• Option 3, buy a separate train ticket to London International CIV. 

  There are special fares from most stations in Britain to a destination called London International (CIV), for use with onward Eurostar tickets.  Read all about them here.  They are usually a similar price to a regular off-peak ticket to London, but with more generous peak restrictions if you need to leave early on a Monday-Friday and with CIV protection for missed connections with Eurostar if your UK train runs late.  However, they're usually more expensive than the add-on rates that were used by Eurostar in option 1.

• Option 4, board Eurostar in Ebbsfleet or Ashford if you live in Kent or East Sussex. Eurostar is not stopping in 2022 or 2023.

• Option 5, take a ferry from Portsmouth, Poole, Plymouth, Dover or Newhaven if you live on the south coast or west country.  Take a train from the French port to Paris then onward trains to Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Germany & beyond.

• Option 6, take a ferry from Harwich to Hoek van Holland, ideal if you live in East Anglia.  Stena Line sell inclusive RailSail fares from any Greater Anglia station (including London , Cambridge, Ely, Kings Lynn, Ipswich, Norwich) to Hoek van Holland and Any Dutch Station, for onward trains to Paris, Brussels, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, central & eastern Europe & Scandinavia.

• Option 7, take a ferry from Newcastle or Hull direct to the Netherlands by-passing London, then take the train onwards into mainland Europe, a wonderful way from the North of England or Scotland without negotiating London.

• Option 8, Belfast & Northern Ireland to mainland Europe:  Buy a SailRail ticket from Belfast to London, see the Northern Ireland page.

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Option 1, buy a Eurostar through ticket...

Eurostar through ticketing from UK towns & cities is 'temporarily' not working.  It disappeared in March 2020 when Eurostar upgraded its ticketing system but was due to be reinstated soon afterwards.  However, the pandemic intervened.  UK through ticketing may eventually be restored post-pandemic, although there's no sign of it yet.  By all means go to www.eurostar.com (UK version) and see if it recognises station names such as Birmingham or Manchester or High Wycombe.  I will leave the information below, in case it is restored...

Through tickets from over 100 UK towns & cities to Paris or Brussels.

• You can buy a through ticket between over 100 UK towns & cities & cities and Paris, Lille or Brussels in either direction at www.eurostar.com.

  These special fares are only available at www.eurostar.com, not on any other ticket website or retailer.  Note that You must have the United Kingdom version of their site selected (so that payment is taken in pounds) to book to or from these 100+ UK locations, wherever you happen to live.

  Major cities such as Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, York, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham are all included, as are places like High Wycombe, Milton Keynes, Basingstoke & Reading.  But smaller towns or villages won't be included in this through booking arrangement.

• The advantages... 

  It's usually the cheapest way...  These through fares are generally cheaper than buying separate tickets, as Eurostar have negotiated special rates with the British train companies.  The rates negotiated by Eurostar tend to be cheaper than even the special fares to London International described in option 3 below.

  You're legally covered for missed connections:  Your whole journey will be covered by the international railway conditions of carriage, known as Convention Internationale pour le transport des Voyageurs or CIV.  Amongst other things, this means that if your UK train is late and you miss a Eurostar through no fault of your own, you're legally entitled to be re-booked on the next available departure even if you ticket is theoretically non-changeable.  A useful protection!  However, I'm pleased to say that in most cases Eurostar generously extend this protection to anyone making a through journey, whatever type of UK train ticket they have.

• The downsides...

  If you have a railcard, you can't use it on the UK part of a through ticket, although buying a through ticket may still save money.

  Booking opens only 3 months ahead for journeys with a UK domestic element, even though Eurostar itself opens for booking up to 6 months ahead.  More than 3 months ahead and you'll have to decide whether to wait (and risk the Eurostar fare going up, which it will) or book the UK journey separately using option 3 below, at a higher price than you'd get as part of a through journey at www.eurostar.com.  With 3½ months to go, I'd wait.  But with 5 months to go, I'd lock in the Eurostar fare and buy the UK part separately using option 3 below.

• Going beyond Paris or Brussels?

  If you're going from the UK to (for example) to Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Budapest, Prague or wherever - you simply split the booking.  First buy a ticket from a UK station to Paris at www.eurostar.com, then buy onward tickets from Paris to Switzerland, Italy, Spain or wherever at www.raileurope.com.  Obvious, really...

• How do these Eurostar through tickets work?

  After booking, you get a print-at-home ticket for the Eurostar itself and a reservation code to collect the UK ticket from the self-service ticket machines at your UK starting station.  For longer distance travel (for example, Manchester to Paris) they are only valid on the specific UK train which directly connects with your Eurostar, so if you want to stop off in London for any reason, you should buy separate tickets as shown in option 3 below.

• You MUST use the United Kingdom version of eurostar.com, irrespective or where you live... 

  You can buy these through tickets in either direction, so for example you can buy a one-way or return ticket from Paris to York or from Brussels to Bath.  But at www.eurostar.com you must select United Kingdom or change the site setting to UK English top right so that you make the booking in pounds sterling on the UK version of Eurostar's website.  These 130 UK regional destinations do not show up on the French, Belgian, Dutch, US, or Rest of World versions of their site because UK train companies won't accept euros or dollars and Eurostar won't speculate by taking euros but settling in pounds.  You'll have no problem booking on the United Kingdom version of Eurostar.com even if you live in France, Belgium or overseas.

• A comment about these through fares...

  The booking system seems to work best from stations close to London that have 'walk up' tickets to London such as Reading, Milton Keynes or High Wycombe, where the system can simply add a fixed-price add-on to whatever the Eurostar price is, without the need to check seat availability.  Stations further from London such as Leeds or Manchester require the system to check availability for the domestic leg to London, using a quota of advance tickets allocated specially for these European through journeys.  Sometimes this quota isn't very big and gets used up, particularly from stations like Edinburgh or Glasgow where they don't seem to allocate many tickets in the first place.  Instead of doing the sensible thing and automatically adding the price of a 'walk-up' always-available Off-Peak Edinburgh-London ticket to the Eurostar fare, the system simply says there are no trains which meet your requirements, when there certainly are.  If this happens, just buy a London-Paris ticket and buy a separate ticket to London International CIV as explained in option 3 below.

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Option 2, book at Raileurope.com...

Any station in Britain to Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam & beyond...

• www.raileurope.com can sell train tickets from any station in Britain to Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and other mainland Europe destinations as a single transaction, with everything worked out for you.  It's not a through ticket, it simply sells you a regular ticket to London and a Eurostar ticket (plus, if required, an onward European ticket), as one easy transaction.

• Important:  I recommend adjusting the connection time in London...  By default, www.raileurope.com includes the bare minimum connection time in London, in fact possibly less than the bare minimum.  There's no safety-margin for the British train to be late, nor any allowance for longer Eurostar check-ins post-Brexit.  I strongly recommend clicking More options and entering London (any station) as a via station, with a stopover duration of at least 1 hour (or longer if you want more time, for example if going beyond Paris or Brussels where more is at stake).

• Booking opens 3 months in advance...  Eurostar bookings open 6 months ahead, sometimes longer, but British trains can only be booked 3 months ahead, sometimes less.  This method only works when booking for British trains has opened.  If you want to book more than 3 months ahead, book your Eurostar ticket first, then wait until booking for British trains opens and buy the British ticket separately as shown in option 3 below.

• Be realistic about how far you can get in a day...  If you ask it for (say) Bristol to Naples, it either won't work or you'll get a silly answer.  In this case you'd book Bristol to Paris, add to basket, then book Paris to Naples for the following day, add to basket and check out.  Use the information on this site to see what the journey options from London look like and therefore how & where to break the journey, if necessary.

• A London International CIV fare may get you a better deal on the UK element, see the section below.  Raileurope.com can't sell these.  In the middle of the day it usually makes no difference, but if you need to travel up to London in the morning peak hours, the easier (or no) time restrictions on these London International CIV tickets can make it a lot more affordable.

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Option 3, buy a separate ticket...

These days, you usually end up buying a separate ticket for the British domestic part of a journey to mainland Europe, and you'll certainly need to buy it separately if you want to book Eurostar more than 3 months ahead, before UK National Rail bookings open.  You have two options:

...buy a regular train ticket to London.

• Just buy a normal ticket to London, at whatever the cheapest fare happens to be.  You can check fares & buy online as shown on the UK page.

• Allow plenty of time to connect with Eurostar, including time for the transfer from the London terminus where you arrive to London St Pancras, for the minimum 30 minute Eurostar check-in (ideally 60-90 minutes these days) and with some wiggle room in case your train is delayed.

• The 30-second guide to British train tickets on the UK travel page will help you understand the 3 different types of UK train ticket.

• From Scotland, you can combine the Caledonian Sleeper with Eurostar to Paris or Brussels, see the Caledonian Sleeper page for details.

• From Cornwall, you can combine the Night Riviera sleeper with Eurostar to Paris or Brussels, see the Night Riviera page for details.

...or buy a special ticket to London International CIV.

• A closely guarded secret!  There are special fares from most railway stations in Britain to a destination called London International CIV, for use with a Eurostar ticket or Stena Line Rail & Sail ticket to the Netherlands.

  They come in two versions, Advance (must be booked in advance, the price varies, it's only valid on the specific train you book) and Euro Open/Euro Saver (flexible, usually valid on any train that day, can be bought on the day of travel, price doesn't vary). 

  Tickets to London International used to exist from every station in Britain, that's no longer the case, but they still exist from most stations and are well worth knowing about.  If you have a railcard, it can be used with these fares.

• Advantage 1:  Fewer time restrictions!  The flexible Euro Open/Saver fare to London International CIV usually has no time restrictions at all.  In other words, you can hop on any train you like, even in the expensive Monday-Friday business peaks when normal Off-Peak fares are not valid, if you're connecting with Eurostar.  A very useful feature!  A handful of operators introduced time restrictions for these fares a few years ago, but you'll still find the time restrictions more generous than with normal Off-Peak fares.

• Advantage 2:  You're covered by the International Conditions of Carriage (CIV = Convention Internationale pour le transport des Voyageurs), rather than the normal domestic National Rail Conditions of Carriage, for your whole journey.  So if the British train is late and you miss your Eurostar, the CIV conditions of carriage oblige Eurostar to put you on the next available Eurostar without additional charge, even if your ticket is a no-refunds no-changes one.  Similarly, if your return Eurostar arrives late into London and you miss your onward connection, the UK train operator is obliged to let you take the next available train, even if you have a train-specific Advance ticket.

  I'm glad to say that Eurostar and the National Rail train operators generally do this anyway if there's a delay & missed connection, even if you only have regular tickets.  But it's always good to have the actual CIV legal entitlement.

• Advantage 3:  They include the Underground to St Pancras:  If you arrive at one of the other London terminal stations and need the Underground to reach St Pancras, tickets to London International include the Underground.  Although from Euston, it's easier to walk 5 minutes along the main road than to try and take the Underground for just one stop.

• How to check if London International CIV tickets exist from your local station, prices & time restrictions...

  Go to www.brfares.com.  Enter your local station as origin.  As destination, enter LNE and select (LNE) London International (CIV).

  If any fare appears in the results with the word EURO in it (but without the letters ITX which is a special rate for tour operators) then you can indeed buy a ticket to London International with CIV conditions of carriage.  If there are no restrictions shown, you can hop on any train.  Green background = returns, orange background = one-ways.

  Incidentally, just to manage your expectations, a Euro Saver or Euro Open fare to London International CIV is typically a similar price to a normal Off-Peak fare to London Zone 1, so it's not about saving money (at least in the off-peak), it's about applying the international conditions of carriage and being able to travel affordably in the peak hours when catching a Eurostar.  For longer distance travel to London, you might find a normal Advance fare cheaper than one of these CIV fares, and if so, go for it.

• You can't buy London International CIV tickets online (if you find a website that recognises the destination code LNE, check what fares it's offering you, does it say Euro or are these just regular fares to London?  It'll be the latter!)

• Buy in person at your local station:  Help staff by quoting destination code LNE...

  You can buy these tickets at any staffed station, show your Eurostar ticket to qualify.  The flexible Saver variety (but not the cheaper Advance type) can be bought on the day of travel if necessary as the price doesn't change, no advance reservation is necessary, and they are available in unlimited numbers.

  Tip:  Ticket office staff aren't always 100%  familiar with these London International CIV fares, some even deny their existence, so if they feign ignorance, be prepared to be polite but firm and if they say they can't find it on their ticket machine say you want destination code "LNE".

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Option 4, board Eurostar in Ebbsfleet or Ashford...

Ebbsfleet International (M25)...

• Many Eurostars used to call at Ebbsfleet in Kent, near Gravesend, not far from the M25 with plenty of car parking.

• Unfortunately, Eurostar stopped calling at Ebbsfleet as an economy measure during the Covid-19 pandemic, and won't call there in 2022 or 2023, possibly longer.

Ashford (Kent)...

• A few Eurostars used to call at Ashford International in Kent, with good direct train connections from Brighton, Hastings, Canterbury, Maidstone, Dover.

• Unfortunately, Eurostar stopped calling at Ashford as an economy measure during the Covid-19 pandemic, and won't call there in 2022 or 2023, possibly longer.

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Option 5, take a ferry from Portsmouth, Poole, Plymouth, Newhaven, Dover...

Brittany Ferries Bretagne waiting to sail from Portsmouth to Caen...

If you live in the on the South Coast or in the West Country, you can of course buy a ticket to London and take Eurostar to mainland Europe.  But also consider a ferry crossing from Portsmouth, Poole, Plymouth, Newhaven or Dover then a train to Paris.

Portsmouth to Paris...

• Step 1, take a train to Portsmouth & Southsea station.  There are direct trains to Portsmouth from London, Brighton, Southampton, Salisbury, Bath, Bristol & Cardiff, check times at www.nationalrail.co.uk.

  Transfer from Portsmouth & Southsea station to the Continental Ferry port by taxi.  Allow at least 2 hours between train arrival and ferry departure, which includes the 60-minute check-in for the ferry.

• Step 2, sail overnight from Portsmouth Continental Ferry Port to Caen, sleeping in a cosy private cabin with shower & toilet, check times & book the ferry at www.brittany-ferries.co.uk. 

  Next next morning, take a taxi or bus from Ouistreham ferry terminal to Caen station and a comfortable TER train to Paris St Lazare, usually arriving around 11:00.

  For full details of this Portsmouth-Paris route & how to buy tickets, see the London to Paris by train+ferry page.

• Step 3, take an onward train from Paris to other French cities or other European countries, see the Trains from Paris page for details.

  You'll usually need to switch stations to one of the other Paris termini for onward trains to other European destinations, see advice on changing stations in Paris by taxi or metro.  Allow at least 60 minutes between trains in Paris, ideally a bit more.

Plymouth to Paris...

• Step 1, take a train to Plymouth, check times at www.nationalrail.co.uk.  Transfer from Plymouth station to the ferry terminal by taxi.  Allow at least 2 hours in Plymouth between train arrival and ferry departure, which includes the 60-minute check-in for the ferry.

• Step 2, sail from Plymouth to Roscoff with Brittany Ferries, check ferry times & sailing dates at www.brittany-ferries.co.uk.

  Allow at least 90 minutes between ferry & train in Roscoff.  Check train times & buy a ticket from Roscoff to Paris at either www.thetrainline.com (easy to use, in £, € or $, small booking fee) or www.sncf-connect.com (bit more fiddly, in €, no fee).

• Step 3, take an onward train from Paris to other French cities or other European countries, see the Trains from Paris page for details.

  You'll usually need to switch stations to one of the other Paris termini for onward trains to other European destinations, see advice on changing stations in Paris by taxi or metro.  Allow at least 60 minutes between trains in Paris, ideally a bit more.

Brighton & Newhaven to Paris...

• Day 1, take a train to Newhaven Town, check times at www.nationalrail.co.uk.  Direct trains run from Brighton & Lewes to Newhaven every half hour, Brighton to Newhaven takes 30 minutes.  Allow at least 90 minutes between train arrival and ferry.

• Day 1, travel from Newhaven to Dieppe by ferry and Dieppe to Paris by train, as shown on the London to Paris by train+ferry page.

• If you use the daytime ferry, stay overnight in Paris, see suggested hotels near the Gare du Nord or Gare de Lyon.

• Day 2, take an onward train from Paris to other French cities or other European countries, see the Trains from Paris page for details.

  For onward trains from Paris to other European destinations you'll usually need to switch stations from Paris St Lazare to one of the other Paris termini, see advice on changing stations in Paris by taxi or metro.

Dover to Paris...

• Day 1, travel from Dover to Calais by ferry and Calais to Paris by train, as shown on the London to Paris by train+ferry page.

• Stay overnight in Paris, see suggested hotels near the Gare du Nord or Gare de Lyon.

• Day 2, take an onward train from Paris to other French cities or other European countries, see the Trains from Paris page for details.

  You'll usually need to switch stations from the Gare du Nord to one of the other Paris termini for onward trains to other European destinations, see advice on changing stations in Paris by taxi or metro.

Portsmouth or Plymouth to Santander & Spain...

• Brittany Ferries sail several times each week direct from Plymouth & Portsmouth to Santander in northern Spain, see the Spain by ferry page.  It's a superb way to get there, see www.brittany-ferries.co.uk.

Other routes...

• Brittany Ferries also sail from Poole to Cherbourg, see www.brittany-ferries.co.uk.  Condor Ferries also sail Poole to St Malo, see www.condorferries.co.uk.  Brittany Ferries also sail from Portsmouth to St Malo, see the London & Portsmouth to St Malo information here.

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The Stena Hollandica

Option 6, take a ferry from Harwich...

If you live in East Anglia, you can of course buy a ticket to London and take Eurostar to mainland Europe.  But you can also buy a cheap Stena Line Rail & Sail train+ferry ticket from any Greater Anglia rail station (including Cambridge, Ipswich, Norwich, Kings Lynn, Ely, Bury St Edmunds, Great Yarmouth and London Liverpool Street) to either Hoek van Holland or any station in the Netherlands (for example, Amsterdam or Utrecht) using Stena Line's Harwich-Hoek van Holland ferry.

• There's a daytime sailing and an overnight sailing, on the overnight ferry all passengers travel in a private cabin with shower, toilet & satellite TV.  See the Stena Line Rail & Sail page for full details.

• If you take the overnight ferry, there are then daytime trains from Amsterdam to Hannover & Berlin, and from Amsterdam or Utrecht to Cologne, Frankfurt & Switzerland, arriving in the evening.  Use www.bahn.de to find train times & buy tickets from Amsterdam or Utrecht onwards, allowing plenty of time for connections.

• There are also Nightjet sleeper trains from Amsterdam to Basel, Zurich, Munich, Innsbruck, Vienna.  You can take the overnight ferry from Harwich to Hoek van Holland with a cosy cabin, spend the day exploring Amsterdam, then leave by sleeper in the evening for Switzerland or Austria.  Book these sleeper trains at www.thetrainline.com (easy to use, in €, £ or $, overseas credit cards no problem, small booking fee) or the Austrian Railways website www.oebb.at (in €).

• If you're heading for Paris & France, Brussels & Belgium, or Spain, buy a SailRail ticket from any Greater Anglia station to Hoek van Holland on the overnight ferry.  Next morning, take the metro direct from Hoek van Holland to Eendrachtsplein in Rotterdam city centre, this runs every 20-30 minutes and only costs €4 or so, buy a ticket from the ticket machines at Hoek van Holland.  It's then an 800m 10-minute walk to Rotterdam Centraal for trains south to Brussels & Paris, see walking map.  From Rotterdam Centraal there are hourly Intercity (IC) trains to Antwerp & Brussels, book these at www.nsinternational.nl.  On most days there's an 09:58 Thalys from Rotterdam Centraal which reaches Paris Gare du Nord at 12:35, book this at www.nsinternational.nl or www.thetrainline.com.  Change in Paris for destinations all over France, and for Spain.

DFDS ferry at Newcastle...

Option 5, take a ferry from Hull or Newcastle...

If you live in the north of England or Scotland, you can of course buy a ticket to London and take Eurostar to mainland Europe.  As Kings Cross and St Pancras stations are adjacent, and Euston only 10 minutes walk away, interchange is really easy between Eurostar and domestic UK trains arriving at Euston, Kings Cross or St Pancras.

However, you can also by-pass London completely, taking a comfortable overnight ferry with cosy cabins direct from Newcastle to Amsterdam or Hull to Rotterdam, with onward train connections to Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Poland, Czech Republic and so on.

• Newcastle-Amsterdam:  See the Newcastle-Amsterdam page for details.

• Hull-Rotterdam:  See the Hull-Rotterdam page for details.

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