We are spending one night in Lille France on our way via train to London. Is it necessary to buy train tix ahead of time from Lille to London or is it easy to buy at train station? Thanks.
Posted by
Penzance
104 posts
You will pay much more if you buy walk up fares.
Posted by
Ontario, Canada
7068 posts
You will need to take the Eurostar. There will probably be availability on the day, but you will certainly pay a high premium for doing that. Buying in advance can result in significant savings. Go to their website and look at the price of tickets for tomorrow's trains. Now check the price for trains on the same day of the week 3 or 4 months from now. See the difference?
And dont forget that you will need to have an ETA for entry into the UK
Posted by
Wyckoff, NJ, USA
8666 posts
These dynamically priced tickets are calculated like airfares. So you can also save money by not traveling on trains most popular with business-people. Don't forget to allow about 90 minutes (NON-negotiable) early arrival (i.e. with tickets in hand) for customs and immigration before any Eurostar product involving England, in either direction.
Lille is a nice visit. Note it has two, almost adjacent, big train stations.
Posted by
Sacramento, California U.S.A.
11404 posts
When we did this we bought our tickets well in advance for the best price.
Posted by
Somerset, UK
28 posts
At the moment walk up fares are £205, fares in advance start at £38
Posted by
Wengen
3748 posts
You need to book in advance. However one advantage of Lille Europe is that you do not need to be there 90 minutes in advance. The number of people boarding there is much less than in Paris, so the queues are shorter and move faster. 40 minutes is thus enough.