I need to go to London for about a week in May. Am considering taking the train. Anyone have any experience on finding a good price for the TGV from Zurich to London?

For May the cheap offers to London (with the TGV /Eurostar) are already gone,
you have to pay around 400 Euros or more for the return trip(reg fare one way is 264 Euros), flying to Heathrow will cost only around 230 Euros (Return Ticket: swiss , ba , lufthansa or easyjet are not much difference in the price, dep May 12th, return May 15th).
If you travel a week later , the cheapest option is down to 194 Euros (Return Ticket)
Have a look at www.mcflight.ch

On short notice, most cheaper tickets are gone even those through bahn.de website.

Considered flying ?

Basel (BSL) - London (LHR) from CHF 169.-
http://booking.swiss.com/web/Offers/...ON.html?i=q201

Basel - LHR

Zurich - Basel get a Super Saver ticket if required:

3rd wave of the SBB Supersaver promotions in a few days

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http://booking.swiss.com/web/itinera...&bsid=%7bid%7d

http://tripfinder.ch/?gclid=COTy0aT5t6gCFQEKfAodVWODEA

http://www.seat61.com/Switzerland.htm

the offers from zurich to london in May are gone. taking a flight from SWISS would cost around 200 CHF and it is only one hour.

The Train is a great journey, done it loads of times... Usually I just use sbb for the zurich Paris bit and eurostar separately, half tax kicks in on the CH bit. I always found this cheaper than rail europe and more flexible, you can chose the cheap transfers depending on the day and the time...

TGV tickets, like EasyJet, etc, get more expensive the closer you get to travel time. They become available 90 days in advance, when they are cheapest. Not always easy to plan so far ahead, sadly. Personally we always go to our local station as far ahead as poss, at a quiet time of the day, and find that the guy at the ticket office bends over backwards and sees it as a fun challenge to find the cheapest possible tickets for us.

If you have time on your hands and aren't adverse to the idea, how about travelling by coach?

£69 each way with Eurolines (I only know £ prices sorry!).

When I move to Zurich that's certainly how I'll be travelling- at £69 and with a 60kg luggage allowance, it's silly not too!

I've done this particular journey a few times, and it's quite a civilised way to travel, though it's slower and more expensive than flights (booked on the same date). That said, you can always arrange to have a couple of hours in Paris for lunch if you fancy, which the airlines will never allow.

I usually book through http://www.tgv-europe.ch/en/

It's not very good at figuring out the connection in Paris, though. The trick is to put in Zürich - Paris, select your trains, and when it gets to the "confirmation" screen, then go to the "add another ticket" bit at the bottom right, then sort out your Paris - London bit. Once you've selected your trains, you can sort out payment and ticket delivery. I don't think you can do the "collect from a machine" option at Zürich, but I have collected the Eurostar tickets at Paris Nord without trouble.

For the uninitiated, you will need to get from Gare de l'Est to Gare du Nord in Paris. They're quite close to each other, and if you are taking it easy, allow 20 minutes to get between them (but if you know the way and are a fast walker, you can do it in less). Eurostar also requires you to check in 30 minutes before your train, but coming back, the Paris-Zürich train is just like any regular train, so I'd recommend allowing about an hour on the London bound direction for the connection, and about half an hour in the reverse direction to be on the safe side.

I've it in both 1st and 2nd class, and would say that, unless you are a larger person who wants the extra seat room, there is no benefit going 1st. Eurostar used to give you a nice meal and free booze in the cheap 1st class fares, but ticket changes last December changed that to some rubbish airline-style snack.

If you get the 07.00 of Zürich HB, you can be in London at about 14.30 (UK time). If you leave London at about 10.30, you can be back in Zürich by at about 19.30. Luggage is usually not a problem (provided you can cary/wheel it between the stations in Paris), though I think bicycles require additional booking of limited spaces, but I've never tried that option myself.

For more details, have a look at http://www.seat61.com/Switzerland.htm