Eurostar Breaks to Paris or Bruges?

The best Eurostar breaks -  to France by Eurostar or to Brussels by Eurostar and TGV?

I often go to France, since I like the atmosphere of the cities there and it's suitable for a short break since it is so accessible. Over the years I have spent several short breaks as well as longer trips in Paris and other french cities such as Lille, Dijon, Marseille and Rheims.

But you know, France can be very similar all over due to the centralised state and homogenous culture. It's lovely, but it's always French. So how about eurostar breaks to Brusses or Bruges or even Amsterdam for a change?

Have your weekend break in Bruges. I was wondering how to spend a weekend and came across this option: Take the Eurostar and have a break in Bruges with all those fantastic waterside vistas and ancient buildings. I aquired a tatse for flemish food when I was in Lille, so this seemed to be the next logical step for us. And there are many other interesting destinations in France and the Benelux.

Eurostar Breaks Lille

Eurostar Breaks Lille
Originally uploaded by AndyRob

When you board the train at Lille-Europe, coming back from Eurostar breaks to Lille, the procedure is slightly different to when you are boarding at the terminus in St Pancras Station London, Gare du Nord Paris or Bruxelles. The Lille-Europe station is enormous because it's a mainline intersection for all sorts of SNCF and TGV trains travelling through France, Belgium, Holland and Germany but the Eurostar section is approached from right at the end of the station usually near the entrance called Access E. You cannot even pass through to the departure lounge until 50 minutes before the expected departure time of the Eurostar to London, but once you do go through the wait is not so long. The idea is to use some of the waiting time to work out which part of the platform you will need to wait at for when the train arrives. To help with this, there is a diagram which matches up the carriage numbers with the designated areas on the platforms.

The walk from the centre of Old Lille, or the big square, to the Eurostar station is only about 10 - 15 minutes, so I would suggest that to get the most out of Eurostar breaks to Lille, you should set off just over an hour before the departure time printed on the Eurostar tickets