Eurostar: London to Paris

Eurostar is the train under the Channel. From St Pancras International in London it runs on High Speed 1 across Kent, through the Channel Tunnel and down the LGV Nord to the Gare du Nord in Paris, city centre to city centre, at up to 300 km/h for most of the way. It is not a scenic railway in the way the Highland lines are, but no other journey on this site does as much in two and a quarter hours: under the Thames, over the Medway, through the chalk of the North Downs and 38 km under the sea.

The first Eurostars ran from Waterloo in November 1994, six months after the tunnel opened. Since 2007 they have left from the restored St Pancras, one of the great Victorian stations, and since 2023 Eurostar has also run the former Thalys trains between Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Cologne. In 2025 it carried a record 20 million passengers.

On weekdays there are about fifteen trains a day each way between London and Paris, all non-stop, and passport and security checks are done before you board, so you simply step off in Paris.

Eurostar leaves from the international platforms at the north end of St Pancras, under William Barlow's great iron and glass roof. Departures are downstairs in the old undercroft: check in, go through security and both countries' border controls, and wait in the departure lounge until your train is called.

Under London and the Thames

The train slips out past King's Cross and almost at once goes underground. High Speed 1 runs through two long tunnels, of 10.1 and 7.5 km, beneath east London, coming close to the surface at Stratford and coming out at Dagenham. It runs beside the London, Tilbury and Southend line, then dives under the river in a 3.1 km tunnel at Swanscombe and comes out in Kent.

Across Kent

Past Ebbsfleet the line crosses the River Medway on its 1.2 km viaduct and enters the North Downs Tunnel. Much of the way on through Kent runs beside the M2 and M20 motorways, past Ashford. Eurostar trains used to call at Ebbsfleet, Ashford and Calais-Fréthun, but those stops ended in 2020, and every London–Paris train is now non-stop.

Under the Channel

At Folkestone the line passes the Eurotunnel shuttle terminal and enters the Channel Tunnel. It is 50.46 km long, and 37.9 km of it lie under the sea, the longest undersea section of any tunnel in the world, reaching 75 metres below sea level. Trains are limited to 160 km/h inside, and come out at Coquelles, near Calais.

Across northern France

From the tunnel the train joins the LGV Nord, the high-speed line opened in 1993, and runs at up to 300 km/h across the open farmland of the Pas-de-Calais and Picardy, for much of the way beside the A1 motorway. It passes non-stop through Haute-Picardie, a station built in the middle of the fields and nicknamed the "Beetroot Station". At Arnouville-lès-Gonesse, 16.6 km from the terminus, it leaves the high-speed line for the last run in through the northern suburbs to the Gare du Nord.

The trains

Most trains are Eurostar e320s (British Class 374), sixteen-coach Siemens Velaro sets 400 metres long, which entered service in November 2015 and can reach 320 km/h. The rest are the older e300s (Class 373), the original TGV-based trains of 1994, built with a smaller cross-section to fit Britain's loading gauge; eight of them remain in regular service, refurbished.

Eurostar runs fifteen trains a day each way between London and Paris on weekdays, nine to ten at weekends. Every one is non-stop. Times below are local: Paris is an hour ahead of London, so a train that leaves St Pancras at 06:01 and reaches Paris at 09:29 has taken 2 h 28 min.

London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord, Tuesday

Paris Gare du Nord to London St Pancras, Tuesday

Good to know:

• Weekends. On Saturday 17 October there were nine trains from London, from 06:31 to 19:01; on Sunday 18 October, ten, from 08:01 to 19:01.
• Journey time. Eurostar says most trains take 2 h 16 min. In October 2026 most were timed at 2 h 28 min, and the 16:31 at 2 h 49 min, so check the time on your own date.
• Arrive early. At St Pancras, Eurostar asks Standard and Plus passengers to arrive 75 minutes before departure, and Premier passengers 45; the gates close 30 minutes before (15 for Premier). At the Gare du Nord it asks for 75 to 90 minutes.
• Brussels and Amsterdam. Ten trains a day run from London to Brussels-Midi, from 06:16 to 19:34, in about two hours; eight of them call at Lille Europe, 1 h 22 min from London. Four continue to Amsterdam without a change, leaving London at 06:16, 11:04, 15:04 and 18:04.

Times as of October 2026, from the Eurostar booking engine for Tuesday 13, Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 October. Check your date on eurostar.com (opens in a new tab).

Eurostar sells three classes: Standard, Plus and Premier. Fares rise as trains fill, so book early: Eurostar advertises London to Paris from £39 one way in Standard, and on a Tuesday in January 2027 the lowest Standard fare sampled was £53. Eight days ahead, for Tuesday 13 October 2026, it ranged from £102 to £180 depending on the train, with Plus from £168 and Premier at £330.

There are no seat or luggage fees: Standard includes two large bags and a small one, there is no limit on liquids, and you can bring your own food. Standard and Plus tickets can be exchanged free up to an hour before departure. Fares checked October 2026 on eurostar.com (opens in a new tab), one adult, one way; pounds sterling.

Only an Interrail Global Pass is valid. Interrail's own Eurostar page says trains to and from London "can only be used by travellers with a Global Pass": a one-country pass for Great Britain or France does not cover the crossing.

Even with a Global Pass, a reservation is compulsory, and pass holders get only a limited number of seats on each train. Between London and France it costs €35 in Standard and €40 in Plus; Premier cannot be booked with a pass at all.

For this journey alone, a pass is not worth buying. Add the reservation to the cost of a pass day and an early Standard ticket is usually cheaper. A Global Pass pays when Eurostar is one leg of a longer trip across Europe.

Checked October 2026 against interrail.com (opens in a new tab).

Both ends of the line are sights in themselves. Arrive at St Pancras early, as you must anyway, and look round the station before check-in; in Paris, the Gare du Nord sits in a district with a few things worth a short walk before you head into the centre.

For an early train, the St. Pancras London hotel is directly above the platforms. At the other end, the New Hotel is across the street from the Gare du Nord.

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