You can travel on 2 pass days in your own country. The Eurostar is included in that rule.

This means that you could do it but then you couldn't travel on Eurostar + in the UK for your return.

What I would do :

- either take the last Eurostar to Lille-Europe at 19:34 (arrival at 11:35 or 13:35 the following morning via Lyon) or the last to Paris-Nord at 20:04

- buy a cheap ticket on Avanti West Coast for 20£ using this offer https://www.avantisuperfare.co.uk/ (choose the 17:00 - 21:00 window, they tend to allocate the last trains). Eurostar in the morning

- also possible to buy an advance ticket for your desired connection for about 30£

Please book the Eurostar in advance (30€) since it's a popular route and it has a passholder quota too. Evening trains have generally more availability.

Questions welcome !

If you want to use your pass to come back to Manchester, you’d need to save one of your 2 UK days for that. Options are:

1. Travel Manchester > London > Paris in a single day, then sleep there before continuing to Geneva
2. Buy either the Avanti ticket or the Eurostar ticket - whichever’s cheapest! - for cash
3. Is a 1730 arrival early enough? In that case, you can do the whole journey in one day.
4. (Slightly weird option) If you can find a train from Manchester (or somewhere near) which departs after 11pm (0000 CET) and gets you to London then it would count as Friday as far as Eurail’s concerned.

   I can’t see any suitable trains, but you might find one!

If you won’t be using the pass to come back, then there's no problem using both UK days for the outbound trip.

Thanks so much for this great, well thought out reply. Much appreciated. I need to use my return journey to the U.K. on the pass - so will pay extra for an Avanti ticket to London. There is a way of doing it all on the Friday starting at 5.55am in Manchester and arriving Geneva at 7pm - I may opt for that route as it gives me leverage to have a full nights sleep the night before - whereas splitting the travel over two days gives me very little sleep. You have been a great help - thank you 

By leaving at 05:55 you could already arrive at 17:30 in Geneva.

• Manchester Piccadilly - London Euston 05:55 - 08:12
• London St. Pancras - Paris-Nord 09:31 - 12:48 30€ reservation
• RER B (not included) : buy a ticket onboard Eurostar to avoid queueing
• TGV Paris Gare de Lyon - Geneva 14:18 - 17:30 29€ reservation

But the 09:31 Eurostar to Paris is very popular (honestly all morning ones are) so book it in advance. What would be your travel dates ?

Since reservations are very expensive on this route you could use this trick :

• TGV Paris Gare de Lyon - Bellegarde 14:18 - 17:00 10€ limited fare (then 20€)
• TER Bellegarde - Geneva 17:25 - 17:58

Travelling Friday 15th December and return Monday 18th December 

Okay so I had a look at availability on https://www.b-europe.com/EN/Booking/Pass#TravelWish and looks like it will be a busy day...

Departures to Paris : 06:01, 07:01, 15:31 and later. Nothing in between (whether with a 1st or 2nd class pass).

Departures to Lille : 07:24 and 19:34.

The best option is now to spend a night in London in my opinion.

Arrival at 16:38 via Lille or 13:30/15:29 via Paris.

All trains are available for the return journey.

I’m making some calculations whether a pass is worth it in the end…

Pass :

• 258€ 4-day Global Pass
• 2 x 30€ Eurostar reservation
• 2 x 29€ TGV Lyria reservation (2 x 10€ with the Bellegarde trick)

Total : 380€ return + night in London

Tickets :

• 230-250€ Eurostar (the Friday leg being the most expensive)
• 100€ TGV Lyria return
• 2 x 40€ advance ticket

Total : 430€ return with full flexibility (aka possible to leave Manchester on Friday).

Conclusion : a return journey is very expensive, no matter which option you choose. A pass would be cheaper for a longer trip.

Thank you for that. I have now booked a hotel for the Thursday night in London opposite St Pancras. 

You’re welcome.

I’ve just updated my post. Questions welcome.

You have been a great help. I have free accommodation whilst in Geneva so don’t mind the cost of the travel as it saves me from flying and I can work while travelling. If cheaper would have been better but am biting the bullet. Have just purchased my pass and will now reserve my seats and trains. Thank you so much. 

Ah yes that’s great since Geneva is kind of expensive… (I commute there so I speak from experience)

Enjoy the trip ! Those trains are very good in my opinion (despite being always busy), I’ve done the journey to London twice this year :)