I understand that we can't look at not yet established schedules for the Brussels-London Channel Tunnel runs until 120 days before planned departure, much less purchase tickets/reservations. We've traded twice by Eurostar tunnel train from Paris to London but the Brussels departure will be new for us. We'd like to time our Brussels arrival best for the Eurostar departure. Would the departure times for trips within, say, the next 90 days be reasonably historically indicative of the departure schedules we'll be likely to encounter more than 120 days from now, or do those departures change with the dates and/or the seasons? I seem to recall that with most recent Paris-London Eurostar travel the train left Paris around 1:00 PM Paris time. We wonder if there is likely to be additional Brussels departure choices for the morning and mid- or late-afternoon.
Posted by
near Ringwood, Hampshire, UK
521 posts
Jim, they will likely be identical, or at most there may be minor differences at weekends, but not enough to cause a problem. I just compared the times in my Thomas Cook European railway timetable for winter 2011/12 with the Eurostar timetable for this coming August, and the times are mostly the same. For example, there were (and still are) departures at 10.56, 12.56, 14.56, 15.56, 16.52 (was 16.56 previously) and 17.56.
Posted by
Green Bay
21160 posts
You can look at the schedules at www.bahn.com
Posted by
OP
Seattle
149 posts
Thanks, Nigel. I've reopened the Eurostar web site and I realize that I earlier attempted to actually book and pay for our travel later in the year. Then (and now) I could not get to a Eurostar calendar for our future travel date reservation, but, using the -down menu at the correct place (Timetables) I was indeed able to download the schedule for our travel date itself and confirm the departure times for Brussels to London. We'll be lodging in Antwerp the night before the Eurostar Brussels departure and I've been trying to optimize the Brussels departure time both for our arrival at Brussels Midi and for arrival at London's St. Pancras. We'll be using the Underground from St. Pancras to our rented flat in Mayfair and we wanted to arrive neither at commuter time for the Underground nor in the evening which would involve a costly (to us) inconvenience for the flat's agents. Fortunately St. Pancras and the Green Park Underground station are both on the Picadilly Line.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33848 posts
You can even go to the horse's mouth - - http://www.eurostar.com You can download the timetable all the way to Christmas.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33848 posts
Be sure to leave sufficient overlap to give you a definite 30 to 45 minutes or more for the Eurostar check in. If you aren't through the ticket barrier a minimum of 30 minutes prior to departure you don't go. It is very strictly enforced. There will then be a security check with scanners and pat downs but shoes on (usually). 3-1-1 is not an issue.
Posted by
OP
Seattle
149 posts
Thanks for the reminder, Nigel. Setting an optimum Eurostar departure time is an important part of our trip planning, including the morning travel we'll undertake from our Antwerp base hotel. Fortunately, we're sensitive to the timing issue because in 2009 we traveled by rail from Beaune, France in the morning to Gare St Lyon (I hope I identified that correctly)' stopped for a brief go at a ham sandwich in the station cafe, thence by taxi to Gare du Nord for the Eurostar to London. By the way, the pre-boarding Britsh customs clearance was a bit of a comedy of terrors. Both shoes and belt came off and my money belt (held up by my belt) then fell to the floor. I was passed by the British agent but discovered she'd not really examined my passport very carefully--it was my wife's, and my wife had mine, of course. It was not an easy passage, but humorous in retrospect.