours from Calais to Paris. As was too early to get into AirBnB we drove up to the Sacre Couer, parked directly in front of it (and paid using the same parking app we use at home). We then had a wander around Montmartre for a couple of hours. Then drove to the Air BnB and parked in the Pompidou Centre which was down the road from the apartment. We then left early Sunday morning to drive to Versailles, spent the day there and then caught the Le Shuttle back at ~2100 hrs.

If there are 4 of you and you have the ability to drive, def worth looking into. We use Tesco club points to pay towards/for the Le Shuttle

Oh - I should say though that you need to register the car for the low emissions/ Crit'Air sticker

Ryanair flies to Paris Beauvais airport which is at least 90 minutes away from the city centre so do not use. You’d be better off using the Eurostar starting at St Pancras rather than Stratford international (I believe this station is no longer used by Eurostar).

Would use the train from Norwich to Liverpool Street if Norwich is an option for you.

Do visit the Musee Marmottan but book tickets in advance along with checking their hours of operation (some museums are closed either Monday or Tuesday).

Eurostar booked 😀thanks for the help

A possibly slightly out there option would be to take the overnight ferry from Harwich—Hook of Holland, then pick up the Eurostar from Rotterdam to Paris.

Not sure if i'm too late to the party to offer advice. Came across the thead googling 'ideas for things to do in Paris' as we're flying out on Wednesday for a 3 day short break.

After some careful planning and a bit of research heres what we've arranged for a family of 4 (me, DW and twin DS's-6yrs old)

Ryanair fly to Beauvais Airport from most major UK airports and its half the price than flying into Charles De Gaul. £239 for all 4 of us return, thats with checked in luggage, chosen seats and fast track check in security etc. You cant fly direct from Manchester to Charles DeGaul so originally I looked into connections via London Airports and the price for the London Leg to CDG for exactly the same baggage seats etc. was close to £700 for 4! London Legs to Beauvais were similiar if not a little cheaper as Manchester to Beauvais. Beauvais itself is only about 50 miles north of the centre of Paris but its only about an hour on the train and about €64 (£54) return for all 4 of us. We've booked a hotel in Beauvais with Breakfast included and thats cost me £116 for 2 nights for a Family room. Again half the price than staying in the Capital. We plan to commute in and out for 2 days on the train and buy a Paris Vistè card (A bit like London's Oyster card). €13.95 (£11.63) per adult, half of that for under 16's and it gives you unlimited travel on all tramsz bus, and Metro within the Ctiy centre to explore for the day. Like any country the closer you are to the Capital the more expensive things become and although it requires a little more time travelling from Hotel to the Centre the added cost of trainfare is a lot less than the extra expense required to fly into CDG and then stay in a Hotel in the centre. When I worked out the comparison its cost me just over £500 for a family of 4 for a 3 day short break. That includes accomodation and all travel expenses. To fly into CDG and stay in a Hotel in the centre would have been in the region of about £1100.

Eurostar takes you right into the heart of the city. We usually go a couple of times a year, and tend to use Airbnb or Accor hotels, either Ibis or Mercure, depending on how long we’re staying. If it’s a longer trip, we go for an apartment as French traiteurs sell freshly-cooked meals to take home, and sometimes, after a long day, all dd wants to do is flop. We like to rent in the 15th arrondissement, as it’s generally peaceful and residential but quick to reach the centre. I used to live there, and my closest metro line (line 8) took 15 minutes to reach Concorde. Wherever you decide to stay, make sure it’s close to a metro station.

ATM it looks like Ryanair operate UK to Beauvais from I think 5 major airports but Stansted isn’t one of them.