You must purchase passes before you are able to reserve seats. When we purchased passes, we were shown many options for train times from London to Paris on 5/30. Now that we have activated our passes to make seat reservations, there are ZERO available trains or seats from London to Paris on 5/30 or the surrounding days. Very frustrated we couldn’t see that those trains were not available prior to purchasing. Does anyone know how to locate available trains from London to Paris? Thanks so much~
Bought Passes but no trains available from london to paris
You don't need to activate your pass to book reservations. It's best do deactivate again, until you start travelling.
30/5 is right after the long Whitsun weekend, so lots of people are travelling. There is usually more availability from London to Lille; in Lille you can take a domestic TGV to Paris. Or explore Lille: it's worth a visit.
The best place to check Eurostar availability is:
https://www.b-europe.com/EN/Booking/Pass#TravelWish
The best place to check availability of domestic TGVs in France is:
https://travel.b-europe.com/Eurail-GE/en/booking-tgv#TravelWish
Both web pages will only show train with availability.
Eurostar (and Thalys) trains have a limited quota which can sell out weeks in advance.
This is the case here, esp. after a long holiday weekend. No trains available at all on 30th May, even to Lille or Brussels. There are some on 31st May. It is a true bottleneck, the worst of Europe imho as there are no other railway options. Even regular 250€ tickets are almost sold out.
It is unfortunate that Eurail doesn't show availability until you've bought a pass.
Few alternatives :
https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/london-to-paris-by-ferry.htm
or Flixbus (170€, not worth it at all)
I'd definitely take the Dover - Calais ferry or bite the bullet for a regular ticket…
- London St. Pancras - Dover Priory 10:07 - 11:12
- taxi (7£) or 30 min walk
- Dover - Calais 13:40 - 16:10 30£ (boarding 90 min prior to departure)
- free bus to the train station (every 15-20 min)
- TER Calais-Ville - Paris-Nord 17:38 - 20:56 reservation-free
It would be a fantastic adventure :) Let me know for questions
If you have a 1st class pass, then there are some more possibilities. Here's availability to Lille:
Also more availability to Brussels in 1st class :
- London - Brussels 06:16 - 09:12 38€
And then either another expensive train :
- Brussels - Paris 1h22 few trains available 32€
Or :
- Brussels - Tournai 10:13 - 11:15
- Tournai - Lille-Flandres 11:22 - 11:52
- TGV Lille-Europe - Paris-Nord 13:03 - 14:32 10€
You could stop for a few hours in either Brussels or Lille (only need to decide in advance).
Or last option which is reservation-free :
- spend a few hours in Brussels
- Brussels - Charleroi-Central 13:15 - 14:07
- Charleroi-Central - Maubeuge 14:24 - 15:20
- Maubeuge - Paris-Nord 15:42 - 17:41
You could swap passes for 1st class ones for a small fee.
In any case you need to choose whichever option you prefer ASAP.
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