Many travelers opt for Eurostar for its sheer convenience. With a headline travel time of just 2hrs 16mins from the heart of London to the middle of Paris, Eurostar will invariably be the fastest option. Others favor the international rail service for its reasonable fares. Book when tickets first go on sale (four months before travel on the London to Paris route), and you’ll surely catch a bargain.

From edgy and unloved landscapes…

But there is quite another reason why canny travelers bound for Paris are so inclined to hop on Eurostar. This journey has a remarkable cinematic quality. Climb aboard, settle down in a comfortable window seat and just watch.

The departure from St Pancras is a gentle piece of theatre. Then tunnels and light interact, with screenshots of edgy and unloved landscapes in Essex and north Kent. Cut from a scene of the old automobile plant at Dagenham to a late Saxon stone church stranded on the Essex marshes.

… to the garden of England

The train zips under the Thames then over the Medway, suddenly entering a green and pleasant land, a more rural England than we have seen in the first part of our journey. The railway plays cat and mouse with the Downs, here and there diving through tunnels under chalk hills.

Along the way, there are gorgeous scenes of Kentish orchards and pasture land. This is pure therapy.

Flanders fields

On, under the English Channel, and you’ll be in France within an hour of leaving London. Here the landscape has a more expansive demeanor.

Cassel, a magnificently-situated hill town in the distance, is a reminder that Flanders is not totally two-dimensional. Dashing south from Lille, the line cuts through territory defined by its rivers. We bridge the Scarpe and the Somme. This is a journey that evokes memories of too many wars. But it captures too the blessings of peace.

Arriving in Paris

Two hours out of London and we are into the final act. Paris suburbs are pushing north into fields where not so long ago sugar beet was grown.

We surf the city, making tracks for the Gare du Nord. But watch carefully, for just before arriving at the terminal, the River Seine has a minor walk-on role. You’ll catch a glimpse of it on the right as the train cruises south through St Denis.

Just over two hours of pure cinema. And like all good movies, it’s one worth watching time and time again.

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From 19th-century beauties to 20th-century marvels, everyone’s got their favorite.  I tried to rank them from best (“First Place”) to worst (“Sixth Place”) and highlighted the glowing qualities in each one, whether it be history, beauty, or destinations serviced.

First Place: Gare de Lyon
Best Overall Station

Built for the 1900 World Fair (just like the then-station-now-museum Orsay), the Gare de Lyon maintains its functions as one of the busiest stations in Paris.  Recent renovations have spruced the place up, but the soaring halls and sizable clock tower are features that make this place feel downright romantic.

The restaurant “Le Train Bleu” is one of the classier places to eat inside any Parisian train station.  Also, the TGV to the south leaves from here, meaning that people are often cheerful, having either returning from a sunny vacation or eagerly anticipating arriving on the Cote d’Azur.

Click, click, clack goes the departures board in the Gare du Nord. Photo: EuroCheapo

Second Place: Gare du Nord
Notable for: Old-School Charm

This impressive piece of architecture is a beauty in an otherwise not-so-charming part of town.  Still, the Gare du Nord will send you, as the name implies, north to destinations like London, Brussels, and Amsterdam, making it a lively international hub.  The main hall and the clicking split-flap departure board ooze old-world France, making it one of the most visually appealing ways to enter Paris – at least until you head downstairs to take the Metro or outside to be greeted by less-than-charming sex shops.

Still, you can’t help being enchanted by the Gare du Nord while waiting for the board to change, the letters and numbers whirling until your platform is posted and your next adventure begins.

Third Place: Gare de l’Est
Notable for: Secrets and Mystery

The little sister of the Gare du Nord, the Gare de l’Est is just down the street, is equally as striking, if just a bit smaller.  We’re still always confused as to why these two stations are practically next to each other, but with services to the east of France, like Strasbourg, it’s a bit calmer and slightly more imposing than its more international counterpart.  The underground shopping mall takes away a bit of the allure, but that doesn’t stop this writer from cutting through the station’s hall from time to time en route to the nearby Canal Saint Martin.

Also below the station are abandoned Nazi bunkers from the 1940s that are off limits to the public, but add a bit of mystery to the station.

Fourth Place: Gare Saint Lazare
Notable for: Artsy Throwback

Located not far from the busy Opera district, the Gare Saint Lazare is the second busiest station in the city, largely servicing areas around Paris to the north including Normandy and Monet’s gardens at Giverny.

Monet, as well as Manet and other artists, famously immortalized the hub in paintings, and even Emile Zola wrote about it.  A beauty on the outside, it’s a bit less romantic on the inside with an extensive shopping mall and other amenities housed in the 19th-century building, but it’s a fun way to watch locals during their daily routine (if you don’t get whisked away with the 450,000 daily commuters that ride these rails).

Fifth Place: Gare Montparnasse
Notable for: Wine lovers

The Gare Montparnasse is the Paris’ equivalent of New York’s Penn Station – a modern hub built on the remains of a beautiful old station that just “needed” to be torn down.  The monolithic Montparnasse tower on top at least makes it the easiest station in Paris to find, as it’s one of the only skyscrapers in town.

While not a favorite in any capacity for the structure, the station does win points for housing services to Bordeaux and the Loire Valley, meaning wine aficionados will be familiar with the locale. It was also the station featured in that iconic photo of a derailed steam engine protruding through the original building’s wall, so it’s paid its dues to history, right?

Sixth Place: Gare d’Austerlitz
Notable for: Still existing

While its name evokes one of Napoleon’s biggest conquests, this 19th-century artifact is anything but triumphant.  With local trains that run to places like Tours and Orléans, there’s not much interest for tourists at the Gare d’Austerlitz, but a renovation set to end in 2020 could change all of that.  A new high-speed TGV service will be set in place and the area around the station is being revamped, including the part overlooking the adjacent Seine river.  Hopefully the facelift will help revitalize this otherwise characterless corner of the Latin Quarter.

Your favorite stations in Paris?

It’s time for you to have your say! What are your favorite (and least favorite) train stations in Paris? Rank them for us in our comments section!

Related article: Planning your trip to Paris and confused about which train station you’ll be using to get out of town? Check out our handy article on Paris train stations by destinations.

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