THE high-speed rail service from Eurostar has revolutionised travel to France, but how can you pick up a cheap ticket?
There are a wide range of fares on offer so you should take your time on the Eurostar website to make sure you get exactly what you are after.
If you can book well in advance, 60 to 90 days is best, then this will help you get a cheap priced ticket.
However, if this is not possible then the early morning trains that leave before 7.00am are a useful place to start.
And for the return leg try and come back after 7.00pm to get a cheap ticket.
It is also possible to book a cheaper ticket if you are classed as a senior citizen or a youth, but not all tickets provide this option.
So make sure you check first which Eurostar services are available if you are eligible and you will need to provide proof of age when checking in.
To check-in all you need to do is turn up at the gate with your ticket and pop it into the machine.
Wait for it to be returned to you, if it doesn’t staff are on hand to help, then proceed through the gate with your baggage.
Your baggage allowance is a lot more generous than on an airline, and there is no need to check it in as long as you only have two cases and a piece of hand luggage.
If you have something out of the ordinary, like a bicycle, large trunk or skies make sure you mention this when booking.
Then before you know it you will off on your journey, safe in the knowledge that you have got your cheap Eurostar ticket in your pocket.
Enjoy Eurostar high-speed travel to France and Belgium from only £65 return. Take the Eurostar from London or Ashford International to Paris, Lille, Marne la Vallee (Disneyland) and Brussels.
Comments
55 responses to “Tips for cheap Eurostar tickets”
One way tickets are very expensive. If you only want to go one way, buy a return ticket, with the return dated at least a week after your trip (must include a Saturday away) then throw away the return ticket. You will save a hundred pounds.
What age is considered a Senior Citizen?
Senior is 60, and makes quite a difference. If you buy a ticket covering a weekend, it will normally be changeable (provided it still includes the weekend of course). You are not generally asked for proof of age, but perhaps I look my 63! On the other hand, SNCF will require the Carte Senior, well worth the money at about €50. It guarantees 25% off, and often gives 50%. First Class for the price of Second, in fact.
You can also convert Tesco Clubcard vouchers to Eurostar vouchers (Clubcard deals £25 in vouchers gives one standard return), but I haven’t tried this so check first for any conditions.
Hi Gina
Many thanks for that pointer on using Tesco Clubcard points to track down cheaper tickets on Eurostar.
All the best
Craig
1) Single tickets are available at a reasonable (under 40 euro) price on certain trains (Monday to Thursday, very early in the morning or around the middle of the day) on the Eurostar web site. These prices are offered in both directions but only on the French version of the web site. So you have claim to be in France when you log in. However, the tickets can be sent to an address in either France or the UK.
2) There are always lots of Eurostar tickets on the French E-Bay, sold by people who have had to change their travel plans. For some reason the UK E-Bay site does not allow the sale of Eurostar tickets.
anyone know of a reasonably priced hotel when visiting London on the Eurostar please
Hi Libby
I think a good place to start would be TripAdvisor:
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/
All the best
Craig
Hi Libby
When my friends come to stay in London i book them in Novotel hotels as they have an excellent ‘hot deals’ range of offers. Sharing a room (twin beds) on these hot deals and offers can bring your personal budget to a comfortable £35 – £45 per person per night. With most hotels it’s best to book well in advance. Try it out!
Best wishes Pamela.
Here is a useful tip if you want to book a ticket FROM London.
– Go to eurostar.com, enter “UK” as country of residence, check the fares
– close the Eurostar page
– now erase your cookies in Internet Explorer (in the “options” menu)
– go back to eurostar.com, select “Spain” as your country of reisdence. Compare the fares.
You will notice that Eurostar fares depend on your country of residence, and you’d better not say it is the UK/France/Belgium or you could be charged up to 30% more on a return ticket. There is no way for Eurostar to check your country of residence so you should not have any worries doing this.
I’m trying to find tickets for november this year. I was told it was cheaper to book tickets well in advance. However can’t seem to find any for these dates. Is it possible to book tickets over 3 months in advance?
Many thanks
Hi Eunice, I don’t think it is possible to book tickets more than 90 days in advance. I’d sign up for the Eurostar newsletter as this will provide up to date info on when tickets are released.
All the best, Craig
Hi there.
Great tip on changing the location you are in. It is so annoying we get ripped off in the UK! I was quoted £210 for 2 one-way tickets on the UK site, and £52 when I nominated my location as Spain. Even then, the site was in English and I changed my address to a UK address.
I just hope I can pick up the tickets with my UK credit card when I get to Paris Nord!
Hi Rhod
Many thanks for your comment and I’m glad you were able to use one of the tips to track down a cheap Eurostar ticket.
All the best, Craig
Just arrived back from 4 days in Paris. The seating on the Eurostar train is so uncomfortable, I have had better seats on an ecomony flight to New York. No catering on the train during the return trip to London, NO anouncement made in Paris prior to boarding. Crawled to London from Ashford, no appology on the train. Very distressing. I know now why they are moving the London terminal to St. Pancras from Waterloo in November 2007, the French don’t like to keep being reminded of WATERLOO.
Hi Richard, many thanks for your comment, sounds as though it wasn’t your best travel experience. And maybe the Eurostar service is moving because the staff are not Abba fans???
All the best, Craig
Don’t forget that the whole Eurostar operation moves from Waterloo to St Pancras International (next door to King’s Cross Station) on 14th November 2007. There is also going to be a brand new station at Ebbsfleet in Kent (near Dartford – off Junction 2 of the M25 and close to the Bluewater Shopping Centre). The Ebbsfleet station operates from 19th November 2007
Hi John
Many thanks for that and it will be interesting to see what the changes to the Eurostar service mean for travel to France.
All the best, Craig
Hi! I’m just wondering if anyone has changed country of residence on the Eurostar site and billed/picked up the tickets with a US (or any non-matching country) credit card? I’d hate to be stuck once I get there…
Can anyone tell me how you can change the country of residence on the Eurostar site, so as to benefit form the cheaper Eurostar fares from Spain. If so has it proved OK to start your journey in the UK and to pay and pick up tickets.
Thanks Peter
Hi Peter
You need to delete the cookies from your web browser, which means going into your settings and clearing the saved data.
Then head to the Eurostar site and pick the correct location.
All the best, Craig
I booked some tickets in November. Previously, I had picked Switzerland or Spain as country of residence and had received cheaper prices however they seem to have stopped this practice for all Western European countries.
I was able to receive a 50 Euro discount on our tickets by choosing Russia instead.
Hi there, that is an interesting observation on booking Eurostar tickets by choosing Russia.
Many thanks, Craig
Why is it so difficult to get a ticket from Manchester to Marseille without needing a degree in economics and politics? Why is it so prohibitive pricewise? What madness is it that makes us want to invent a 30% discount in inventing an address in Europe. The whole thing is so crazy and we all go along with it. I want to fly less and I love trains and yet I can go to Marseille for few quid but need a morgage to go by train. Is there anyone out there that can advise me as to how to reduce my carbon footprint without costing the earth. Cheers, Stevie
Thanks for all the tips re the cheap Eurostar Tickets. That site was much cheaper than the other one I looked at and I saved around 60Euros one way, so thanks heaps.
I’ll make sure I pass it on to friends here in Australia.
Hi June, great to hear you were able to save some money on your Eurostar ticket.
And many thanks for telling your friends about the site, I hope they find plenty of interest.
All the best, Craig
Craig
Do you have a link to cheap TGV Tickets from Paris to Avignon? I have been searching for a couple of days and don’t seem to be able to find anything. Appreciate if you could help out.
Thanks
June
Hi June, I’m afraid I don’t have any specific tips for travel between Paris and Avignon, beyond keeping clear of busy booking periods.
I did notice that the TGV Europe website is featuring some deals at the moment, promising up to 60% off:
http://www.tgv-europe.com/en/home/
All the best
Craig
I will be traveling to London in the fall. I hope to take a trip into Paris, to go to Disneyland. To get a jumpstart on things, I’m trying to obtain as much info as I can on ways to travel around and to determine how much money I will need. I want to get the cheapest price I can for the Eurostar. Two questions:
1.) Where on the Eurostar site does it request your country of residence? (I am in the United States.) Is it only when you are actually booking the ticket?
2.) Someone mentioned a Eurostar newsletter. Is that still available? I couldn’t find it on the Eurostar site.
Any other sites you may know of that would be helpful for my trip (hotel, etc) would be appreciated. Thank you!!!
Hi Kellie,
If you head to eurostar.com then you should have the option of logging into the US site, one thing to consider is to delete the cookies from your browser if you’ve already visited the site.
I saw a newsletter subscribe form in the right hand column of the site, towards the bottom.
And it is possible to book a Eurostar + hotel deal that they claim will be cheaper than doing the same separately.
All the best
Craig
Just changed my country of residence to Spain and checked the price of 4 tickets from St Pancras to Disneyland – £120 cheaper than the UK prices!!! Will it allow me to pick the tickets up using my credit card or do they check to make sure the credit card is from the country you’ve said you’re a resident of?
Hi G, it is not something I’ve tried myself as I’ve not had to use the train. But others have left comments saying they’ve saved money by booking from elsewhere.
If you do book tickets it would be great if you leave a message about how it went.
All the best, Craig
Trying the spain address trick, I actually hve one but live in UK. Where does country of residence appear on the web site? I have to say that they’ll never compete with Ryanair with the website as it is – and I’d rather use the train. Thanks
Hi Andrew, if you’ve already been on the Eurostar site and picked UK as your residence you have to clear the cookies from your browser so that when you go back to the Eurostar site you have the opportunity to pick the Spanish option.
All the best, Craig
i am trying to find cheapest way to get two kids and two adults to euro disney by train as we hate flying! any tips?
Hi
Just wondering if anyone can help?
I’m trying to buy tickets from London to Limoges in August.
I’ve tried the trick of going on to another countries website (USA) and found much cheaper tickets but will I be able to pick up the tickets from the UK?
I read a guardian newspaper piece last year about cheaper eurostar tickets if you change your country of residence but i am just worried that I will not be able to pick them up with my credit card and with an address in the UK. Has anyone encountered problems and is it still possible?
hi! iam travelling to france on 5th june . i want to take a train to london. i will be leaving from qatar. can i do the same trick from here/?how can i get discount once i am in france . can u plz tel me step wise i dont want to reach there to find any probs. ia m travelling with 2 kids?
forgot to add in the post that i just need it for one side ..paris to london.
Hi I now use eurostar rather than flying to paris and I use the new EBBSFLEET INTERNATIONAL station.Its so much easier,M25,M2 M20.there in no time.Also found great Hotel near station.overcliffehotel.co.uk .
Hi, im going to visit France in September for 2 weeks and I’m landing in London. Is there a deal you know of where I can buy a Eurostar ticket along with some sort of unlimited rail ticket for France? We’ll be moving around alot. Many thanks!
I think that the price differences relate to the different tax ratings in each country. If you do not state your correct country, you are not paying the correct rate of tax and therefore you maybe committing fraud / tax evaision. Beware!
One thing I’ve not seen mentioned yet is the convenience of changing at EuroDisney (Marne la Vallee Chesny) rather than Paris or Lille. Admittedly you can only do this once a day in either direction – so this needs to fit in with your needs as well – but a simple wait around for onward travel is much easier than trawling across Paris.
Another problem to watch out for is that neither Eurostar.com or RailEurope seems to show this option anymore – but you can check details first for connections and still take advantage of £79 return (London to Poitiers and others) or £89 (Angouleme) etc. if you phone up and demand change at Marne with onward/online price.
Hi Pearson, many thanks for that tip it could prove very helpful to people.
All the best, Craig
The price differences across Europe seem unfair and wrong. Has anyone made a complaint to the European Commission?
Here’s the link you can use to do so:
http://ec.europa.eu/competition/forms/consumer_form.html
Hi
I have cheap Paris-London return tickets, for departure on 9th evening from paris and return on 13th evening from London — please let me know by mail – ankush1305@gmail.com, if any one is interested
thks
Hi all,
One way Eurostar ticket for sale (ticket in hand, no longer needed)
London St Pancras – Paris Gare du Nord
Sunday 7th June 2009
Leaving London 11:00, arriving Paris 14:17.
2nd class GBP 35.00, face value.
Please contact me (07919094846) for collection.
Hi,
I have 2 Eurostar tickets for sale (I don’t need them)
Brussel Zuid – London St Pancras
Sunday 21/06/2009
Leaving Brussels 12:59, arriving London 14:03.
2nd class Price – 37.50 EUR (STD Youth)
and
London St Pancras – Brussel Zuid
Friday 03/07/2009
Leaving London 10:57, arriving Brussels 14:03.
2nd class Price – 37.50 EUR (STD Youth)
Please contact me (GSM +32 487 686 646) or e-mail: makuchz@o2.pl
tgv-europe.com has a native english speaker to help with your enquiries. only available by e-mail at the moment……but maybe plans to have this service by telephone too….
Can someone please explain how you trick the website into thinking you are in a different country and then being able to collect the tickets in another.
I am in London and I want to go to Paris for as cheaply as possible. Would someone be kind enough to give me a walk through on how to “trick” the website.
Much appreciated,
Masoudul
EBBSFLEET/LILLE ticket for sale 6 sept 09.
Coach 5, seat 72. Aisle, forward facing.
£52.50 is the price, same as face value of ticket.
Can pick up this ticket in either Lille or London in next couple of days and have photos of the ticket I can send.
Please contact me on +44 7962 059 874. Richard Pendry
Hello
I have two ticket for sale because i don´t need then,
from London to Paris on Monday 9th november leaving London at 14:04.
Price 58 euros
And another ticket from Paris to Spain on Monday 9th november leaving Paris at 19:45.
Price 65 euros.
Please contact to me at carmentxu27@gmail.com
Thanks
Hi,
I have a Eurostar ticket for sale for 21/06/2010 from London St Pancras to Brussels (Midi) for 70 Euro. Please email me if you’re interested.
I’ve checked the price both way UK and My conuntry Korea. There’s also differnce between two.
Is it possible to get a UK Price ticket eventhogh I’m in Korea??
Hi all,
Would just like to ask, i am buying a eurostar ticket for a friend from Paris to London. Does the payer of the e-ticket have to also be the passenger? Because i would be paying and my friend would be travelling. Is this ok, or does the debit/credit card holder have to also be the traveller?
let me know soon!