Day Tour from ParisDay Trip from Paris to London
A day trip from Paris to London is one of the few cross-border days you can do entirely by train. Eurostar covers the 2 hours 17 minutes between the two city centres, and London hands you three very different anchors for the day: the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey and the free National Gallery. This page is about the day itself: what to see in what order, what each sight costs, where the free parts are, and the paperwork, because Britain is a separate country with its own entry rules. No tour operator in the comparison runs a coach or minivan day to London, so this is a day you arrange yourself. For the full transport breakdown, see how to plan a day trip from Paris. The bookable tours are compared on Paris day tours.
A Eurostar train at St Pancras station in London. Photo: Oxyman, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
Quick answer Is it worth it
London is worth a day trip from Paris if you plan it around two or three fixed sights, because the Eurostar ride takes 2 hours 17 minutes city centre to city centre. You lose about two and a half hours to check-in and passport controls across the day, and you need a passport and, for most nationalities, a UK ETA costing £20. Paris is one hour ahead of London, which quietly gives you a longer afternoon. No catalog tour from Paris covers London, so the day is fully self-guided.
Key takeaways
- Eurostar runs Paris Gare du Nord to London St Pancras in 2 hours 17 minutes, and fares are dynamic, so the journey basics come first.
- The Tower of London costs £38.00 for adults, Westminster Abbey £32, and the National Gallery is free, so pick your two paid sights before you go.
- Book the £20 UK ETA online before travel day, since Eurostar cannot carry you without one if you need it.
- London is not on the coach circuit, but the Bruges day trip is the closest guided cross-border day in the catalog, and the full ranking of day trips from Paris sits one click away.
How to Spend a Day in London from Paris
The shape of the day is fixed by two things: the Eurostar timetable and the one-hour time difference. Everything else you control.
The Day, Step by Step
This plan runs from the first train out to the last one back, and it keeps the two paid sights at opposite ends of the day so you never backtrack across the river twice. Prices and hours below come from the official sites for each sight and from Eurostar. Adjust the middle of the day freely, because the structure survives it.
- Early morning at Paris Gare du Nord: arrive 75 to 90 minutes before departure if you travel Eurostar Standard or Plus, because ticket checks on London routes close 30 minutes before the train leaves and passport and luggage checks happen before boarding.
- On the train: the ride is 2 hours 17 minutes. Set your watch back one hour when you arrive, since Paris runs one hour ahead of London.
- Arrival at London St Pancras International: step off the platform and walk out of the station, because the passport and luggage checks were done before boarding.
- Mid-morning: head to Westminster Abbey. General admittance on the sampled day ran 9.30am to 3.30pm, so aim to be inside early while the queue is shortest. Adult entry is £32, children 6 to 17 pay £14 and under 6 is free. Give it 1.5 to 2 hours.
- Lunch: eat near Westminster or Trafalgar Square. London is a pay-as-you-go city for food, and nothing on your sightseeing list requires a set lunch stop.
- Early afternoon: the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square. Entry is free, it opens daily at 10am, runs to 6pm and to 9pm on Fridays, and walk-up entry is available even though a free fast-track ticket can be booked. Spend 1 to 2 hours, or less if you only want the big rooms.
- Late afternoon: travel east to the Tower of London. It opens Tuesday to Saturday at 09:00 and Sunday to Monday at 10:00, closes at 17:30 from 1 March to 31 October and at 16:30 from 1 November, with last admission one hour before closing. The adult ticket is £38.00 without donation or £41.80 with it.
- Early evening: ride or walk back toward St Pancras. On London routes, Eurostar Standard and Plus passengers should arrive at St Pancras 75 minutes before departure.
- Evening train: the return to Paris takes 2 hours 16 minutes. Remember to move your watch forward one hour, and expect passport checks again before boarding at St Pancras, where the gate closes 30 minutes before departure.
What to Skip If You Are Short of Time
If your departure back to Paris falls early, drop the Tower rather than the Abbey. The Abbey has a published general admittance window that ends at 3.30pm on the sampled day, so it has a hard deadline, while the Tower stays open to 17:30 in summer and 16:30 in winter. The National Gallery costs nothing and takes as little as one hour, which makes it the easiest block to compress.
Do not compress the check-in margins instead, because Eurostar states ticket checks on London routes close 30 minutes before departure and explicitly advises against arriving just before the gate closes.
What to See in London
Three sights carry a one-day visit: a fortress, a church and a free gallery. Each has clear prices and hours from its own operator.
The Tower of London
The Tower of London is the historic fortress on the Thames that anchors the east side of a one-day visit. It is the paid sight with the longest opening day: Tuesday to Saturday it opens at 09:00, Sunday to Monday at 10:00, and it closes at 17:30 from 1 March to 31 October, dropping to 16:30 from 1 November. Last admission is one hour before closing, which matters on a day trip because it lets you place the Tower at the end of the afternoon without rushing.
Tickets cost £38.00 for adults aged 18 to 64 without donation, or £41.80 with donation, bought from the Historic Royal Palaces site. Plan roughly two hours inside, then make your way back toward St Pancras for the return train.
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey is the coronation church at the heart of the Westminster district, and it is the sight with the tightest window on a day trip. Adult entry is £32, seniors and students pay £29, children aged 6 to 17 pay £14, and children under 6 enter free. General admittance on the sampled Friday ran from 9.30am to 3.30pm, so the Abbey has to be a morning stop, not an afterthought.
It pairs naturally with Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery afterwards, which sit a short walk away on the same north bank of the Thames. Allow 1.5 to 2 hours for the church itself, buy the ticket online in advance, and treat the 3.30pm cutoff as immovable rather than approximate.
The National Gallery
The National Gallery on Trafalgar Square is the free anchor of the day and the easiest sight to fit around the two paid ones. Entry is free, it opens daily from 10am to 6pm and stays open until 9pm on Fridays, and it closes only on 24 to 26 December and 1 January. The main entrance is the Sainsbury Wing on Trafalgar Square, and while a free fast-track ticket can be booked online, walk-up entry is also available, which suits a rail itinerary where the arrival hour can shift.
Because there is no ticket cost and no hard last-entry pressure inside the day, this is the block to stretch or shrink as the rest of the schedule demands. One to two hours covers the main rooms comfortably.
St Pancras and the Walk Out
Eurostar arrives at London St Pancras International, and the station itself is the start of the sightseeing. The train ride from Paris Gare du Nord takes 2 hours 17 minutes, and passport and luggage checks happen before boarding in Paris, so at the London end you simply get off the train and walk out. That is the practical advantage of rail over any coach day: no transfer, no terminus on the city edge, no lost half hour.
Remember the one-hour shift, because Paris is one hour ahead of London, so a train that leaves Paris at midday lands you in London at 13:17 local time. A precise walking time from St Pancras to the sights is not stated in official sources, so leave margin rather than trusting a minute count.
Tour or Train?
For London the choice is narrower than for any other destination on this site, because the catalog has no London day at all.
The Honest Comparison
No catalog tour goes to London, so there is nothing to compare against the Eurostar day on equal terms. The table below sets out the nearest guided cross-border alternative that the catalog does sell, plus the rail option with its costs, so you can see what a guided day buys you elsewhere. The guided Bruges coach day at $96 includes transport only, with the walking tour and canal cruise depending on the option you pick, and it does not include lunch or hotel pickup.
Eurostar fares between Paris and London are dynamic and are not quoted here.
| Option | Price | Time | What it covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day trip from Paris to London by Eurostar | Dynamic Eurostar fare, plus Tower of London £38.00, Westminster Abbey £32, ETA £20 where required | 2 hours 17 minutes each way | Self-guided. All sights, meals and transfers arranged by you |
| Bruges Day Trip from Paris, Belgium | $96 | 1 day | Coach transport to Bruges. Walking tour and canal cruise only with the guided option, no lunch, no hotel pickup |
| Mont-Saint-Michel Day Trip from Paris by Coach | $100 | 14 hours | Coach transport and the Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey entrance ticket, no lunch |
Which One Fits You
Take the train if you want London itself and you are comfortable with paperwork: the ETA, the passport, the 75 to 90 minute check-in and the time change are all manageable, and the free National Gallery keeps the day cheap once the Eurostar fare is paid. Take a guided day instead if you would rather hand the logistics to someone else, but then pick a different destination, because the catalog simply has no London product. For Bruges, the closest twin of the London day, the Bruges tour handles the border ride for $96.
For the widest view of what a guided day can cover, the homepage comparison of day tours from Paris puts every option side by side.
Where the Figures Come From
Tour prices above are quoted exactly as the operators list them. Sight prices come from the Historic Royal Palaces, Westminster Abbey and National Gallery pages, and the ETA price comes from gov.uk.
Sources: Eurostar, Historic Royal Palaces, Westminster Abbey, gov.uk
Tower Bridge on the Thames in London. Photo: Colin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Getting There from Paris
One line, one station each way, and no changes.
Gare Du Nord to St Pancras
The Eurostar leaves Paris Gare du Nord and arrives at London St Pancras International in 2 hours 17 minutes. Arrive 75 to 90 minutes before departure at Gare du Nord for Eurostar Standard and Plus, or 45 to 60 minutes for Eurostar Premier, because ticket checks on London routes close 30 minutes before departure and include passport, luggage and Entry/Exit System checks where applicable. At the London end the same applies in reverse, with a 75 minute arrival advised at St Pancras for Standard and Plus.
The full station-by-station breakdown, including how to reach Gare du Nord, is on the day trip planning page.
Day Trip Tips for London
Do
- Do apply for the UK ETA before travel day, because gov.uk charges £20 per person, each traveller including babies needs their own, and Eurostar states travellers who need one cannot travel to the UK without it.
- Do carry a valid passport, because Eurostar says a passport is the main document for London and national ID cards work only in a limited number of cases.
- Do set your watch back an hour on arrival and forward an hour for the return, because Eurostar confirms Paris is one hour ahead of London and both check-ins are time-critical.
- Do visit the National Gallery on a Friday if you can, because it stays open until 9pm on Fridays against a 6pm close the rest of the week, all for free.
Don't
- Don't arrive at the gate just before it closes, because Eurostar says the gate shuts 30 minutes before departure on London routes and explicitly advises against cutting it fine.
- Don't leave Westminster Abbey for the afternoon, because general admittance ended at 3.30pm on the sampled day, and adult entry is £32 you would not want to waste.
- Don't book a coach tour expecting London, because no catalog tour goes there, and the closest guided cross-border day is Bruges at $96 by coach.
Day Trip from Paris to London: FAQ
Is a day trip from Paris to London worth it?
Yes, if you limit yourself to two or three sights. The Eurostar takes 2 hours 17 minutes each way, Paris is one hour ahead of London, and the National Gallery is free, so a disciplined day delivers a fortress, a coronation church and a major gallery. See the sample day plan for the order that works.
How much is a bullet train from Paris to London?
The Eurostar is a conventional high-speed train rather than a bullet train, and its Paris to London fare is dynamic, so no fixed price applies. What is fixed is the journey time of 2 hours 17 minutes and the entry costs on arrival, starting with the £20 UK ETA requirement for most nationalities.
Can I take a day trip from Paris to London by train?
Yes, and the train is the only way, because no catalog tour from Paris covers London. Eurostar runs from Paris Gare du Nord to London St Pancras International, with passport checks before boarding and ticket checks closing 30 minutes before departure. The getting there section has the check-in times.
What documents do I need to enter the UK from Paris?
A valid passport is the main document, since Eurostar says national ID cards are accepted only in a limited number of cases. Most travellers from Europe, the USA, Australia and Canada also need a UK Electronic Travel Authorisation, which costs £20 and is applied for online. Note that an ETA does not guarantee entry to the UK.
How much does one day in London cost for sightseeing?
The three anchors cost £38.00 for the Tower of London, £32 for Westminster Abbey and nothing for the National Gallery, which is free with walk-up entry. Add the £20 ETA where it applies and the dynamic Eurostar fare. The what to see section lists every price from the official operators.
Can you do a one day trip to Paris from London instead?
Yes, and it is marginally faster, since Eurostar quotes 2 hours 16 minutes from London to Paris against 2 hours 17 minutes the other way. The same passport and check-in rules apply in reverse at St Pancras, where Standard and Plus passengers are advised to arrive 75 minutes before departure. For the reverse direction, the same day planning basics hold.