Eurostar Business Premier Lounge Paris Gard du Nord Station: what is it like?

by Gary Bembridge · April 20, 2012

Eurostar Business Lounge Gard Du Nord Paris

Eurostar Business Premier Lounge: Paris Gard du Nord

I have written a few postings and reviews about Eurostar and the St Pancras terminal and business lounge at St Pancras International, and they are some of the more popular postings on the blog. I realised that I have not done the same about the Paris side at the Gard du Nord Station. So this posting corrects that!

I am not sure if Eurostar had ever realised just how popular the train service under the Channel would become. The trains are packed, and at peak times it is now not unusual to find the trains full. I have increasingly found that even booking a week or more ahead you cannot always get seats on them.

It is, therefore, not a surprise that the fairly small area allocated at Gard du Nord station right in the centre of Paris struggles to cope at times. The Eurostar check in is on an upper level, and sometimes for regular passengers (those not with the Carte Blanche Frequent Traveller card, or in Business Premier) they have to wait based on train time before even being able to check in.

The lines in the staff manned ticket office are fairly slow, and it is best to try and do changes online or use the ticket machines.

The area for the French and then UK immigration is cramped together and (to be honest) a bit scruffy. As they do not have EU and non-EU passport lines, in Summer especially you may find you take a while if you get stuck behind a series of non-EU travellers!

The lines for the security screening machine is varied. It can see lines of people crammed into the smallish space, or easy and free flowing. In the boarding area there are some limited duty free and food places, and seating.

The Business Premier lounge is right at the end of this area, and again at peak times they have to close sometimes when it is full. You can only use the lounge if you are a Carte Blanche card holder, in Business Premier or an American Express Platinum or Silver card holder. The mid level (now called Standard Premier) does not allow access.

The lounge is on 2 levels, with big chairs (as the photo shows) and then free drinks and some snacks (like peanuts). In winter they also lay on some very tasty hot chocolate. Unlike at St Pancras, to use Wi-fi you cannot just log on for free. You either need to buy access or in the Business Premier lounge they give you a scratch card with codes for limited access. I think, especially as no wireless on the train, this is something that seems dated and should change. They do have one or two desktop computers you can use, but they usually have someone on them…

The lounge is fine, looks good and is usually busy. There are not a lot of places to work other than on your lap. But as the check-in time before trains is not that large, and so most people are not in the lounge for long this is ok.