crazy4vacations

Hi, My husband and I are going to be going to Angers France (he has to go for work). He does not like to fly so we were thinking of taking a direct flight from Canada to London, and then taking the train to Paris. We thought we'd take extra time and spend some time in London and Paris before heading to Angers. Which is the best airport to fly into in London?
Thanks

Gardyloo

A flight to Paris will be virtually the same length as a flight to London, so why bother? Or do you want to spend some time in London en route?

To answer the question, very few transatlantic flights go anywhere but Heathrow these days, and getting from Heathrow to the St. Pancras Eurostar station takes around an hour to 90 min. on the Underground and on foot, or faster but way more expensive by the train to Paddington and then a cab, or a car service all the way.

Ackislander

If I were already in London or Paris, I would take the train.

If I were all the way out at Heathrow or CDG, I would just go ahead and take a connecting flight. They are very short, like the LaGuardia Shuttles.

Don't say "Chunnel". Say "Eurostar".

crazy4vacations

Our reason to fly into London is because we can't get a direct flight into Paris, and my husband has a fear of flying and does not like to have to get off one plane to get on another (ha) And I think it would be nice to spend some time in London en route

PalenQ

If you are gonna be in London a few days it is irrelevant as to what airport you should fly into to get the Chunnel train (forget non-Americans refusal to acknowledge that most Americans call it the Chunnel Train, a name coined, ironically, by some British newspaper I believe. To us it's the Chunnel but for some reson that raises the hackles of Brits and the British diaspora)

anyway you can go to www.eurostar.com (Eurostar is the name of the trains going thru the Chunnel - technically called the Channel Tunnel Rail Link - anyway the early bird gets the deep discount tickets that are sold in limited numbers and often sell out weeks/months before - but you can save a ton over walk up fares.

In Paris you can easily take a train in a few hours to Angers - www.voyagfes-sncf.com is the French Railways ticketing site but www.capigtainetrain.com sells the same tickets for the same trains but is much easier to use, users of both here say. Again you can get nifty discounts by booking way in advance - but beware I believe no changes nor refunds are allowed on either train if you miss the train or want to change so be very sure of your dates.

And for loads of great info on French and Eurostar trains check out these informative sites: www.seat61.com - great info on discounted tickets for either train; www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com. Forget about any railpass with those limited train travels.

annhig

your easiest route is going to getting the Eurostar to Paris and then getting the train from Paris to Angers.

by chance, the Eurostar and the train to Angers arrive at and leave from stations that are both on the RER B line [Gare du Nord and Montparnasse respectively] . so IMO it would make sense to stay somewhere near one of the intermediate stations on this line too - Chatelet-les-Halles, St Michel-Notre Dame, or Luxembourg.

google maps will enable you to see the stations and then to locate nearby hotels.

janisj

Call it whatever you want - but you will sound daft calling it the chunnel. (PQ just likes to wind people up)

The Eurostar is <u>by far</u> the easiest way to get from central London to central Paris. But it is a nasty way to get from Heathrow to Paris. So - IF you do spend a few days in London, definitely take the Eurostar.

But if you decide to go directly on to Paris from LHR, flying is really the best/easiest/least complicated way. Even for someone who hates flying.

tom_mn

The easiest route is signing your husband up for a fear of flying class so that you can take one of the direct trains from Paris CDG to Angers (2 hours).

nytraveler

Almost the only one here who use "chunnel" is PQ. I have been through it twice and have multiple friends and colleagues who have also been through it - and none has ever said "chunnel".

That is as bad as "Cali" or "Frisco".

historytraveler

Again, no to chunnel, yes to Eurostar and I am American!

justineparis

To get the best price on the EUROSTAR.. use the Eurostar website and purchase your tickets as far out as you can.. they only go up in price as date of travel approaches.
London is a lovely city to spend some time in ,, as is Paris.. and since hubby dislikes flying its nice to get a few places in under one flight.. so enjoy the visit to London.

Ps Another vote for correct term "Eurostar" ... by this "British diaspora" ( which .. if you want to split hairs.. which is what America was founded by also)

Hooameye

"Americans call it the Chunnel Train, a name coined, ironically, by some British newspaper I believe."

Which is exactly why we don't use the term.

annhig

Which is exactly why we don't use the term>>

funny, I remember that when we lived in Kent we often used the Chunnel to go and have Sunday lunch in Northern France, and thought nothing of it.

perhaps I'm halucinating.

PalenQ

Call it Eurostar or Chunnel - everyone knows what you are talking about - Americans indeed get more meaning out of Chunnel than Eurostar, which means nothing to the average American. Rail Europe headlines there online Eurostar sales as "Chunnel Trains" - enough said - in Britain perhaps use Eurostar but on a largely American forum feel comfy using Chunnel, a term more Americans will understand than Eurostar (a name tradarked ironically by an Italian train make to use on high-speed Italian trains and subsequently license to the Channel Tunnel Rail Link trains so they can also be called Eurostar.

Much ado about nothing - a spade is a spade.

annhig, a Brit - her comment is very telling. Brits at least once did use that term and probably still do.

Tulips

There's the Eurostar - the passenger train that leaves from St Pancras. And then there's the Eurotunnel/Le Shuttle, which is the train that you use if you take your car, and that runs between Calais and Folkestone.

Chunnel (if you use that word), refers to the actual tunnel. Which is why it is better to refer to the 'Eurostar' when traveling from St Pancras. If someone asked me about the Chunnel, I would assume they mean the Folkestone/Calais car service.

Having said that, I don't know anyone who uses the word Chunnel; it's either Eurotunnel or Eurostar. Neither the Eurostar nor the Eurotunnel website use the word Chunnel. If you search on the Eurostar website for Chunnel, it says:
Your search yielded no results: Check if your spelling is correct.

Christina

I think the term Chunnel was used when it was first built, even in the press. Not used for years now.

I'm surprised you have a choice of which airport to fly into internationally, I never do from the US. Any flights to London go to Heathrow from here. It doesn't make any difference which London airport you choose if you are staying there a while, just choose as you usually would a ticket -- price, schedule, airline you like, etc. I guess Gatwick is a little closer so quicker to get into town if you truly have no other way to decide.

Gardyloo

A few tourist-heavy routes (mostly Florida) fly into LGW.

annhig

LGW is NOT closer to London than LHR [it's 30 miles or so from the centre whereas Heathrow is only 16] - but ironically it can be quicker because there is a direct train that takes 30 mins straight into Victoria.

For the OP it probably won't make very much difference.

kerouac

Today would have been the wrong day to travel, because there was a fire in the tunnel, which cancelled all of the trains all day. A truck caught on fire on one of the freight shuttles, and it was no laughing matter.

It is a very rare event even though there have been some fires in the past (I really don't know how these trucks catch on fire when they are sitting on a flatcar though.). Particularly on a Saturday, this screwed up the plans of thousands of people for the weekend.

Gardyloo

<i>...but ironically it can be quicker because there is a direct train that takes 30 mins straight into Victoria.</i>

The HEX takes 15 min. from LHR to Paddington.