London to Paris by Chauffeur

Going to Paris with your own chauffeur is nothing like taking the Eurostar, and it answers one particular sort of trip: heavy luggage, a family who want to stay together, a dog on board, or a schedule that needs a car standing ready at the far end rather than a taxi queue outside the Gare du Nord. The day is long. Arranged with care, it is also thoroughly enjoyable.

Kent goes by on the M20, down to Folkestone, and there the car drives straight onto Eurotunnel Le Shuttle. Nobody gets out. You sit in the vehicle for the crossing itself, roughly thirty-five minutes beneath the Channel. Off at Coquelles near Calais on the French side, and then it's road again towards Paris, usually another three hours or so on the autoroute, subject to how Lille behaves and what the approach into the city is doing.

Door to door, set aside a long day. Once you count the crossing, the formalities and the stops, eight to ten hours in total is the common figure, and it moves with shuttle availability and whatever the traffic is doing on either side. Guests fill the hours as they would on any long run: laptops open, or asleep, or simply watching Picardy slide past the window. One car the whole way means the luggage gets lifted once, right at the start.

Responsibility for passports and any applicable travel documentation rests with the passenger, and since requirements can change, we check what your specific journey needs at the time of booking instead of assuming anything. Shuttle crossings have to be reserved ahead, which is why we press for firm dates early on. Return legs, a stay of several days in Paris, onward journeys within France: raise any of it when you enquire.