London to Paris bus: would I do it again?

I’ve taken the London to Paris bus twice in the last couple of years; once by day and once overnight. As I try to avoid unnecessary flights, I’ve stopped flying from London to Paris; but I will often pass through the French capital on an overland trip to Europe. 

I found the day coach and the night coach to be very different experiences; I quite enjoyed the day coach, but the night coach was pretty grim! I’ll go into all you need to know about travelling from London to Paris by bus, and my many coach travel tips from dozens of Flixbus journeys around the continent, in this post!

London to Paris by bus: good things to know

• Departure station: London Victoria Coach Station
• Arrival station: Bercy Seine, Paris.
• Operators: FlixBus is the one I’ve used, and BlaBlaCar Bus also serve the route. National Express, which I once used to travel from London to Amsterdam, no longer does continental routes. 
• Journey time: it took me 10 hours on the day coach, as we were delayed. My night coach was also around 10 hours as we used the ferry. The train and plane take much less time. See the different ways to get from London to Paris here.
• Price: It varies – the cheapest you’ll get it for nowadays is around £30, but this can rise closer to departure. It’s usually the cheapest way to travel between London and Paris. I’d also recommend paying more to reserve your seat – more on that below. 
• How you’ll cross the Channel: you’ll take either the Channel Tunnel or the Dover ferry, and you won’t know which until you’re there – the suspense!

Booking and choosing your seat

I’d recommend booking on the operator’s website, so Flixbus or Blablacar Bus. I’ve always used Flixbus from London to Paris – for no specific reason, I just seem to have brand loyalty to those neon green buses!

For my most recent day bus trip, I only booked the day before. I’m not entirely sure how much it cost, because I booked one ticket all the way through to Sofia (don’t ask – I was doing a YouTube challenge!) and that was £189. 

What I can tell you is that the two front seats were free, and I could pay an extra £3.50 to reserve one. I crossed my fingers that nobody would be sitting next to me – and I was in luck! The bus wasn’t full and nobody did. 

For the night coach, I reserved a seat when I booked (about a month in advance). I paid £38.99 and £1.99 to reserve my seat – I knew I wanted a window seat as it was a night journey, and I like to be able to lie against the window. But when I went back onto the booking, someone had booked the seat next to me, despite there still being double seats free. I decided to gamble paying another £1.99 to change my seat again, and ended up in a seat with no neighbour. 

Sometimes Flixbus has an option to pay a smaller amount (around half price of the ticket) to ensure the seat next to you remains free. I’ve done this on other routes, and it is worth it!

Getting to Victoria Coach Station 

My most recent London to Paris coach departed at 8:30am, and my night coach departed at 9:30pm. For both buses, I’d recommend arriving at London Victoria Coach Station 30 minutes early at the latest. Boarding commences 15 minutes before departure and the station can be a bit confusing!

Both times, I took a Southeastern train from Orpington to Victoria Train Station. It’s on the Circle, District and Victoria lines and a few overland lines. On my most recent trip, I grabbed a meal deal at Sainsbury’s in Victoria Train Station and then went to Black Sheep Coffee for a breakfast pastry and oat cappuccino, and I ended up buying another oat breakfast pot at Pret a Manger in the coach station. The coach station is around a five minute walk from the train station. 

I walked into the front entrance and located my gate; it took me a minute to find the correct coach as two were leaving to Paris and the screens rotate destinations alphabetically. I also used the toilets (they are free!) before boarding, to hopefully reduce the amount of times I needed to use the on-board coach toilets!

The journey on the recent day coach

When I arrived at the gate, we were already boarding. I showed my ticket to the driver, who put my bag underneath the bus, and then went upstairs to my front seat. 

We left the capital, taking in Thames views of central London before joining the suburbs and ultimately driving down the A20, going past Greater London towns like Sidcup and Chislehurst – much to my frustration, as both are around 10 minutes from Orpington, where I’d started my journey about three hours earlier! 

I was expecting us to drive to Dover, but about two hours in, I saw we were driving towards signs to Folkestone and the Channel Tunnel. At first, I was relieved as I thought this would mean we’d be quicker – but, after we went through British passport control, then French passport control (you do them both in the UK, including the new EU EES checks), I realised it would take just as long as the ferry – as there was disruption on the Channel Tunnel, and all trains were delayed! 

We waited about an hour extra on the Folkestone side, and then it was around a 35 minute crossing. The train literally goes through an underwater tunnel, it’s a feat of engineering – but there’s not much to see other than the inside of a vehicle train! I disembarked to stretch my legs and use the toilet at the end of the train. 

As we’d already done passport checks, we were able to just drive off the train and into France! There was a stop after about two hours’ driving in France, where we could use the toilet again and stretch our legs. 

Other than the man across from me in the aisle, who sporadically decided to argue with the driver (I think the driver had asked him to move into his reserved seat, and had then given up arguing), it was a peaceful journey – and in all honesty, I quite enjoyed stretching out, reading my book and catching up with some writing for a day! 

We arrived into Bercy Seine at about 7:15pm French time, which was around an hour late. I had another bus to Munich to catch that evening, but had time to head into Bercy Village for dinner. I went to Petit Bao for bao buns – and very much enjoyed it!

The journey on the night coach

When I took the night bus to Paris, I was on a flight-free trip to Algeria. After the coach, I took a train to Marseille and then a ferry to Algeria!

I also had no seat neighbour, and drifted off to sleep before we reached the Kent coast. However, we ended up taking the ferry! We ended up doing passport control and boarding a ferry at around 1:00 am. We did get a coupon for dinner, despite it being well past dinner time! I was, however, grateful for the clean toilets on the ferry. 

We disembarked at about 3:30am French time. Of course, this meant I didn’t really sleep until we left Calais – and then we arrived into Paris less than four hours later. 

Along with the fact that bus sleep is never that good anyway, I felt rather knackered when we arrived in Bercy Seine, and I don’t think I’d do a night train to Paris again – unless I was doing another ridiculous YouTube challenge (which let’s face it, I might be at some point…)

Flixbus seats and facilities

I’m often asked “is Flixbus good?” when I talk about travelling by bus in Europe.

I’ve generally had quite a positive experience on them. The seats are fairly comfortable (if nobody’s sitting next to you!). I had charging outlets on both, and a table (fixed for the front seat, fold-down for the other seats) with a cup holder. 

There was space for my bag by my feet (although I’ve only got short legs!) and overhead. There is WiFi, although it’s very limited, and 5G worked better. 

The toilets were operational, but they are never that pleasant to use on a bus, so I tried to go at rest stops where I could!

Tips from my experience

If you’re considering taking either a day or night bus from London to Paris, here are my top tips: 

• Reserve a seat, and check in advance if anyone’s sitting next to you. Consider sitting at the front – I enjoyed my trip there!
• Arrive at Victoria with LOTS of time, including time to walk to the coach station, time to find your gate and time to board.
• Buy food in advance, as options are limited, especially if you take the Channel Tunnel.
• Don’t forget your passport – you absolutely need it!
• Expect delays and don’t book a tight connection. I’d recommend leaving at least four hours unless you’re booking on one ticket (and if you are more than four hours delayed and miss your connection, I take no responsibility!). 
• Make sure you have valid travel insurance for Europe. I use and love SafetyWing – click here to see what they’re about.
• Make sure you have data coverage in Europe – click this link for 5% off a Holafly eSIM.

FAQs

Is FlixBus good for London to Paris?

It depends! It takes a lot longer than the train or flying, and it’s not particularly scenic, but you get the ferry or Channel Tunnel experience and it’s fairly comfortable. As the journey can be severely disrupted on the ferry, I wouldn’t recommend a London to Paris night bus. 

How long does the London to Paris bus take?

The London to Paris coach can take between 8-10 hours, depending on traffic and the method your bus uses to cross the channel. You won’t know whether you’re using the Channel Tunnel or ferry until the day. 

Does the coach use the Channel Tunnel or the ferry?

It really depends! I’ve taken it twice – once it’s used the ferry and once it’s used the Channel Tunnel! There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it!

What is the cheapest way to get from London to Paris? 

The bus is usually the cheapest way to get from London to Paris (although I have seen Eurostar tickets for as low as £35 before – check out my best Eurostar tips here!). If you’re on a budget, it’s definitely the easiest way – and although a night bus between London and Paris is a bit grim because of the border disruption, it does mean you save money on a hotel…