Transportation from Southampton to Paris

[sls23]

We are planning to spend a couple of days at Disneyland Paris following a cruise that ends in Southampton.  I am looking for opinions on the best way to get there.  We will have a decent amount of luggage since we will be on an 8 night Norwegian Fjords cruise.  

 

I am looking to minimize transfers since we will have luggage to manage.  I am open to train, private car, and plane. 

 

Thank you.

[princeton123211]

10 minutes ago, sls23 said:

I am looking to minimize transfers since we will have luggage to manage.  I am open to train, private car, and plane. 

Plane will most likely be the easiest here-- there is at least one direct flight a day from Southampton Airport to Paris Orly as well as a bunch more that connect through either Amsterdam or Dublin. 

 

You could take the train but you would have to take the normal train up to London Waterloo and then transfer to St Pancras Station to the Eurostar. You'll then change trains in Lille for the SNCF direct to Disneyland Paris. 

 

To be honest you're looking at about 6 hours of travel time no matter what you do so it really comes down to minimizing hassle. If you can make the direct flight that's most likely the best option. Once you factor in having to change planes though it's a bit of a craps shoot between that or the train. 

[sls23]

9 minutes ago, princeton123211 said:

Plane will most likely be the easiest here-- there is at least one direct flight a day from Southampton Airport to Paris Orly as well as a bunch more that connect through either Amsterdam or Dublin. 

 

You could take the train but you would have to take the normal train up to London Waterloo and then transfer to St Pancras Station to the Eurostar. You'll then change trains in Lille for the SNCF direct to Disneyland Paris. 

 

To be honest you're looking at about 6 hours of travel time no matter what you do so it really comes down to minimizing hassle. If you can make the direct flight that's most likely the best option. Once you factor in having to change planes though it's a bit of a craps shoot between that or the train. 

Thank you for your help!  It looks like the direct flight may be a very small propeller plane which probably it not a good plan for me and does not appear to have enough luggage allowance (it looks like one checked bag pp).

 

It is too bad that there is no longer the direct Eurostar to Disneyland.  I am thinking the easiest may be to hire a car service to St. Pancras Station and then have the one transfer in Lille.

[gumshoe958]

Cheaper alternative - National Express coach from Southampton to Heathrow (every couple of hours), then British Airways or Air France to Paris CDG (frequent flights on proper jets), then train or cab to Marne la Vallee. 

[Globaliser]

6 minutes ago, sls23 said:

It looks like the direct flight may be a very small propeller plane ...

 

No, it's not small: it's a 72-seater aircraft.

[princeton123211]

4 minutes ago, sls23 said:

It looks like the direct flight may be a very small propeller plane which probably it not a good plan for me and does not appear to have enough luggage allowance (it looks like one checked bag pp).

Its an ATR-72-- a fairly large turboprop which is larger than most regional jets you would fly in the US. Very comfortable and pretty standard short haul plane in Europe. You can always pay more for extra luggage. The direct flight would be my first choice to make a long day shorter. 

 

But if that's not an option for you then I would most likely do the same thing with the car service and then Eurostar. 

[Island2Dweller]

Virtually every airline in Europe charges for hold baggage if you're in economy.

Another option is train to Gatwick (direct train every hour) then easyjet to Paris CDG.  (easyJet use Airbus A320 series).  Read baggage rules carefully, hand baggage allowance is probably less than you expect.

If you book eurostar, remember that you need to factor in arriving an hour to 90 minutes before departure from St Pancras for immigration (you do the French formalities before boarding the train).