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

Eurostar Breaks to Lille

I booked one of the best Eurostar breaks to Lille to coincide with my birthday later this summer. I was browsing around on the eurostar site and started looking at hotels in Lille when I noticed that the appart'hotel does self catering rooms for a very reasonable price.

So I'm off to the North of France for a weekend to look at the museums and art galleries in trendy Lille and enjoy some fine dining in the restaurants and cafes there. Should be very good.  The Eurostar itself only takes an hour and twenty five minutes from London St Pancras into Lille Europe and as far as I can tell teh hotel is pretty central for the attractions I want to visit while I'm there.

Paris Breaks by Eurostar

Paris - Vue depuis l'Institut du Monde Arabe
Originally uploaded by Añelo de la Krotsche

This picture was taken from the l'Institut du Monde Arabe or the institute of the arab world for the Paris Breaks group by Añelo de la Krotsche, who explains that there are many magic places in Europe and one of them is Paris. Paris breaks by Eurostar from London are still very popular

eurostar breaks after 2009

eurostar breaks

Valentine's Weekend Break Ideas
Valentine's Weekend Break Ideas. Back. 01 January 2010. Valentine's
day falls on a Sunday this year, therefore a great opportunity to take
off to some romantic place on the Eurostar. The obvious choice is
Paris, the lovers' capital but as an alternative you might also
consider Bruges ( via Brussels)

Short Breaks - Two Night Paris Break For Two - £652.00
£652.00 This fantastic short break includes Eurostar travel to and
from Paris as well as two nights accommodation in a three star hotel
plus continental breakfast. So the only thing you will need to worry
about is which of the fantastic parisian restaurants you want to
choose for that special dinner.

Paris Breaks 2010
Paris Breaks for 2010 For Paris breaks, 2010 starts with the aftermath
of the unfortunate Eurostar breakdowns with the bad weather last month
in the North of France.

http://ukparisbreaks.co.uk/

The locals have been setting fire to house-sized effigies (or fallas)
for the past 200 years, and on the final night all hell breaks loose
with the aptly named Gran Crema, or Big Burn, where the effigies are
stuffed with fireworks and blown up .... Naturally, I'll be taking the
train: Eurostar from London to Paris, a snug sleeper on the excellent
City Night Line overnight to Munich, then a slow and scenic daytime
run through the mountains of Austria into Slovenia and Croatia.

Save £3 on all Eurostar Deals | Eurostar Deals
I'm going to explain how you can save £3 per transaction on all
Eurostar Deals and Eurostar Breaks.

Eurostar breaks down in the Tunnel - FAQ

Eurostar has managed to clear the backlog of passengers stranded on both sides of the English Channel after five Eurostar trains broke down and got stuck in the Channel Tunnel on Saturday 19th December 2009. Trains were cancelled for three days leaving up to 75,000 passengers waiting.

A restricted service has now been resumed between London, Paris and Brussels and the backlog from the previous weekend has now been cleared.

"The procedures that were put in place to prioritise passengers have worked well and the backlog of passengers from the weekend has been cleared and all of the available seats for travel today have now been allocated."

Eurostar said they will run services tomorrow as well, and they are confident that there will be enough seats for everyone who wants to travel before Christmas.

Eurostar Breaks questions answered:

What compensation am I entitled to for being left stranded over the weekend?

A Eurostar spokesman confirmed that passengers who were trapped in the Channel Tunnel overnight on Friday will receive £150 compensation, a full refund on their original ticket plus free return Eurostar tickets. Anyone whose train has been cancelled will be offered a full refund on their ticket or they can postpone their journey to a later date. Customers who decide to cancel their travel in line with Eurostar advice will receive a refund but will not have their hotels and other costs paid by the company.

Can I claim my hotel costs or a flight home?

Eurostar have confirmed that they will cover 'reasonable expenses' for any passengers who have been stranded abroad, i.e. a three star hotel, food and taxis. Eurostar will no longer be covering the cost of flights home as the train service is running again.

What is the compensation phone line number?

Eurostar say they will release a number for customers to call at a later date. In the meantime you can download a compensation form on the company's website, which also provides information about their compensation policy at www.eurostar.com

Pantheon

paris-2008
Originally uploaded by sabrimurat2007

This is the Pantheon is a building in the Latin Quarter in Paris, France. It was originally built as a church dedicated to St. Genevieve, but after many changes now combines liturgical functions with its role as a famous burial place. It is an early example of Neoclassicism, with a façade modelled on the Pantheon in Rome, surmounted by a dome that owes some of its character to Bramante's "Tempietto". Located in the 5th arrondissement on the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, the Panthéon looks out over all of Paris.

Quick Facts
Address: Place du Panthéon, 5e
Phone: 01-44-32-18-00
Metro: Cardinal Lemoine
RER: Luxembourg
Hours: Daily 10am-6pm (last entrance 45 min. before closing)
Cost: 7€ adults, 4.50€ ages 18-25, free for children 17 and under

More Eurostar Breaks Next Year

I'm planning to take a few more Eurostar Breaks next year. A short break by Eurostar to Lille is definitely on the cards and we can't stay away from Paris much longer. The fact there are still £59 eurostar deals available helps to mitigate the exchange rate I suppose, but we also have plans to take the through ticketing TGV route - London to Orleans via Eurostar Paris, that sort of thing. Bruges too.

Eurostar Breaks Paris - No Picasso Museum

People on Eurostar breaks to Paris for the Art museums need to take note that the Paris Picasso Museum closes for two years' worth of renovations

The Picasso Museum in Paris closed its doors on Sunday and will not reopen them to visitors for more than two years as it undergoes an extensive renovation

Eurostar Breaks

Longer Eurostar Breaks

On the subject of slightly longer Eurostar breaks, I thought I'd write about the time we decided to visit Orleans, in the Northwest of France. Having been on Eurostar breaks to Paris several times before, we wanted to see a bit more of the French countryside and in particular the Loire valley. I did a bit of research and discovered it was possible to book a through train ticket just like other Eurostar breaks, with the high speed TGV train to Orleans included.

Eurostar breaks to Orleans, France

The way it works is just like many other Eurostar deals. You get a set of tickets that cover the main Eurostar journey from London to Paris, and then the onward connection from Paris to Orleans. I think we were allowed about an hour and a half to get across Paris from teh Gare du Nord to Gare Montparnasse, which is more than enough really. Because Montparnasse isn't an international Station like St Pancras or gare du Nord in Paris, there's no need to turn up at least half an hour before the train departure time and check in a bit like at an airport. You just have to validate or "compost" your ticket, which is something that happens on french railways a lot. I don;t know why, I suppose it's a bit like clicking in with an Oystercard except that you've already paid for the exact journey at that time.

My research had shown that there was a nice place to stay down by the riverside just out of town at Orleans and I'd printed out the address to give to a taxi driver, never having visited that particular city before. It worked very well, and we had a lovely time walking back into the interesting historic city of Orleans along the riverbank several times during our break. Realistically you have to allow the best part of a day to travel from door to door, but it's not an unpleasant journey with an opportunity for a lunch break in Paris depending on what time you set out. I wouldn't try to do this for a weekend, that's better suited to short Paris breaks but for longer Eurostar breaks in France, Orleans is throughly recommended.