How to get to Paris from London: Flight and ferry options as Eurostar trains cancelled by WWII bomb

Exclusive: All possible air and coach options appear to have been bought up already

Eurostar says all its 32 trains between London and Paris are cancelled on Friday, leaving an estimated 25,000 passengers out of position.

Tens of thousands of passengers are stranded at either end of the Eurostar link following the discovery of a wartime bomb at St-Denis, a few miles north of Gare du Nord in the French capital.

The closure has happened on the busiest day of the week for Eurostar – and the key day for leisure travellers heading for a weekend away in Paris.

These are the options as at 1.15pm on Friday.

Car and ferry or Eurotunnel

Lots of room is available on DFDS, Irish Ferries and P&O Ferries sailings from Dover to Calais (and DFDS to Dunkirk) over the weekend. The same applies for shuttles from Folkestone to Calais.

Train

The Independent has made multiple attempts to see what seats are available on trains running from London to Lille, from where other surface options – including trains to Marne la Vallée/Disneyland Paris, east of the capital. But neither the Eurostar app nor the website allows bookings to be made. The app tells customers: “Sorry, something went wrong. Go to the homepage.” The website simply features an endlessly revolving Eurostar logo. So at present it is impossible to recommend any solutions involving Eurostar.

Train and ferry

The best solution is DFDS from Newhaven to Dieppe, because onward trains via Rouen to Paris serve St-Lazare station in the French capital, which is unaffected by the closure.

P&O Ferries normally carries foot passengers on only a few sailings each day from Dover to Calais. But because of the Eurostar shutdown, it is making more evening sailings available.

You can reach Dover from London easily on the High Speed 1 line from St Pancras to Dover Priory. The ferry fare is £37.25. Foot passenger check-in closes 90 minutes before departure.

From Dunkirk or Calais on the other side of the Channel, the best plan is to head for Lille and try to get a train to Marne la Vallée/Disneyland Paris. It may be that some Lille-Paris services are restored by Friday evening – or, failing that, a coach may be available.

International coach

All direct services are fully booked from London to Paris, though FlixBus is showing a weird connection via Antwerp taking over 17 hours.

Air

Many passengers have chosen to fly from a different UK city – including Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds – to Paris. All such flights for Friday are fully booked.

The same applies to other French cities – though there are seats on easyJet from London Gatwick to Strasbourg on Friday evening, with an early train from the Alsatian city to Paris Est arriving before 9am on Saturday.