But what about the train-ferry combination, the one many may recall fondly from their childhoods? It is still feasible, but these days it is not a streamlined option. You’ll need to purchase train and ferry tickets separately and finesse train station-port transportation on your own. The journey will also take 10 hours, so it’s best to leave that option to your memories. Instead, here are some more affordable ways to get from London to Paris and back again.

Related: 

• 50 Ways to save in Paris
• 21 Simple tips to save in London

Affordable Travel From London To Paris

Here are the most viable and cheapest ways to get between these two European centers.

Air: Fast but not so efficient

Though flying between London and Paris is by no means our recommended mode of transportation — the distance is simply too short to warrant the hassle, not to mention the carbon expenditure — there are a few ways to get between these two dynamic capital cities by air. These days the Paris-London route is used disproportionately for passengers connecting on to a long-haul destination, with the exception of business travelers flying in and out of London City Airport. That said, we did find one-way fares starting at $38 searching a few months in advance, but of course that doesn’t include all of the rail or taxi fares in between the airports and the city center.

• easyJet flies from London Gatwick to Paris-Charles de Gaulle.

• From London Luton, easyJet flies to Paris-Charles de Gaulle. You can find one-way fares three months in advance for as low as £30 (about $38).

• From London Heathrow, Air France flies to Paris-Charles de Gaulle with fares as low at £77 ($99), while British Airways flies to both Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly for as low as £47 ($60).

Rail: Comfortable and quick

The only direct train linkage from London to Paris these days is the Eurostar, which travels between London’s St. Pancras International and the Gare du Nord in Paris 15-17 times per weekday. The trip usually takes 2 hours and 15 minutes, with maximum speeds of up to 186 mph. However, Eurostar started rolling out brand new trains in late 2015 that can make the journey in only 2 hours at speeds of up to 200 mph.

The experience feels a bit like air travel, with its security checks and passport control in both directions. Because the UK is not part of the Schengen Area, passengers go through passport control prior to boarding their trains. Traveling from Paris to London, passengers first exit France through French passport control and then enter the UK via British passport control. In London, passengers will officially enter France in the station, submitting passports to French passport control before boarding their train to Paris.

From London, return Eurostar London to Paris fares begin at a very reasonable £41 round trip ($52) (between midday and midnight on a Monday; anytime on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday; and between midday and midnight on a Saturday). Booking nonrefundable tickets as far as possible in advance (up to 120 days) is your best bet for finding this low-cost fare. The cheapest tickets sell out first, so the earlier you book, the more you save.

Bus: Long but super cheap

The bus is usually the least expensive way to travel between Paris and London. It also takes much longer than a flight or the train. BlaBlaCar Bus and FlixBus are two major bus lines traveling between the two capitals. French BlaBlaCar Bus takes between 7.5 and 9 hours. The FlixBus journey takes between 9 and 10 hours. Both lines advertise free Wi-Fi and electrical outlets.

One-way FlixBus (formerly Eurolines) fares begin at £25 ($32). The FlixBus terminal in London is Victoria Coach Station; the Paris terminal is Bercy Seine.

BlaBlaCar Bus (formerly OUIBUS, and before that, iDBUS), a subsidiary of French train company SNCF, is a more comfortable option, with good legroom. Fares begin at around £25 for a one-way journey — promotional one-way fares and overnight trips can dip even lower. The BlaBlaCar Bus terminal in London is Victoria Coach Station; the BlaBlaCar Bus Paris terminal is Paris-Bercy.

What’s your preference?

How do you prefer to travel from London to Paris? Have any tips on ways to save on any of the transport options listed above? Share your tips with us in the comments section!

The post The cheapest way from London to Paris: Planes, trains & buses from £25 appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.

A great weekend bargain in Germany

On the weekends, for example, travelers can roam the length and breadth of Germany by local and regional trains using the Schönes Wochenende Ticket (SWT), which allows unlimited travel for just €37. And the beauty of the SWT is that you can take along up to four other travelers without having to pay an extra cent.

We have friends who last Sunday traveled from Aachen (on the Belgian border) right across Germany to Salzburg using the SWT, effectively paying €7.40 each for a journey of over 500 miles that took in the Rhine gorge and much more fine scenery. The SWT can even be used to selected stations beyond Germany’s borders (i.e. Salzburg in Austria, Schaffhausen in Switzerland, Wissembourg in France and Szczecin in Poland).

Cheap regional tickets in Germany

While the German SWT is a weekend-only deal, regional tickets in Germany give the freedom to roam within a more limited area on any day, but only after 9 a.m. Mondays through Fridays. These tickets are named after the federal states (Länder in German) in which they are principally marketed. These tickets are typically priced at €20 for one person or €28 for a group of up to five people traveling together.

Roaming Germany’s Baltic coast

The Länder tickets are often valid for substantially larger areas than the federal states after which they are named.

You might expect the “Schleswig-Holstein” ticket only to be valid in the state of Schleswig-Holstein. Think again. This ticket also covers the German states of Hamburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, not to mention selected cross-border stretches of railway into Denmark and Poland. This validity area thus covers Germany’s entire Baltic coast and offshore islands (several of which have causeways carrying railways to the mainland). So devotees of branch lines can use the Schleswig-Holstein ticket to travel very cheaply along rural rail routes from Padborg in Danish Jutland to the Polish town of Swinoujscie.

Similarly, the Sachsen ticket is valid far beyond the borders of Saxony. It can be used over a huge area that encompasses part or all of five German states, two cross-border routes into Poland, and one through the Czech Republic.

As with all Länder tickets, and with the Schönes Wochenende Ticket (SWT), just buy the ticket at the ticket machine before hopping on your first train. You can book a ticket online, but there is really no need to do this. The online tickets are no cheaper than those sold at station ticket machines.

Criss-crossing borders

In many border areas of Europe,  special rail passes are available, even to non-residents, to promote mobility in frontier regions. These are superb deals, often covering not merely the immediate border region but substantial areas well beyond the frontier.

The following are particularly good bargains for one-day tickets:

1. The Euregio Bodensee Tageskarte gives unlimited travel around Lake Constance (called the Bodensee in German) including ferries and selected rail routes in Austria, Germany and Switzerland: €28

2. The Euregio Maas-Rhein Tageskarte permits rail and bus travel throughout parts of eastern Belgium, the Limburg area of the Netherlands and over the German border to Aachen and beyond: €15.50

3. The EuroNeisse Ticket covers a large part of northern Bohemia (Czech Republic), part of Silesia (Poland) and eastern Saxony (Germany) and affords unlimited travel on trains, buses and trams: €10

All the passes mentioned in this post give travelers the chance to really explore a region or make longer hops at a bargain price. Local trains with frequent stops along the way often give a sense of engaging with landscape and communities in a way that is less possible on fast express services.

The post Exploring Germany: Rail passes for local train services appeared first on EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog.