Train tips, France to the UK

Parent Cafe
1

I am taking my ~90 year old mother to Europe this summer, her “last hurrah” as she won’t be able to travel like that much longer! I am visiting family, friends, and also using friend’s vacation homes, yes, mooching my way through!

In a perfect world I would fly from Scotland to France on a cheapie airline and would take a train back to Scotland, the perfect train would allow me to stop and exit, spend a few days any place we fancied along the way, then re-join the train for the trek back. It would also allow me to buy the ticket with just a few days notice so I can plan for a longer time in France, but be prepared to return to family if it is not working for her.

Does any one have any experience on the France>UK trains and those options? I assume the train to the UK would begin in Paris & we would end in Glasgow.

2

The Eurostar goes directly from Paris - Gare du Nord Station to London - St. Pancras Station. Then you just have to walk next door to London - Kings Cross to catch the train to Edinburgh (and then get a train to Glasgow), or walk a little bit farther to London - Euston Station to get a direct train to Glasgow. If you take the train to Edinburgh, you can stop off in York on the way, which is a delightful little city. The train to Glasgow goes through the Lake District, which is lovely. You can buy any of these tickets at the last minute, although they will be expensive. I would recommend buying train tickets at least 48 hours in advance to get better prices.

3

^^Good advice. Eurostar takes 2.5 hours from the center of Paris to the center of London. Only 20 minutes inside the Chunnel, the rest is overground. Allow yourself plenty of time for long lines at security & customs before boarding the Eurostar, especially if your ~90 yr old mother has mobility issues. Eurostar requires seat reservations and you will pay a premium if you wait until the last minute to purchase tickets. It’s better to pin down your Eurostar reservations & purchase well in advance. You don’t want to risk a full train with no seats available. The trains to Edinburgh & Glasgow have more flexibility with last-minute ticket purchases, but don’t risk it with the Eurostar.

Here is a helpful website for train travel in the UK & Europe: http://www.seat61.com/index.html#.VVx4jSlN2lJ

4

Yes, get your eurostar tix as soon as you have dates. They are really cheap if you buy early, and go up incrementally the closer you get to departure…

5

OK, so I should buy the planned train date and then if we need to leave sooner, be prepared for a lousy expensive ticket. I guess if we have to leave early I could just buy a cheap plane ticket, those can be cheap with short notice.

6

You can play with the official calendar to see how fares change. Start with tomorrow and move a couple of weeks at a time. Some fares will allow for a senior citizen discount:

http://www.eurostar.com/us-en/calendar/trains-paris-54-one-way

While YMMV, I have bought tickets between Paris and Brussels that were cheaper on a RT excursion fare than a single one-way. It seems that the railroads are playing the promotion games for times when business travelers are resting.

7

It’s not just that buying tickets on short notice means expensive tickets. Sometimes the Eurostar is literally sold out.

8

We have been able to fly from Paris to London cheaper than Eurostar. But then you’ll have to pay for transfers to the train station in London. I would agree with those that say book Eurostar early. It really is the most convenient way to travel.

9

Sometimes you may be able to take a trip on the Eurostar with one of the tour companies for less $ than you’d pay for the Eurostar alone if you bought the ticket yourself close to your depature date. I did this six years ago, so things may have changed. However, the tour companies buy the tickets way in advance. Sometimes the tours have openings a week or two in advance and the cost for the tour is less than you’d pay for the Eurostar alone.

10

The website for booking trains within the UK is
www.nationalrail.co.uk

When you choose a journey, this site will link you to the train operator running the service. But you can actually buy all journeys from all train operators (they are obliged to sell all tickets). Don’t use re-sellers like EUrail, the trainline.com etc. They add service fees and sometimes only sell the maximum price tickets.

There are maximum price tickets available all the time, in advance or walk-up they cost the same. These tickets can be extremely expensive, and if you don’t make a seat reservation (I think at least 2 hours before the train departs from it’s first stop. You can make such a reservation at any train station but not at London underground stations, and it is free. Do not pay online re-sellers £15+ to make such reservations).

Around 10-12 weeks in advance of travel, cheap tickets called “advance” tickets are released. These are much cheaper but tie you to a specific train. Miss that and the ticket is worthless (unless it is the railway’s fault. For example, If you buy a Paris to Edinburgh trip as one ticket, and Eurostar is delayed so you miss your Kings Cross to Edinburgh train in London, that’s ok. It was Eurostar’s fault so they will find you a space on the next available service). You can sign up for an email alert to notify you when advance tickets become available for your journey for some train operators.

There are also some slightly more flexible tickets for off peak travel, which do not tie you to a specific train but do not allow you to travel at peak commuter times.

The cheapest advance ticket from London to Edinburgh is about £25. The most expensive flexible ticket (walk-up) over £200.

Breaks of journey are allowed for the more expensive ticket types (not for the train specific cheapest advance ones) but as far as I know the train journey must be completed that same day. If you want a break for several days, you would need to buy a ticket to your intermediate destination, and then another from your intermediate destination to your final destination.

I am sure the Man in Seat 61 (linked above already) will be able to explain this a lot better than I can!

You know that these journeys are not very long?

The trains from Paris to London take 2 hrs 15 minutes. But there is a 1 hour time difference. So if for example you leave Paris at 10am, you arrive in London at 11.15am.

Wander across the street to Kings Cross and it’s another 4.5 hours to Edinburgh (sit on the right on this journey for the “castle coast” part, between Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and Edinburgh. This appears in a lot of movies eg “Elizabeth”).

If you want to not plan anything you can buy various train passes. But I don’t think any of them include Eurostar (the train between England and France) because this has to be specifically booked and seats assigned (on other trains, if the seats sell out, you stand. So in your circumstances I would recommend always booking seats). Such passes cannot usually be bought once you arrive in Europe. You have to buy them before you leave home. They are not always the most economical way to go, but they allow the greatest flexibility.

In the UK a “Rail card” is different from a “rail pass”. A Rail card allows you discount of about 1/3 on all off peak journeys. So you could buy a two-together card for £30, and save if you will be making a lot of journeys.

http://www.railcard.co.uk/

If you need assistance for your mother (eg ramp up to the train - there is usually at least one step) you have to book this in advance by telephone. There are no porters at stations like in old movies. Sometimes at rural stations there are a lot of steps (and also at some London Underground stations). But mainline stations usually have step free access somewhere (this may not be obvious).

Here is the UK rail mail so you can see how all the stations join up.

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations_destinations/maps.aspx

Not convinced people in the UK will understand the word “chunnel” lol! I had not heard that word before.

11

These are some great ideas, thanks so much.

12

If I were to take her to one stop between London & Scotland, one place that we get off the train and stay over night, where would you suggest?

13

I’m partial to York. It is an ancient city with a gorgeous cathedral. You can still walk part of the city wall ,explore the old cobbled streets (The Shambles) and have tea at Betty’s. However, it is a city best explored by foot, so if you mother isn’t very mobile, it might be a bit overwhelming. There are taxis, of course, or take a hop-on, hop-off sightseeing bus.

14

She walks well, I will check into York

15

If you’ve read/seen Harry Potter, Diagon Alley was based on the Shambles in York. It’s small and pretty flat, but also cobbled all over (I did a masters at York University so I lived there for a year). You can walk on the medieval walls in a complete circuit (but there’s lots of steps involved here). It’s full of odd shops selling random stuff like antiques, beads, stamps, fudge, etc. Multiple museums, including the National railway museum, which is free. York Minster is supposed to be the finest gothic cathedral in the world (but it has competitors). There are large mirrored tables in there which allow you to look at the ceiling. Look for the “man in the moon” (one of the ceiling bosses is an astronaut. It had to be replaced after a fire in the 1980s).

Another option would be Alnmouth. This is a tiny place but it’s really the stop for Alnwick, which is a short bus ride away. Alnwick Castle also appears in the Harry potter films. This is the “Castle Coast” bit that I mentioned above. You can go to Holy Island over a causeway (i.e. it’s only an island when the tide is in. Do NOT get trapped) and there are a whole load of other castles around there, such as Bamburgh.

All of these places are in England. You have only mentioned Scotland. Do you want to visit England?