eurostar - how early to get there?

[petemurphy]

Hi,

Booking a trip to paris in jan - not used eurostar before.

How early do you get there? says at least 30 mins on the website but also says gates shut 30 mins beforehand. how busy do the gates get - ie should i be there 1-2 hours before like a plane or is it much better?

Thanks

[anonymous-user]

If your going as a foot passenger then 1 hour max I would say.

[petemurphy]

garyhun said:

If your going as a foot passenger then 1 hour max I would say.

yep - cool thanks

[Gareth1974]

garyhun said:

If your going as a foot passenger then 1 hour max I would say.

Aren’t all Eurostar passengers ‘foot passengers’?

[anonymous-user]

Gareth1974 said:

garyhun said:

If your going as a foot passenger then 1 hour max I would say.

Aren’t all Eurostar passengers ‘foot passengers’?

Sure are, but I’ve seen some posters use Eurostar when they mean EuroTunnel so just making sure.

[QuartzDad]

I commute through St Pancras, on busy mornings the Eurostar queue can be 40 metres plus. Not sure I'd want to rock up just an hour before departure time.

[Rostfritt]

Are you arriving from outside London? If you do then book on their website from your departure point. It will give you a connection they believe you can make. Last time I did it they gave me 90 minutes from arrival at Paddington to departure at St Pancras. My train arrived 30 minutes late but I still got on in plenty of time. I didn't even have to jump the queue for security or passport, which I have seen them do for late passengers before.

I wasn't worried about missing it as they would be obliged to put you on the next one as it is a connecting ticket.

[LotusOmega375D]

Took the family to Paris on a Friday lunchtime a few weeks ago. The passengers were processed very quickly and efficiently at St Pancras, so 1 hour should be ample. Coming back from Gare du Nord on the Sunday morning was a whole different story. Ridiculous queues for the two passport controls meant that all trains were departing an hour late. There were simply insufficient passport control officers to handle the volume of passengers. Why they should have been taken by surprise by the number and demographic of passengers booked that days is beyond me. Also, why they can't combine the two Border force checks into one? It was freezing cold and standing up for the best part of 2 hours was no fun. I felt really sorry for the guy who was actually at the front of the queue for our train: the French staff changed the queue system after an hour and he hadn't even got to the check-in gate, by the time we eventually jumped aboard.

In summary, St Pancras and the train itself was lovely. Next time I think I'll take the train out and the plane back!

[petemurphy]

thanks i played safe in the end and the train gets there hour and 20 before hand - can always have a relaxed breakkie!

[FiF]

I had a similar experience to Lotus Omega catching the Eurostar from Brussels. All trains were departing late due to numptyism on passenger handling and security.

[anonymous-user]

I go to Brussels on Eurostar once or twice a month - 45 mins is always more then enough. There's not much the other side of security in the Eurostar terminal - a small shop nand a cafe, and it's pretty cramped with not enough seating if two trains are due out close to each other, but of course there is plenty in St Pancras itself.

[Rostfritt]

LotusOmega375D said:

In summary, St Pancras and the train itself was lovely. Next time I think I'll take the train out and the plane back!

I was considering taking a trip to the south of France using on of their direct services. Because of the way passport control works, on the way out you just go through both in St Pancras as normal and get off the train in Lyon or Marseilles 5 or 6 hours later having enjoyed plenty of wine from the cafe car. On the way back however, because neither the UK nor France wants to put in immigration control on several stations in the south of France they do passport checks in Calais. This means everyone has to get off, go through both controls while the train is swept for people hiding in the loos and such and then get back on.