Thursday, April 12, 2012

Paris Gare Du Nord to St Lazare

Hello, I have a Eurostar booking from London, the train arrives into Gare Du Nord at 14.15. I need to get a connecting train to Le Havre from St. Lazare. The first available train is at 14.50 to Le Havre. The next one is over two hours later (which will delay my subsequent plans in Le Havre, picking up of a rental car, etc.).





Wanted to check on this Forum from local Parisians or tourists who have done this before, as to how long it would take for me to get to St. Lazare. Though I understand it is just one station away, I wanted to estimate whether 40 minutes will be cutting it too fine, or if I run for dear life, whether I will still be able to make it.





(Note that for immigration clearance purposes, I am a foreign traveler). Appreciate any guidance you could offer. Thanks.




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The Paris public transport web site - www.ratp.fr - says that the travel time from Gade du Nord to Gare St Lazare is 4 minutes. There is no immigration control at Gare du Nord: it is done on the train. (Indeed, when I travelled in 1979, there were no checks at all on the London-Paris trip.)




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I%26#39;d recommend a cab if you want to make the earlier train. The RER-E that connects the two train stations actually only passes NEAR the stations so there%26#39;s a lot of walking and navigating to do at both ends. Unless you already knew the route, I don%26#39;t think you could do it in 35 minutes.




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Thanks for your responses, these are really helpful. Checked out the RATP website and things are a lot clearer.





But should I conclude that if we took a cab, we still won%26#39;t be able to make it? Because its ruining all the onward plans, so if there was anything that could be done to get there within half an hour, we%26#39;re willing to take the chance.





Your thoughts are most welcome.




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I think there%26#39;s a chance you won%26#39;t make it unless you%26#39;re at the front of the line in the taxi queue. When the Eurostar trains arrive, the queue can quickly grow to 100+ long. The taxi rank is directly to the right of the Eurostar platform at the front-end of the train so the people in the first car are first in line for a taxi. If you%26#39;re not near the front of the line, you may not make the train at St-Lazare.




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Many thanks for your inputs - this was really useful. We%26#39;ve decided to either take the later train (2 hrs from the time we arrive at Gare du Nord) or rent a vehicle from Paris itself and drive to Le Havre.





Thanks once again, much appreciated!




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