Originally Posted by
sk899
I'm interested in traveling via Eurostar with my family from Paris to London in November 2023. It looks like the travel times for our dates are invariably 3 hours and 16 minutes or 3 hours and 30 minutes in length, although all are labeled as 'direct' trains, rather than the 2 hours and 16 minutes described. At that duration, it is almost worth flying instead of taking the train - does it truly take 3:16-3:30 to travel between these two stations?
The travel duration is between 2hr16 and 2h30. But the United Kingdom is not in the same time zone as continental Europe, but one hour behind, and therefore in the Paris-->London direction, you "gain" one hour (e.g., leave at 7:00am, arrive at 8:30am, despite travelling for 2:30), and in the London-->Paris direction you "lose" one hour (leave at 7:00pm, arrive at 10:30pm after travelling for 2:30).
The same applies for air travel of course
The Eurostar is simply much more convenient than having to go to/from the airport both ways, be there 2 hours in advance, etc.