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London, Paris and Edinburgh Trip Planning Support

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Family of 4 traveling to UK and Paris. I believe I have read enough articles to post my question. It appears that I will need to book 4 Eurail Global passes since we are traveling to multiple countries. Arrive in London on 4/10 and will take the 10:00 train to Paris. That train requires an additional pass. We would need a 2 day pass to have a return from Paris to London on 4/13. We would then make seat reservations on 4/14 from London to Edinburgh (no additional passes purchased) and then seat reservations for the Edinburgh to London return 4/20 (no additional passes purchased). 

 

  1. Is there any reason to purchase a 5-day versus 4-day global pass?
  2. Does the above itinerary work or make sense?

Appreciate any help you all can provide. 

Thanks!

Best answer by thibcabe

Some advice:

You’ll be travelling during British (and French) school holidays so you should really book the Eurostar ASAP. There’s a passholder quota on Eurostar trains (unique in Europe) and some trains are already sold out. The Eurostar works like an airline and is unlike any other European train!

At what time are you landing in London? You should allow a few hours in case of delay, I wouldn’t book a Eurostar before midday. It is your problem if the flight is late and you miss the Eurostar.

On 10th April these departures are available out of London: 06:01, 16:31, 17:31, 18:01, 19:01, 20:01. Seat reservations cost 30€ pp in 2nd class. More options throughout the day with a change in Lille (see below, opposite direction).

(Since you’ll be at an airport anyway, I might suggest booking another flight from Heathrow/Gatwick. Still plan a few hours for the self-connection as you’ll have to clear immigration, pick up your luggage and do the same process again. Or fly straight to Paris from the US but I guess that’s too late.)

On 13th April all Paris-London departures are sold out (again due to the school holidays). Zero availability out of Paris on 12, 13 and 14th April. However there is an easy alternative:

  • TGV Paris-Nord - Lille-Flandres or Lille-Europe 10-20€ pp
  • 30 min margin + 30 min for passport controls, check-in
  • Eurostar Lille-Europe - London St. Pancras 30€ pp. Departures at 09:30, 11:35, 12:35, 13:35, 17:35, 18:35, 19:30, 21:33.

So my advice is as follows: book the Eurostar reservations ASAP to avoid disappointment.

London-Edinburgh will be much easier. You can literally book a free reservation 5 min before departure (LNER website for this route, otherwise GWR).

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Full steam ahead
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Yes, your itinerary should work like that. You should book your seat reservations for the Eurostar (London-Paris and back) as soon as possible as they might sell out.

Best site to check where to buy your reservations: https://www.seat61.com/interrail-and-eurail-reservations.htm

No seat reservations in the UK needed (although you can make them for free with GWR, see link above).

You could even do Paris-London-Edinburgh in one day and could add another destination if you want.

So I don’t see why you would need more than 4 travel days. Even if you do you like to travel out of town a bit, those journeys won’t justify the cost of an extra travel day. Just buy regular tickets for those journeys.

T
Full steam ahead
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  • thibcabe
  • Full steam ahead
  • 4878 replies
  • Answer
  • February 18, 2025

Some advice:

You’ll be travelling during British (and French) school holidays so you should really book the Eurostar ASAP. There’s a passholder quota on Eurostar trains (unique in Europe) and some trains are already sold out. The Eurostar works like an airline and is unlike any other European train!

At what time are you landing in London? You should allow a few hours in case of delay, I wouldn’t book a Eurostar before midday. It is your problem if the flight is late and you miss the Eurostar.

On 10th April these departures are available out of London: 06:01, 16:31, 17:31, 18:01, 19:01, 20:01. Seat reservations cost 30€ pp in 2nd class. More options throughout the day with a change in Lille (see below, opposite direction).

(Since you’ll be at an airport anyway, I might suggest booking another flight from Heathrow/Gatwick. Still plan a few hours for the self-connection as you’ll have to clear immigration, pick up your luggage and do the same process again. Or fly straight to Paris from the US but I guess that’s too late.)

On 13th April all Paris-London departures are sold out (again due to the school holidays). Zero availability out of Paris on 12, 13 and 14th April. However there is an easy alternative:

  • TGV Paris-Nord - Lille-Flandres or Lille-Europe 10-20€ pp
  • 30 min margin + 30 min for passport controls, check-in
  • Eurostar Lille-Europe - London St. Pancras 30€ pp. Departures at 09:30, 11:35, 12:35, 13:35, 17:35, 18:35, 19:30, 21:33.

So my advice is as follows: book the Eurostar reservations ASAP to avoid disappointment.

London-Edinburgh will be much easier. You can literally book a free reservation 5 min before departure (LNER website for this route, otherwise GWR).

R
  • Russell59
  • Right on track
  • 3 replies
  • February 19, 2025

Hello. Sorry, but I am a bit confused by your question. As I am in the early stages of planning our European rail holiday, there is every chance that I have a misunderstanding about the Eurail pass and its coverage. I don’t understand why you state that you need an additional pass to travel from London to Paris. Isn’t that trip already covered by your existing Global Pass? My wife and I are planning 6-7 weeks in 2026 commencing in London, train to Montreux, Switzerland for a week or so, then back to England by train again. Then we plan to travel by rail over much of Britain before returning home to Australia. I am of the impression that if I buy a 2 month Global Continuous Pass, all of that travel, including the passage between England and France, is included.

I’m sorry that this doesn’t answer your initial question, but I would appreciate any advice offered.

Regards

T
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  • thibcabe
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  • February 19, 2025

Indeed there's no additional pass or anything similar. OP probably means seat reservations.

Depending on the train, they can be mandatory (i.e. high-speed trains in most countries), optional or simply not exist.

The Eurostar between London and the continent is very popular (+ passholder quota) so booking ahead is necessary. Obviously for 2026 you've got loads of time. Tickets won't be released until late 2025.

The Eurail pass is very convenient and good value in Switzerland and the UK. Frequent trains, expensive tickets, optional/no reservations. You can hop on hop off and go as you desire.

I will add few links for some reading :)

https://www.seat61.com/how-to-use-a-eurail-pass.htm

https://www.seat61.com/interrail-and-eurail-reservations.htm

U

thibcabe - Thank you for the detailed response. We are landing in London around 6:30 AM. The original plan was to make that a single, continuous travel day and head to Paris from London. With the Easter Holiday and Marathon later in the month, we wanted to be up North, avoiding the additional crowds. 

 

When booking the London to Paris Eurostar, it appears that you can book directly through Eurostar but is there a better website that you recommend? Original search results for Eurostar showed a roundtrip cost over 1500. 

 

On the return, it doesn’t look like traveling from Paris to Lille to London adds that much additional travel time and is way more cost-effective. 

 

Appreciate the advice as we did not encounter the additional research necessary during our last European trip. 

R
Railmaster
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  • rvdborgt
  • Railmaster
  • 10502 replies
  • February 19, 2025
USTrainNovice425 wrote:

When booking the London to Paris Eurostar, it appears that you can book directly through Eurostar but is there a better website that you recommend? Original search results for Eurostar showed a roundtrip cost over 1500.

The Eurostar website can't book pass reservations. Best place to book is www.raileurope.com. Pass reservations are €30 in 2nd and €38 in 1st class for a single. Always pay in euros; prices other currencies are 4-5% higher. Book Eurostar ASAP.

Please ask questions in the community and not via a private message. That's the quickest way to get a response. I don't work for Eurail/Interrail.
T
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    thibcabe
U

Do I book the pass reservations via another website or is that handled by Rail Europe during the checkout process? 

R
Railmaster
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  • rvdborgt
  • Railmaster
  • 10502 replies
  • February 19, 2025
USTrainNovice425 wrote:

Do I book the pass reservations via another website or is that handled by Rail Europe during the checkout process? 

You can book pass reservations wherever you like. For Eurostar and TGV, Rail Europe is currently the best choice.

For other trains, use this page as a guide:

https://www.seat61.com/interrail-and-eurail-reservations.htm

Please ask questions in the community and not via a private message. That's the quickest way to get a response. I don't work for Eurail/Interrail.
U

Sorry. My mistake ​@rvdborgt . For the Seat Reservation (see image), is that handled during the checkout process? 

 

R
Railmaster
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  • rvdborgt
  • Railmaster
  • 10502 replies
  • February 19, 2025
USTrainNovice425 wrote:

Sorry. My mistake ​@rvdborgt . For the Seat Reservation (see image), is that handled during the checkout process? 

 

Sure, you pay when you check out on Rail Europe and after that you receive your seat reservation via e-mail. Also change currency to euros (at the top right). Price is €120, which is currently USD 125.49. USD 131 is 4.4% more and I doubt your credit card has such high exchange fees (if at all).

Please ask questions in the community and not via a private message. That's the quickest way to get a response. I don't work for Eurail/Interrail.
U
1 person likes this
  • U
    USTrainNovice425
S
Full steam ahead
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After payment, you will receive the pdf-tickets which indicate your seat number. Not sure, if that answers your question.

U
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    USTrainNovice425
R
  • Russell59
  • Right on track
  • 3 replies
  • February 20, 2025
thibcabe wrote:

Indeed there's no additional pass or anything similar. OP probably means seat reservations.

Depending on the train, they can be mandatory (i.e. high-speed trains in most countries), optional or simply not exist.

The Eurostar between London and the continent is very popular (+ passholder quota) so booking ahead is necessary. Obviously for 2026 you've got loads of time. Tickets won't be released until late 2025.

The Eurail pass is very convenient and good value in Switzerland and the UK. Frequent trains, expensive tickets, optional/no reservations. You can hop on hop off and go as you desire.

I will add few links for some reading :)

https://www.seat61.com/how-to-use-a-eurail-pass.htm

https://www.seat61.com/interrail-and-eurail-reservations.htm

Thank you so much for this detailed reply ​@thibcabe . I have a lot to study up on I think. First O/S trip for the wife and I, so we’ve got a lot to learn. I doubt that this will be our only question.

Cheers

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