Brazilnut

My daughter has a Eurailpass Flexi, good for 15 days in 2 months. I bought her a ticket on Eurostar (Lille-London-Lille) for 52 British Pounds, but she thinks it is not necessary to have this extra ticket, that she can ride the Eurostar with her Flexi Pass. Does anybody know for sure? Thanks!

PalenqueBob

Eurailpass does not pass on the Eurostar - that's for sure. She can get a youth fare for those under 26 or a passholder fare for anyone with a pass valid in Britain, Benelux or France - they are about the same price - lot cheaper than 52 pounds if bought in the US - as low as $75-77 one way. Best place for info in US is BETS (800-441-2387) for any Eurostar ticket - but cheapest ones like youth, pass and $89 one way for any ages must be booked far far in advance as they are limited. Just show up and you could pay $200 or more one way. Eurostar is more and more popular so cheaper fares, sold in strict allotments must be booked often weeks or months in advance to get. Currently for the Christmas week low fares were not available generally past mid-Nov and typically fares at about $140 each way were the cheapset available on most days.
Your daughter must validate her railpass before boarding at Eurostar desk if you bought her a passholder fare.

janisj

from the Eurail website:

"The rail pass does not cover travel on the Eurostar, however, the ticket can be purchased at a discount when proof of a validated Eurail pass is shown at a ticket office in the train station."

janisj

was posting at the sametime as our resident rail guru

Brazilnut

Thanks, PalenqueBOb, thanks Janisj, you are good and fast!!! I thought the pass was not good for the Eurostar, reason why I bought the ticket, but my daughter argued that I was wrong...

PalBob, thanks for the info about cheaper tickets, but I live in Brazil, so I do not get the same rates as those in the US. I paid 52 GBP for a round trip, which it averages around 50 dollars each way from Lille to London and back (she can ride to Lille from Paris on her Eurailpass, right?...).

PalenqueBob

Brazilnut: I was remiss to notice or not to notice that you said round trip, in which 52 pounds is a great deal - cheaper than could do in US - i thought it was one way and apologize - that's cheaper than a passholder fare which runs much higher but is still a good deal.
And please put angst to rest about daughter traveling on Eurostar - as i said on othe post it should be super safe now with all the scrutiny. Really!

TimS

Brazilnut,

Yes, your daughter can use her railpass to take a TGV from Lille to Paris. She'll have to pay for a reservation (3 euros) which she can make at the station in Lille.

PalenqueBob

If she's going to Lille to take a train to Paris with her pass she's missing the boat as the London-Lille Eurostar fare is just a few bucks less than London-Paris and she'd save one of her flexible travel days. I assume she's going from Lille to southern France or Burges, in which getting off at Lille is a good idea - if going to Paris no - a waste of a day on a pass and time to transfer stations in Lille as most Lille-Paris Eurostars go from Lille Flanres, a 15-min hoof from Lille-Eurostar, from where she can get TGVs to southern France without going thru Paris. And getting reservations with a railpass can be iffy on this TGV route as i've written about ad naseum in the past - appears sncf considers pass holder fares like the PREM's and if PREM's ar exhausted it seems railpass fares are put in the same category. I suggest making these reservations along with buying your pass if you are not flexible and not being in France at least a few days before. Or face being stuck in Lille or having to pay full fare to get on the TGV.

Brazilnut

Hi PalBob,
Thanks Tim, and thanks PalBobfor the info. She is not going back to Paris, she is going South. We will be in Paris for a week before she leaves for London, so we will have time to make the reservations (she will be riding the train from Berlin to meet me in Paris, we can make the reservations as soon as she arrives). I tried to get her tickets on the Eurostar from Paris to London, and then from London to Lille, but the prices rose quite a lot. She does not want to go back to Paris, as she will be visiting with friends in Lille before heading to Spain.

PalenqueBob

Brazilnut: I still encourage you to make that TGV reservation from Lille as soon as you get to France as they can be very hard to get as a passholder. And the backup would be to take a TGV train to Paris and catch much more frequent TGVs from there south or west in France. the TGVs to Paris from Lille mainly serve the Lille Flandres station and not Lille Europe where the Eurostar stops.

PalenqueBob

Brazilnut: and per the other threads about some questioning the value of your daughter's eurailpass - for her plans i have no doubt that it is a great deal - a great deal. Remember on a flexipass if she takes an overnight train after 7pm she uses the next day as her unlimited travel day - thus one day on a night train used on a flexipass. Thus she could go from one end of europe to the other in one travel day - say night train Amsterdam to Zurich then next day pass is valid to go anywhere in Switzerland, Austria or on to Italy. A great deal, for her.