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Eurail pass vs. regular tickets.

I'm going to be traveling from London to Paris on the high speed train. After Paris I'll be traveling to Luxembourg, then onto Brugges & Amsterdam. Would I be better off with regular tickets or should I get a Eurail pass? Also, if I go with regular tickets, do I buy those stateside like the Eurail pass? Thanks in advance!

Posted by
19274 posts

First thing, Eurail passes do not include the Eurostar from London to France. You do get a discount on the Eurostar if you have a Eurail pass, but I don't think it is as good or better than the lowest advance purchase price. Thalys is often used for travel in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. I requires a pass holder "reservation" fee that is more than the price you can get with direct purchase. Unless you can get discounted advance purchase tickets direct from the websites of the national rail companies or from Thalys, the prices stateside, such as from RailEurope, will undoubtedly be more.

Posted by
8700 posts

As Lee said, for your routes point-to-point tickets will be cheaper than a railpass, especially if you book in advance and get discount fares. London-Paris: Book up to 120 days in advance at eurostar.com to get a fare as low as €42.50. Paris-Luxembourg: Book well in advance at tgv-europe.com (up to three months allowed) to get a Prem's fare as low as €25.00. Luxembourg-Brugge: You will take IC trains (Luxembourg-Brussels and Brussels-Brugge) on which there is open seating and no reservations are possible. The 2nd class fare is €36.20. No discount for advance booking. Brugge-Amsterdam: Fastest is an IC train to Antwerp and a Thalys train from there to Amsterdam. To get a discount fare, book an ABS (any Belgian station) ticket up to 90 days in advance at thalys.com which will cover your ride on an IC train to Antwerp and on a Thalys train from there to Amsterdam. Or simply take an IC train to Antwerp and another IC train to Amsterdam. It will be slower, but your tickets will be good on any train.