Eurostar Breaks to Lille

Eurostar Breaks to Lille, a photo by AndyRobertsPhotos on Flickr.

Central Lille is a place worth visiting for a few days with many attractions and a general good atmosphere for Eurostar breaks to Lille

Le petit train jaune

Le petit train jaune, a photo by cons. maximus on Flickr.

Le petit train jaune the little yellow train could be an end destination for Eurostar breaks to Perpignan in the French Pyrenees.

La Rochelle Harbour entrance

La Rochelle Harbour entrance, a photo by AndyRob on Flickr.

You can get Eurostar breaks to La Rochelle from London travelling all the way there in 6hrs 17minutes, which is amazing as it used to take all day with a metro journey across Paris to gare Montparnasse.

Eurostar Deals to Ghent

As well as Brussels, Bruges and Antwerp in Belgium, you might want to consider Eurostar Deals to Ghent.

Ghent is a great city to visit – with interesting things to see both old and new, in the form of cathedrals, street art, and excellent museums – as well as a lovely ambience and bucket load of cool bars  that cater for the 50,000+ students in the south! However, arguably one of the best things about the city is its quality, and often quirky, restaurants.

There’s so many favourites to choose from, but one of them has got to be Mimosa, on the Kongostraat right next to the river. It’s a real Moroccan restaurant, run by real Moroccans and the food is authentic and real. In addition to this, the service is incredible and the waiters are personal and genuinely friendly – you almost feel like a guest within their home. You  can tell the staff what meat or vegetables you like and they’ll make delicious recommendations and as they’re brilliant English speakers, there’s no danger of the order getting lost in translation.

The tagines are both enormous and incredibly tasty – with meat marinated in spices and slow-cooked to absolute perfection. With couscous and salad as an accompaniment, the food is both healthy and delicious – although you may eat so much that it becomes a little unhealthy! With some nice beers or cider to go with the food, you really couldn’t want for any more.

The surroundings are also lovely – there are loads of blankets which are really cosy, and fairy lights on the window which build a lovely ambience. Best of all, upstairs there’s a nargila lounge with pipes to smoke and a bar – with a really homely feel, with comfortable sofas which you can sink right into.

In short, Mimosa encapsulates why Ghent is great – it’s comfortable, fun and friendly with everything packed in close together for tailoring the perfect days and evenings out… It really is a must visit!

Eurostar Track Takeover by German Insurer Allianz

German insurer Allianz is understood to be planning a £2bn bid to buy the high-speed rail link between London’s St Pancras station and the Channel Tunnel from the UK government, which owns it through London & Continental Railways.

The UK Government is selling off the 68-mile link as part of several privatisations to help cut the budget deficit.

How would the loss of UK ownership over the Eurostar track, the only high speed rail link in th UK, affect Eurostar Deals?

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