Chunnel prices?
 

Probably going to hit London and Paris in February. 4 days in each city... flying into London and out of Paris. I thought the chunnel (Eurostar) would be the easiest and cheapest option, but now I'm not so sure. Has anyone taken a one-way trip through the chunnel and paid LESS than the round-trip price? I can't find any good deals one-way that don't make you purchase it round trip for the "deal" (looks like $90 r/t after noon is the best price).

If flying between the two cities is the same price, which would you choose? Seems like even if the prices are the same that the train would still be optimal since you basically go from city center to city center (and get to see the countryside).

(edited to add... I'm planning this trip on my own, but if you know of a good company that has decent package trips feel free to suggest).

Anyone can fly....take the chunnel!

http://www.virgin-vacations.com/site...1/1/2004&k=752

Virgin`s Channel over to Paris

Get your fill of the romance - not to mention rich French pasteries - with this two-country tour. Traipse about London for three days and nights, then it's off to Paris aboard the Eurostar train. In just three hours you'll arrive for three glorious days and nights in Paris, and fly back to London on British Midland, and then continue home with plenty of great memories.


I've been thinking about this trip for some time, and this is the best that I've seen.

edit-- I don't see anything for Atlanta but check Travelzoo they have links to lots of good deals

It's fantastic to see the countryside, but keep in mind that a lot of the trip is in the chunnel itself, so darkness outside. Take the chunnel, it's a great experience.

Spent more time searching online. You can fly between London and Paris for about $62 per person (final price). I guess with train fees to the airports it would probably be close to a r/t ticket on Eurostar.

What about taking a ferry to France, then a train? Probably more hassle than worth it. I just want to get to Paris w/out paying more than I need to.

You can check fares and scedules on this RailEurope site:

http://www.raileurope.com/us/rail/eurostar/index.htm

Thanks for the link. I just looked over their offers. The more I read of these package tours I think it's possibly a better deal to do this on my own. The price for the Virgin tour with taxes included would be close to $2,000 for two. So far, booking everything on my own, I can stay 8 nights (instead of 6) for $1,600. That's flight and a $100 a night hotel. Many hotels have stay 4 nights, get one free. And no flying back to originating city. I was pleasanty surprised to see that most airlines don't charge THAT much more to fly into London and out of Paris. Maybe $30 extra per ticket.

The cheapest package tours I found were on gotoday.com (http://www.gotoday.com/site_gtweb/pu...From=11/1/2004)
Their hotels get iffy reviews.

Thanks for the advice so far.

Beware of low flying helicopters in the Chunnel. -rolleyes-

If you want to be adventurous, surely there are ferries between the two cities. Else, I would go with the Chunnel just to say that I've been through it.

Yeah that was one of the sites I was looking at as well. The thing I like about these sites is that you can extend your stay by up to two weeks without having to get another hotel.

Where are you getting your information for booking on your own?

And don't forget about priceline and bidding for travel if you want to take a chance for cheaper prices.

Well, to start, Northwest has Paris r/t for $408 through March (includes all the junk fees). $433 for into London and out of Paris. This is from Atlanta with a layover in Amsterdam (same price for Minneapolis or Detroit layover).

There are various websites I've seen over the past few days that list hotel bookings with special offers of one free night for a 3 or 4 night stay. Since that is the bulk of the expenses I was mainly comparing this to a package tour. I realize the Virgin thing has a couple of extra benefits and might be less of a pain, but I'm pretty cheap!! I'm willing to put up with a bit of hassle to save a couple hundred.

I've been online a couple of hours reading and reading. I love the newsgroups on Google (deja.com). You can learn quite a bit from those groups. Seems whatever extra cost Eurostar charges for the chunnel trip it is worth it in time savings and for the experience. I've also seen museum passes for each city that look like decent deals (Paris for 3 days for $50... London a bit more).

(edit to add... about the hotel sites... I can't remember which ones I've looked at... too many. I know that tripadvisor.com has customer reviews on hotels)

Reminds me of Seinfeld....

It's been about 7 years, but I remember only being in the chunnel for about 30 mins of about a 3 hour train ride.

Channel is only about 25 miles under the sea/ocean, and adding the down/up distance, you'd probably only need an extra 5 miles of tunnel at each end.

With a speed of approximately 80mph, 1/2 hour sounds about right. It's the London -> tunnel, tunnel -> Paris bits that's the long part.

Really?? It's only been three years for me and it seemed like FOREVER in the chunnel. You know, now that I think of it, we returned from Paris to London at night, so I may have been projecting the night darkness to the chunnel itself -- how dumb am I? -ohbfrank-

Oh well, but again, take the chunnel, not a plane!

If people drive on the left side of the road in Britain, and they drive on the right side of the road in France, on which side do they drive in the Chunnel?