I bought eurail global pass for 5 flexible days in a month on 9 April 2023 on Klook app. I plan to travel London to Paris on 27 May 2023 and the train requires seat reservation. I am required to activate my pass on Eurail app to reserve a seat. If I reserve my seat now on 10 April 2023 for travel on 27 May 2023, will I be using up my one month validity start right now until 9 May 2023 or the one month validity only starts when I board the train on 27 May 2023?
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Hi, no please do not activate the pass to reserve a seat.
Here is some useful information from the experienced travellers in the Community regarding both planning, reservations and activation of pass and travel days.
Planning
The rail planner is normally not up to date, as it only is updated once a month, so to be sure of the time table you better check the timetable and availability on the websites of the national railways. The bigger national railways, like DB (Germany) SBB (Switzerland) and ÖBB (Austria) cover several countries.
Reservations
The advice from the experienced travellers in the community is to use other ways to make reservations than the Interrail/Eurail website. You can look at the guide in the link:
https://community.eurail.com/train-connections-reservations-47/how-to-get-reservations-105
If you, after having looked at the guide, have questions about how to make specific reservation, please give your travel details (departure date, time and route) preferably in a new topic, and you will get advice.
Please note that Interrail/Eurail charges an extra fee of 2 EUR per person and train in addition to the fee for the seat reservation.
Activation of pass
During the activation process you choose the start day of the validity of the pass. Once the validity has started it can't be changed even if you haven't travelled. The advice is therefore to wait with activating the pass and starting the validity until the first day of your travel as you only can deactivate the pass no later than 23.59 CET on the day before the validity starts. If your travel plans change in the last moment you can't deactivate the pass and change the validity.
It can be wise to make a test and activate the pass with a start date well in the future and then deactivate the pass immediately, just to see that everything works.
Activation of travel day
The advice from the experienced travellers in the community is also never to activate a travel day, that is connect a journey to your pass and create the ticket (QR code), until just before boarding the train, otherwise you might loose a travel day if your travel plans change in a late stage You can't delete a travel day in the past. A travel day can only be deleted until 23.59 CET the day before the travel day.
There is no passholder fare/seat reservation left between London and Paris on 27th May. It is the start of a holiday weekend and lots of people will be travelling. Eurostar can sell out weeks or even months in advance for such dates. Your options are :
- Eurostar London - Lille 19:34 - 22:00 30€ (27th May) and a night in Lille before taking a morning TGV (10€) or a reservation-free TER train to Paris
- Eurostar London - Lille-Europe 15:04 - 17:26 30€ (26th May) + TGV Lille-Flandres (10 min walk) - Paris-Nord 18:12 - 19:14 (10€) OR TGV Lille-Europe - Paris-Nord 17:51 - 19:08 (10€)
- Eurostar London - Paris-Nord 18:31 - 21:47 30€ (25th May)
- Ferry Dover - Calais 09:55 - 12:25 / 13:40 - 16:10 30£ (27th May)
For the ferry option you need to be in Dover 90 min before departure so it'd mean a 06:37 or 10:04 departure from London St. Pancras. Then it's a 30-min walk between Dover train station and ferry port. In Calais baladin bus (free) to Calais-Ville train station. If all goes well arrival in Paris at 17:14 or 19:08. A long journey but an experience too ;-)
In any case book ASAP
Thank you everyone and thibcabe for your options. With your guide I am able to get
London St Pancras Eurostar to Lille Europe 27 May 15:04-17:26 then
Lille Europe TGV to Paris Nord 27 May 19:36-21:08
I was not aware it is a holiday weekend in France. Thanks again.
Unfortunately it looks like the Eurostar has sold out in the meantime. The last remaining train of the day is at 19:34 (Lille at 22:00 due to the time difference).
It's even worse on holiday weekends but even during the week it can sometimes sell out weeks in advance... :/
Edit : a regular ticket for the 15:04 Eurostar would cost 184€ and all the other ones are completely sold out (to Paris or Lille)
Your best best would now be a Flixbus coach that takes the ferry. Departures at 09:00 (9h10 journey), 11:30 (9h30) or 12:00 (9h10). Tickets for 70€. Let us know...
Unfortunately it looks like the Eurostar has sold out in the meantime. The last remaining train of the day is at 19:34 (Lille at 22:00 due to the time difference).
It's even worse on holiday weekends but even during the week it can sometimes sell out weeks in advance... :/
Edit : a regular ticket for the 15:04 Eurostar would cost 184€ and all the other ones are completely sold out (to Paris or Lille)
Your best best would now be a Flixbus coach that takes the ferry. Departures at 09:00 (9h10 journey), 11:30 (9h30) or 12:00 (9h10). Tickets for 70€. Let us know...
Hi thibcabe,
I am able to book the following
London St Pancras Eurostar to Lille Europe 27 May 15:04-17:26 then
Lille Europe TGV to Paris Nord 27 May 19:36-21:08
I hope it works
You can try but it won't work, there is no seat reservation left (unfortunately). Eurail doesn't show availability until you're logged in. Try the Eurostar first.
Let me know if it somehow works
How many of you are travelling together, all 8 of you? Do you have a 1st class pass?
For 8 people I'd even more recommend to book ASAP.
So now you have the choice of either :
- Eurostar London - Lille 19:34 - 22:00 27th May 38€ per person (1st class). Night in Lille and morning TGV (10€)
Book here (4€ booking fee altogether) :
- Flixbus 70€ per person (but then you save a pass day for a day trip) 9h10-9h30 (easy)
- the ferry adventure if you feel like it : 30£ + 10€. It is totally doable but it will take the whole day
And in fact pretty much nothing else... Eurostar is a true bottleneck due to passport controls in the small terminals (Brexit didn't help).
Or you travel on Sunday 28th May via Lille. You'll still have Sunday afternoon, the whole of Monday and a bit of Tuesday in Paris.
You can try but it won't work, there is no seat reservation left (unfortunately). Eurail doesn't show availability until you're logged in. Try the Eurostar first.
Let me know if it somehow works
Hi thibcabe, yes I have managed to book this route on SNCB international
Eurostar London St Pancras to Lille Europe 27 May 15:04-17:26 then
TGV Lille Europe to Paris Nord 27 May 19:36-21:08
Great ! Thanks for letting us know
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