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London and possibly Paris by Eurostar. Tips and advice?
I am taking a trip soon to London and will possibly be adding a couple days in Paris. It's been a hot minute (few years) since visiting the UK and would like to solicit some timely advice and tips. One thing that comes to mind: How important is it to carry cash? Would I need to pay London and Paris street vendors or any shops with cash or will a card with no exchange fees suffice? While we will of course be visiting some tourist attractions like museums, most of our time will be taken up with book stores, record shops, food and coffee shops.
Great advice! Though I'd say in terms of tipping in Paris, it's really not expected unless you get really good service.
On taxis - most do take cards but not all, best to check before you getting in.
Also on the last paragraph, Uber is also becoming extra shitty in Paris. The Eurostar arrives at Gare du Nord and there are plenty of metro lines, you're better off taking public transport. If you -really- insist on taking a cab, try a different service like Bolt or a local taxi company like G7.
Can’t emphasise the bit about strikes in London enough. Tube strikes miiiight be over 🤞, but train strikes are still happening and that hits a lot of the city transit, especially to south London—not to mention any day trips out of the city. (I don’t think Eurostar is generally affected by them, but I’m not certain.)
It's already 5-10% in Germany. Excellent writeup but I just want to chime in that Europe is not monolith, people do need to check for each specific country that they visit. I couldn't count the number of times I've seen visitors and foreign residents alike be inadvertently rude because they live under this false assumption that tip culture is not a thing in Europe. Please check the guidelines for every country that you visit!
Edit: Changed 10% to 5-10%. I'll admit that as an American I'm conditioned to tip so I usually default to the higher amount. In Germany it is customary to round up to .50 or 1 euro for small purchases and a full 5-10% in restaurants depending on the service
I just pay the stated price in Germany, it's a country with decent minimum wage (4th or 8th highest in the world, depending on which column you look at) so idk what they get paid but it can't be horrible, and haven't gotten any weird reactions. We don't need a tipping culture here
Nobody will bat an eye about not being tipped in Germany because it's still seen as completely voluntary but to pretend like the expectation for 5-10% for decent to good service doesn't exist is just being willingly ignorant. The fact is that even though Germans are decently paid they are experiencing acute housing and cost of living crisises across the country, it's not fair to look at the minimum wage column without factoring the taxes that they pay and the cost of living. Reastaurants do pay a living wage in Germany, unlike countries like the US, but there's a big difference between meeting basic needs and actually living a life.
Sorry to break it to you but it already is "here." The fact is that most people in Germany do leave a tip as long as the service is not bad, if you feel like that doesn't apply to you then you do you. Like you said, no one will be weird to you about it
Edit: changed 10% to 5-10%
Great advice overall, but you probably don't need to be so careful about arriving very early for Eurostar. I've been quite a few times and customs/security has always been quick, much less stringent than air. Won't make you remove anything from your bag, etc.
It's better to be safe, of course, however in London, they won't even let you go through customs until 60-90 mins before departure, because space in the waiting terminal is very limited. Worth keeping in mind, because King's Cross is rather an expensive and busy place to be trapped for long periods of time. I usually aim to arrive about 90 mins before departure time.
Does this mean "in the case that you're below the amount"? I know minium amounts before being allowed to pay by card in Germany, but not minimum purchase amounts altogether
Minimum amount to pay by card. You can buy your single Wegbier for whatever it cost, just in old fashioned cash.
We planned on getting 100 pounds each (three of us) for our time in London. It sounds like that may be about right or maybe even more than enough. We plan on going to as many markets as we can.
Thank you for the remarks on tipping. My wife insisted we needed the pounds and euros for tips and I told her that's not as prevalent as in US.
Would an oyster card be available at Heathrow for the tube to city center or is there a better option for the tube? I know you can tap a credit card but I would rather not pull that out each time and I don't keep it on my phone.
This is a fantastic list of advice. I appreciate the write up!
Unless you're like me (and who isn't?!) and like to keep transit cards/passes as mementos. I'm doubly glad I started doing that a while back, since more and more places are going card-less now and just letting you tap your credit card or phone, etc. It's super convenient but you don't get a neat little souvenir out of it.
FWIW, you can order one online and have it shipped to you before you even arrive in London.
https://visitorshop.tfl.gov.uk/en/london-visitor-oyster-card
We leave in a week so I don't think we would receive it in time.
Just to really underline it: a friend who was visiting us in London insisted on paying me back for something, and gave me cash. That was in March, and all but £20 of it is still sitting in my wallet today!
Most places (but not all) do accept cash so it’s not like you’ll be stuck with it, but contactless (branded as tap to pay in the US, I think?) is very much the default - doubly so if it’s somewhere busy where they want to keep things moving quickly! Magstripe readers aren’t really a thing on newer card machines, and chip cards in the US don’t always follow the same standards, so I’d recommend setting up Apple/Android pay if you can.
I was just in Paris a couple months ago, and the one taxi we attempted to take did not take credit cards. We didn't have cash, so we just got out and took the (way cheaper) public transit instead. Make sure you ask before the trip starts!
I was in London and Paris twice this year:
I don't think you need more than a bit of cash, maybe like 50 pounds at most, most of the places in London take card, especially tap to pay. Some vendors might not have card readers but it really depends on what you want to buy, things like flea markets are less likely to have card readers. Highly recommend the Eurostar to Paris though, it's super convenient and only 2 or 3 hours!
My personal favorite thing to do in London is go to Pieminister in Borough Market, but the rest of the market is super touristy in general. Camden market is too, but I think it has a bit more interesting shops and food options too, plus it's right on the river which is pretty fun.
Also make sure to get to Dishoom! Very good Indian food, coming from someone who lives in an area with very good Indian food in general.
+1 for Dishoom. My favorite Indian food restaurant in the world. Whenever we visit London from the US, we make sure Dishoom is on the agenda. They don't take reservations for dinner though, and the lines can be long, but I think it's pretty worth it.
My hometown is arguably the Indian capital of America, so I'm pretty sure I can get just as good Indian food at home, but...... it's hard to find such good quality in so many dishes in the same place. I'm not Indian but my friend that I went with is, and he agreed at least! I bought the cookbook when I got back and it's amazing.
I think Dishoom's real smart call was going for a short, consistent menu in a casual setting - most (anglo-)Indian places in the UK outside of real top-end fine dining tend to do long menus with a bit of everything from a bunch of different regions, and it's really hard to make every dish outstanding with that approach. Dishoom's menu is basically pulled straight from Parsi cafes in Mumbai, so it all fits together and they can do a damn good job of it!
@Nashveggie one thing I will say is however good it is (and it is!), it's also very hyped - you should absolutely go, but I wouldn't stand in line for 45 minutes for it. Early lunch (midday or so) is likely to be your best bet for the main Indian menu with a short wait; alternatively, they do an exceptional breakfast that never has a queue. That's much more English with an Indian twist, but a bacon and egg naan with bottomless chai is a beautiful thing to behold.
London's food scene is outstanding, one of my favourite places to eat anywhere in the world, but unlike some cities where the baseline is fairly high there's also a decent amount of total crap here if you're not careful! I always liked Eater London for a broad range of recommendations. Unfortunately they shut down about six months ago, but the articles and lists are all still up and most haven't dated too much yet. Vittles takes quite a different approach, but it's where I get a lot of recommendations from nowadays, and if Jay Rayner happens to have reviewed a place I'm thinking of I'll normally take him at his word.
I very much like my food, so feel free to shout if you're looking for anything in particular - in terms of cuisine or area of the city!
I definitely think London as a food city is really underrated, it's really a shame because of the meme of "British food is bland." I will have to say though as someone who grew up near NYC, that it's slightttttly better hehe. But yes London is probably in my top 3 places to eat, would recommend a good fish and chips place and a good English breakfast place too! (Poppies and The Regency Cafe respectively)
Thank you for the food recommendations! Neither of those were on our list. The veggie pies at Pieminister sound delicious! I'm not a big lover of Indian food but I'll give Dishoom as shot. Maybe I have just never had good Indian food. Camden Market is on our list. Its looks like a place we could spend a lot of time browsing.
As I mentioned to someone else, we're just trying to justify the $1000 Eurotrain fare for a couple days in Paris.
Thanks for the tips!
Jesus christ is it actually $1000 now?? I think last time I went with a friend i think it was like... 200? You can also get the full euro experience and take one of those super cheap airlines they have, might be a fun experience. (I've never done this tho so don't blame me if it's bad lol)
I really love Camden Market, there's some interesting shops in there for clothes, plus the general vibe is just really cool.
Indian food is harder to get in the States than it is in the UK so I suggest at least trying it once! (Unless you're literally from my hometown haha) If you do end up going to Paris, the falafel is very good! Ruined my falafel expectations in America tbh.
It is $1000 for the three of us (just over $300 each).
There's only one decent Indian restaurant here and I don't think it's that good even though people go on about it. It may be me, though. I'll give Dishoom a shot and let you know.
Depending on dates it’ll be about half that to fly, but definitely more hassle unless you happen to get a ticket from LCY (which probably won’t be half the price…). Honestly I’d say stick with the Eurostar, but I wanted to mention either way because cost vs convenience varies a lot from person to person.
Ah yeah that makes way more sense.
Enjoy your trip though! I really miss London/Europe in general, I'll probably have to head back too, maybe sometime this fall.
So, as a Californian, Indian food is not rare at all in my experience? Even in the central valley, there are restaurants although not in every town.
But yes, Indian food can be a lot more rare in other states.
I guess I should have clarified, good indian food is harder to find! I'm from Jersey though so I have some higher standards, but I imagine the NJ/NY areas, Texas, and California would have better than usual Indian food.
Is there an Indian community in Chicago? Do you know?
But yes, my understanding is that there is excellent Indian food available in the SF Bay area (where I am) and in greater Los Angeles.
Unfortunately I have no idea, I'm just going off of personal experience. Though honestly most bigger cities are probably where you'll find better food of different cultures in general just because of the amount of people who live there lol
There is, and there is definitely good Indian food to be had both in the city and (at least some) suburbs.
Where are you from (continent will do)? Just to get some context.
In Paris the parts around the Seine which have been made car free the last few years are amazing.
As mentioned by others: get around by subway. Paying is not complicated: in London you pay by tapping your creditcard at the entrance gate things, and in Paris you can buy a bunch of paper tickets. The subway maps are usually pretty clear, but Google Maps works great for public transport. The subway is basically safe to use whatever the time of day/night. Frankly, I find just riding the subway and looking at the diversity of people a fun tourist activity.
Also try biking in Paris!
We're traveling from the US.
I've read the paper tickets in Paris have an issue with losing their magnetism. Google Maps is always great for public transit in NYC and Chicago so, as you said, I would expect it to be the way to go in London and Paris.
My daughter would love to rent a bike in Paris. Right now we're just trying to justify $1000 for the round trip Eurotrain fare for two days in Paris.
Thank you for the tips!
I grew up in London and still work there a few days a week. You'll be able to cope without cash very easily. I've not used any since before covid times. If you have Google Wallet or Apple Pay you're sorted. If you have a NFC credit or debit card you're good too. Even if you have only a chip & pin card you'll be fine. If you have a magnetic card you may struggle. American Express is not accepted everywhere.
Easiest way to get around central zones is the Tube (London Underground), which is the municipal railway, or subway if you're American. Note that we have underground walkways labelled subways, so don't get confused.
If you're able bodied then don't disregard walking. I literally walk everywhere I need to be in zone 1, with rare tube trips when I need to be somewhere quickly or it's raining heavily. Check your digital map as it's most predictable way of getting around. What may look like miles on the tube map is often a five or ten minute walk. And sometimes just getting from the station to the platform on the tube can be a five or ten minute walk.
The Santander cycles (Boris bikes) are also great. For a couple of quid you can make a journey of up to thirty minutes, which will get you many places in zone 1. Again very predictable if you're confident cycling in traffic.
The commuter boat service is good if you need to go somewhere along the river.
Buses are slow. Taxis are slow and expensive.