traveling to london with the eurostar is a very attractive alternative to the plane, with a number of major advantages. one of the biggest advantages is that you arrive in the middle of london and can immediately transfer to the underground.
Eurostar from Paris
the eurostar from paris to london starts at the Gare du Nord station. a train to london departs almost every hour, stopping in lille on the way. the total travel time from paris to london is approximately 2.5 hours
information and tickets
https://www.eurostar.com/rw-en/train/uk/paris-to-london
Eurostar from Amsterdam
the eurostar from amsterdam to london start at the Amsterdam Central station. on the way there are stops at Rotterdam, Brussels and Lille. Total travel time is around 4 hours.
information and tickets
https://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/train/uk/amsterdam-to-london
our journey with the eurostar in 2022
In the summer of 2022, we went with our family (husband, wife, daughter age 21 and daughter age 9) to London by Eurostar for an 8-day holiday and we really enjoyed this. We bought the tickets about 2 months before for about 175 euro pp.
It was a direct journey from Rotterdam to London St Pancras. The train left Rotterdam at 2.32 pm and we had to be present about an hour in advance, because of customs obligations. After we had passed through customs we could take a seat in the waiting area. About 10 minutes in advance we went to the (shielded) platform where the Eurostar soon came into view, an enormous long train of about 16 carriages. In the Eurostar you have reserved seats and we boarded in carriage 10. The carriage numbers are clearly marked on the carriages and there are also staff to assist.
We could easily store the luggage in the racks above the seats. After all passengers had taken their seats, the doors closed and the train started to move. In a short time the train already approached the maximum speed of 300 km/h.
Along the way, stops are made in Brussels-South and Lille. The stop in Brussels-South took quite a long time, then personnel were switched (that’s how we understood). After we left Lille, the channel tunnel soon came into view. the train slows down to about 120 km/h, the tunnel section takes about 20 minutes. Then it is about a 45-minute drive to London St Pancras. In total, the journey from Rotterdam to London took 3.5 hours.
The great thing is that St Pancras is located in the middle of London and is linked to Kings Cross underground station. So we could go to the Underground in no time and because we had already bought transport tickets in advance, we were in the subway in no time, which took us to Clapham Common station, where our Airbnb apartment was located nearby.
We really enjoyed traveling to London with the Eurostar. There are no transfers between Rotterdam and London and arriving in the center of London is very pleasant.