Katie7

Hi:

We will be arriving via Gatwick airport and would like to take a day trip to Windsor.

We will be then traveling to Paris via the Eurostar train.

IS there a pass that covers the airport transfer, trip to Windsor and trip to Paris?
We are looking for the lowest possible rate.
2 adults, no kids, traveling in Nov. Looked at the Eurostar site and it is very confusing!

Thanks!

Lori

Not sure if I am following this ... do you mean: Arrive at Gatwick (but not staying in London at all). Go from Gatwick to Windsor. Go from Windsor to Waterloo Station and then take Eurostar doing all this the same day?

If you are traveling fairly soon be aware of the baggage situation.

I have no clue what you would do with your baggage but I am pretty sure they won't let you take it into Windsor Castle (that is your destination I think). With all the recent terrorist activity in London I would not count on being able to check my baggage anyplace either (locker storage).

Depending on where you are flying from (US ?) and length of flight you are looking at a pretty long day. I'd skip trying to get to Windsor and just go into London and taking the Eurostar to Paris. Better yet - I'd just fly to Paris since I would already be at an airport. Seems to me it would be cheaper and more convenient, but that is just my thoughts.

Eurostar has low rates (as low as $45 one way) on certain trains, others are more, i.e. $60 and on up. You just need to look real carefully at their website, it is confusing, but will make sense after awhile

GeoffHamer

I can't see why you'd get an inclusive ticket to cover these trips. You'll presumably need to leave luggage somewhere, and the only convenient place would be London Waterloo station. From Gatwick, buy a ticket to London (not the Gatwick Express fare) and take either a Southern train to Clapham Junction then change for Waterloo, or a First Capital Connect (formerly Thameslink) train to London Bridge and change there for Waterloo East. At Waterloo, after you've left your luggage (£5.50 per item), buy a day return ticket to Windsor & Eton Riverside. If you don't have any luggage, go from Gatwick to Clapham Junction, then change there for Windsor & Eton Riverside. You can check train times and fares on www.nationalrail.co.uk. Eurostar fares are confusing, but it's normally cheaper to get a return ticket even if you're only going one way. Go to the Eurostar web site, enter your dates and times, and see what they're charging.

PalQ

The London Plus pass would cover Gatwick trains, including Gatwick Express and trains to/from Windsor from Waterloo. the basic version is a 2 day out of an 8 day period unlimited travel calendar day pass - the cost of $70 would not warrant buying just for these two trips but this pass gives you a perferential passholder rate of $77 one way or each way to Paris and can be booked on any day of the week - meaning if you say can't find a fare of less than $150 - often the case on some days even if you threw the pass away you'd save $3! But you'll save more because the Gatwick trains cost $15 for locals to over $20 for the spiffy Gatwick Express and one way to Windsor would probably be $10 (get real fares off www.nationalrail.co.uk) - so the pass could be a great deal for you.
There are no more $45 or $60 Eurostar fares thru RailEurope - they raised rates two weeks ago - cheapest one way is i think $89 but much harder to book than the passholder fare i think. For availability i always recommend contacting BETS (800-441-2387), real Eurostar experts in my experience in getting best fares. They also do the LondonPlus pass. Always check London fares as well at www.eurostar.com or www.eurostar.co.uk. LondonPlus passes are not sold in UK to my knowledge. If you have kids or more than 2 people the LondonPlus pass becomes much more valuable as kids 15 and under get a totally free pass to match what the adults buy and the 3rd thru 9th person on the LondonPlus pass pays just 50% of what the first two pay. And if you're traveling between Nov 1 and Feb 28 all the pass prices are discounted a further 25%. The pass also comes in first class, 4 day and 8 day version. Ideal for longer day trips from London regardless of Eurostar angle as can be used on virtually any train by just showing up - discounted tickets often have severe restrictions.
LondonPlus pass is good only on the overground in London - the trains and not on the Underground or buses.

Katie7

Sorry, I was not very clear. We will be arriving at Gatwick, staying in London for 3 days. One of those days will be the day trip to Windsor.

We then will be traveling to Paris for 3 days via Eurostar.

From Paris we will travel to Amsterdam via Thalys train. My S-I-L who lives in Amsterdam will be arranging the Thalys tickets.

We will be flying from AMS back to Gatwick for our flight back to the US.

ira

Hi K,

>We will be flying from AMS back to Gatwick for our flight back to the US.<

If you don't have your tickets yet, have you looked into an open-jaw into London and out of AMS?

See www.kayak.com

PalQ

And the good thing about the Eurostar passholder fare is that it can be changed once in Europe up until the time of the train i believe without penalty whereas most cheaper Eurostar fares are neither changeable or refundable - so conditions are better too.

Katie7

Ira:

We got great fare on a direct flight so we didn't book open jaw. We tried, but it was much more expensive than to take an Easyjet flight back to Gatwick.

Musicteacher

You have to be very careful about booking connecting flights using separate tickets. If the Easyjet flight is cancelled, or if it is very late, you may miss your flight to the U.S.