Eurostar passholder fares...

• Interrail & Eurail passes allow you to use Eurostar between London, Ebbsfleet or Ashford and Calais, Lille, Paris, Brussels, Disneyland, Rotterdam & Amsterdam if you pay a special Eurostar passholder fare.  Eurostar became a full member of the Interrail & Eurail pass schemes in January 2017.

• However, the direct Eurostar between London & Lyon/Avignon/Marseille & Eurostar ski trains between London & the French Alps are not covered.

• You qualify for a Eurostar passholder fare if you have an Interrail or Eurail global pass.  You don't qualify if you only have a one-country pass.

• If you have a flexi-type pass, using a Eurostar passholder fare means using one of your unlimited travel days, but of course that travel day will also cover other trains before or after the Eurostar journey.

• Check-in 45 minutes before your train, not 30.  Some passholder print-at-home tickets will operate the check-in gates, but some may not.  If your ticket barcode doesn't work the gates simply check-in at one of the staffed kiosks.  Passholders are therefore asked to check in at least 45 minutes before their train, instead of the usual 30.

• See the Eurostar page for a guide to Eurostar's trains, classes, check-in procedures and journey.

How much does it cost?

• London to Lille, Brussels or Paris =  €30 in standard class or €38 in standard premier.

• London to Rotterdam or Amsterdam =  €35 in standard class or €43 in standard premier.

• The price is one-way, a round trip is simply two one-ways.  You can only book standard premier if you have a 1st class pass.

• The price is the same for adults, seniors, youths or children.  Children under 12 still need to pay the adult Eurostar passholder fare, even though they get a free Interrail or Eurail pass when accompanied by an adult passholder.

• Eurostar passholder fares are non-refundable, they can be changed to another date or train for the standard £40 change fee, meaning it's usually cheaper to bin it and buy another one if you need to change the time or date.  If you're not sure when you're returning, buy the outwards Eurostar in advance but buy the inwards Eurostar at the station on the day - after all, flexibility is what passes are all about.

• Remember that normal Eurostar fares (without a pass) start at only £58 return if you book well in advance, so only buy a pass if the cheapest tickets have sold out, if you're using other trains before or after the Eurostar journey making it worthwhile, or you require the flexibility of a pass.

What's availability like?

• Don't assume you can just turn up, pay the fee and travel on any Eurostar you like.  Places for Interrail & Eurail passholders are controlled by a quota.  Here's how it works:

  Eurostar has dynamic pricing, managed using 'price buckets' like an airline.  They have around a dozen buckets, let's say bucket 1 is the most expensive and always available as long as there are any seats at all left on that train, and price bucket 12 is the cheapest, sells out first and is only available if you book months ahead for a wet Wednesday in February.  Eurostar actually uses two-letter bucket names such as BZ, I'm simplifying here!

  The Interrail/Eurail passholder fare is in the 3rd bucket down from top, bucket 3.  Which means availability is pretty good, even at short notice.

  If you book in advance you'll usually find plenty of availability, even if not on the busiest trains on a Friday or Sunday afternoon.  If you intend staying flexible and booking on the day you'll often find availability on some trains, but not all trains, or perhaps on a few trains tomorrow but none today.

  However, on busy dates, days and trains you'll find that buckets 1 or 2 are available for normal travellers paying cash, but bucket 3 is unavailable meaning no passholder places, even though the train isn't full.  Friday & Sunday afternoons are very busy and so is July & August.

• Tip:  See for yourself!  Use the online systems suggested below to get a feel for how availability looks today, tomorrow, whatever...

• Tip:  I've known people turn up in Paris in July or August to find the next Eurostar with passholder places is in 3 days' time. If this happens, don't forget you can always catch a train to Calais or Le Havre and take a ferry back to Dover or Portsmouth, see the London to Paris by train & ferry page.  Or from Amsterdam or Brussels, use the Hoek-Harwich Stena Line service between Amsterdam & London.

How to book Eurostar with an Interrail or Eurail pass...

Option 1, using www.eurostar.com

• UPDATE MARCH 2020:  The ability to book Interrail & Eurail passholder tickets at eurostar.com seems to have been temporarily removed, it currently redirects you to the Interrail/Eurail reservation ordering service instead.  This follows Eurostar 'upgrading' its ticketing system in March 2020.  By all means go to www.eurostar.com/rw-en/deals/interrail and see for yourself, but if you get diverted to Interrail.eu, give up and try option 2 below.  But here's how it should work, let me know if it gets fixed!

• LATEST UPDATE JULY 2020:  THE WORKAROUND!  There seems to be a workaround, you can still book passholder places online direct with Eurostar with no booking fee if you use this link:

  booking.eurostar.com/uk-en/train-search? origin=7015400 &destination=8727100 &adult=1 &outbound-date=2020-12-01 &fbc-groups=SBE_FBC_GROUP_CLOSED _GROUP_RAILPASS_ONE %26SBE_FBC_GROUP_CLOSED _GROUP_RAILPASS_TWO &pos=GBZMH

  Use the edit feature to change the date and number of passengers.

  Please let me know if this works for you, and also let me know if it stops working.

• Go to www.eurostar.com/rw-en/deals/interrail.

  Anyone from any country can make a Eurostar passholder reservation here, you print your own ticket or can collect it from the machines at the Eurostar station. 

  Tip:  You don't need your pass number when booking with www.eurostar.com/rw-en/deals/interrail, so you can buy your limited-availability Eurostar tickets before committing to buying a pass.

  Tip:  If you have children, enter them as adults not children to avoid an error message, it's the same price for adults as children anyway.