London St Pancras International (London)

Rather wonderfully there are now direct Eurostar trains from London to Amsterdam; but if the timings of those trains don't suit, another option is travel via Bruxelles and make a connection at Midi/Zuid station.

Bruges/Brugge is one of the easiest locations to access when travelling from London to Europe by train.
Simply take the Eurostar to Bruxelles and then hop on one of the frequent trains from the Belgian capital to Brugge.

Rather wonderfully there are now direct Eurostar trains from London to Rotterdam; but if the timings of those trains don't suit, another option is travel via Bruxelles and make a connection at Midi/Zuid station.

Gent/Ghent is one of the easiest locations to access when travelling from London to Europe by train.
Simply take the Eurostar to Bruxelles and then hop on one of the frequent trains from the Belgian capital to Gent/Ghent

The Eurostar train(s) from London to Amsterdam pass through the station in Antwerp without calling there, so when taking this rail journey a connection in Bruxelles is required.

Though what makes things less complicated than the norm are:

1. Eurostar sells any 'Any Belgian station' tickets
2. Which can be used on any onward train that day, so you won't need to be concerned about connecting into a particular departure

Luxembourg is easily accessed from London by train; there are hourly connections on from Bruxelles and when using tickets, it doesn't matter which of these trains you take, which takes the pressure of making the connection at Midi/Zuid station.

There are two optimum routes when taking a train from London to Munich/München:
1, Travelling by day via Paris
2. Travelling by day via Bruxelles

The daytime connections via Paris are sold as end-to-end journeys by ticket agents, but the daytime route via Bruxelles can be a good option if you will making this journey with a Eurail or InterRail pass; or won't mind book separate tickets for different parts of the journey.
Making the effort to do can be worth it if you'd rather avoid what can be an awkward transfer between stations in the French capital.

There are three options available for taking a journey by train from London to Vienna/Wien:

1. Making the end-to-end journey by day, though due to the current reduction in the Eurostar timetable, completing the journey in a single day is dependent on making a 20 minute connection between trains in Bruxelles.
   (So if you don't want to travel on an overnight train, the less risky option is to split the journey into two days of travel and spending a night in either Frankfurt (Main) or Koln/Cologne).

2. If you will be leaving London on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday, then it's possible to take a Eurostar to Bruxelles and then a night train on from there to Wien/Vienna.
   Though due to the current reduction in the number of Eurostar departures, this option involves spending more than five hours in Bruxelles between trains.

3. Or if you will be leaving London on the other nights of the week, an option is to make a connection of around 2hr 20 mins in Bruxelles on to Koln/Cologne, where around 4 hours after arriving there, an overnight train will depart for Wien/Vienna.

There are two options for making a journey by train from London to Basel:

1. The quickest option is to travel via Paris, but this involves having to make a transfer between stations across the city centre.
   Though the trains/connections from Paris arrive at the main station, Basel SBB where connections are available to a swathe of other Swiss destinations including Bern, Biel, Luzern and Interlaken.

2. The easier, but slower option is to travel via the main stations in Bruxelles and Frankfurt (Main).
   You won't have to leave the stations in order to make the connections, but they are tightly timed (though tickets/reservations can be transferred to subsequent departures in the event of train delays, if you are NOT relying on the final connections of the day).
   These trains will arrive at Basel Bad bf, the trains will continue on to Basel SBB station, but that ups the price when travelling on this route.

There are currently two* options for making the journey by high speed trains from London to Lyon:

1: travelling via Paris can be a cheaper option, but you will need to make the transfer across the French capital between the Gare Du Nord, which is where the Eurostar will arrive, and the Gare De Lyon, the departure station of the TGV train.

2: Or if you make the connection in Lille, you can make the transfer within Lille Europe station.

*When the direct London to Lyon resumes operating in the summer of 2022, taking that train becomes the logical first choice for a London to Lyon rail journey

Eurostar services on the London <> Bruxelles route call in Lille, but this route has been particularly impacted by the pandemic, with the usual volume of departures reduced (temporarily) by more than 50%.

Lille Europe station typically offers an opportunity to make onward connections to a swathe of French destinations served by TGV trains including Bordeaux, Nantes, Rennes and Strasbourg; a useful alternative to having to cross Paris between its stations.
However, the reduction in the volume of both the Eurostar and TGV services, has cut the number of viable onward travel opportunities.
Currently only Avignon, Lyon and Marseille have a viable connections with Eurostar services from London.

There are currently two* options for making the journey by high speed trains from London to Lyon:

1: travelling via Paris can be a cheaper option, but you will need to make the transfer across the French capital between the Gare Du Nord, which is where the Eurostar will arrive, and the Gare De Lyon, the departure station of the TGV train.

2: Or if you make the connection in Lille, you can make the transfer within Lille Europe station.

*When the direct London to Lyon resumes operating in the summer of 2022, taking that train becomes t

There are usually two options available for taking a journey by train from London to Bordeaux:

1. Making the transfer across central Paris from the Gare Du Nord, which is where the Eurostar will arrive, and the Gare Montparnasse, which is where the onward TGV to Bordeaux will depart from.
2. Making the much simpler transfer between stations in Lille, but the routing via Lille is currently compromised due to the reduction in the number of trains between London and Lille.
   The usual connection isn't available, so the current time between trains is close to four hours!

There are currently three* options for making the journey by high speed trains from London to Antibes:

1. Travelling via Paris can be a cheaper option, but you will need to make the transfer across the French capital between the Gare Du Nord, which is where the Eurostar will arrive, and the Gare De Lyon, the departure station of the train on to Avignon Centre station.

2. Or take a train on from the Gare De Lyon to Avignon TGV station.

3. Or if you make the connection in Lille, you can make the transfer within Lille Europe station and avoid the cross Paris transfer, but you will be arriving at Avignon TGV station

*When the direct London to Avignon train resumes operating in the summer of 2022, it becomes the obvious best option.

The only current viable option for making the journey by high speed trains from London to Montpellier, is to travel via Paris
However, you will need to make the transfer across the French capital between the Gare Du Nord, which is where the Eurostar will arrive, and the Gare De Lyon, the departure station of the TGV train.

However, when the usual (pre-pandemic) timetable is available the other options typically are
1: make a transfer within Lille Europe station (this is normally available year round).
2.; When the direct London to Marseille resumes operating in the summer of 2022, taking that train and making the one connection in Lyon or Marseille, will be the easiest option for a London to Montpellier rail journey.

There are currently two* options for making the journey by high speed trains from London to Nice:

1: travelling via Paris can be a cheaper option, but you will need to make the transfer across the French capital between the Gare Du Nord, which is where the Eurostar will arrive, and the Gare De Lyon, the departure station of the TGV train.

2: Or if you make the connection in Lille, you can make the transfer within Lille Europe station, but you will also now have to make a second connection in Marseille (the direct Lille to Nice trains are no longer available).

*When the direct London to Marseille resumes operating in the summer of 2022, taking that train and making the one connection in Marseille is the best option for a London to Cannes rail journey.

There are two options for making the journey by high speed trains from London to Rennes:

1: travelling via Paris can be a cheaper option, but you will need to make the transfer across the French capital between the Gare Du Nord, which is where the Eurostar will arrive, and the Gare Montparnasse, the departure station of the TGV train.

2: Or if you make the connection in Lille, you can make the transfer within Lille Europe station.
(Travelling via Lille currently isn't an option due to the temporary reduction in the number of trains operating between London and Lille).

There are typically two options for making the journey by high speed trains from London to Strasbourg:

1: travelling via Paris can be a cheaper option, but you will need to make the transfer across the French capital between the Gare Du Nord, which is where the Eurostar will arrive, and the Gare de l'est the departure station of the TGV train.

2: Or if you make the connection in Lille, you can make the transfer within Lille Europe station.
(Travelling via Lille currently isn't an option due to the temporary reduction in the number of trains operating between London and Lille).

Despite the reduced Eurostar timetable in response to the pandemic, it is still not only possible, but entirely feasible to make a journey by train during the day from London to Milan.
The timings allow plenty of time to cross Paris (if you book separate tickets per train), so you won't be rushing from the onward connection against the clock.

Though something to look out for is that the train from Paris will arrive at Porta Garibaldi station in Milano and not at the city's main station, Milano Centrale.
The train will also arrive in Milano after the night trains south to Lecce via Bari and to Sicily will have departed.
Though the train from Paris will call in Turin/Torino, where a connection is available into a night train on to Roma and Napoli.

What isn't now an option is taking the Eurostar to Paris and then the overnight train to Milano, as the night train between Paris and Italy has now been withdrawn.

It currently isn't possible to make a journey from London to Barcelona by making the usual connection in Paris
The necessary usual afternoon/evening departures on from the French capital to to Barcelona have been suspended since the beginning of the pandemic, though it looks as they will resume in early 2022.

So the only current options are:

1. Take a train to Paris and spend the night there in order to take the train from the Gare De Lyon, which is departing at daily at 10:12
2. Travel by day by train via Paris to Lyon, Nimes or Montpellier and take a train on to Barcelona after spending the night in these cities.
3. For travel on Mon-Fri only, Trainline will offer an option of departing London at 07:01 and connecting in both Paris and Narbonne, but it only allows 54min to make the transfer from the Gare du Nord to the Gare de Lyon.

What's described below is the usual scenario, which should once again be available in 2022.

There are currently options for making the journey by high speed trains from London to Geneve/Geneva

1: travelling via Paris is the cheaper option and it can be faster too, but you will need to make the transfer across the French capital between the Gare Du Nord, which is where the Eurostar will arrive, and the Gare De Lyon, the departure station of the Lyria trains which link the French capital to Switzerland.

2: Or if you make the connection in Lille, you can make the transfer within Lille Europe station, but will have to make a second connection in Lyon.

There are two journey options for a taking a train from London to Zurich:

1: The usual most obvious route to take if you will be booking tickets is to travel via Paris on a combination of Eurostar and Lyria trains.
Though the end-to-end journey times are compromised by the temporary reduction in the number of Eurostar services, which has extended the time interval between the arrival of the Eurostar and the departure of the Lyria services.

2. The other option involves making connections in Brussels and Frankfurt (Main).
   This route avoid the needs to make a transfer between railway stations across Paris, but SMTJ doesn't recommend it, as it involves making a connection at Midi/Zuid station in Brussels of only 20 mins.
   Though if you will be travelling with a Eurail or InterRail pass it is worth taking the chance, as it will save money because rail pass users don't have to make reservations on the combination of ICE trains between Brussels and Zurich, but the rail pass reservation fees are some of the most expensive charged to pass users

Despite the reduced Eurostar timetable in response to the pandemic, it is still not only possible, but entirely feasible to make a journey by train during the day from London to Turin/Torino.
The timings allow plenty of time to cross Paris (if you book separate tickets per train), so you won't be rushing from the onward connection against the clock.

There are currently two* options for making the journey by high speed trains from London to Antibes:

1: travelling via Paris can be a cheaper option, but you will need to make the transfer across the French capital between the Gare Du Nord, which is where the Eurostar will arrive, and the Gare De Lyon, the departure station of the TGV train.

2: Or if you make the connection in Lille, you can make the transfer within Lille Europe station, but you will also now have to make a second connection in Avignon (the direct trains from Lille to Antibes) are no longer available).

*When the direct London to Marseille resumes operating in the summer of 2022, taking that train and making the one connection in Marseille is the best option for a London to Antibes rail journey.

There are currently two* options for making the journey by high speed trains from London to Cannes:

1: travelling via Paris can be a cheaper option, but you will need to make the transfer across the French capital between the Gare Du Nord, which is where the Eurostar will arrive, and the Gare De Lyon, the departure station of the TGV train.

2: Or if you make the connection in Lille, you can make the transfer within Lille Europe station, but you will also now have to make a second connection in Marseille (the direct Lille to Cannes trains are no longer available).

*When the direct London to Marseille resumes operating in the summer of 2022, taking that train and making the one connection in Marseille is the best option for a London to Cannes rail journey.

There are two options for making the journey by high speed trains from London to Aix-en-Provence TGV station:

1: travelling via Paris can be a cheaper option, but you will need to make the transfer across the French capital between the Gare Du Nord, which is where the Eurostar will arrive, and the Gare De Lyon, the departure station of the TGV train.

2: Or if you make the connection in Lille, you can make the transfer within Lille Europe station.

There are two options for making the journey by high speed trains from London to Angers:

1: travelling via Paris can be a cheaper option, but you will need to make the transfer across the French capital between the Gare Du Nord, which is where the Eurostar will arrive, and the Gare Montparnasse, the departure station of the TGV train.

2: Or if you make the connection in Lille, you can make the transfer within Lille Europe station.
(Travelling via Lille currently isn't an option due to the temporary reduction in the number of trains operating between London and Lille).

The only current viable option for making the journey by high speed trains from London to Nimes, is to travel via Paris
However, you will need to make the transfer across the French capital between the Gare Du Nord, which is where the Eurostar will arrive, and the Gare De Lyon, the departure station of the TGV train.

However, when the usual (pre-pandemic) timetable is available the other options typically are
1: make a transfer within Lille Europe station (this is normally available year round
2.; When the direct London to Marseille resumes operating in the summer of 2022, taking that train and making the one connection in Lyon or Marseille, will be the easiest option for a London to Nimes rail journey.

Travelling by train from London to Dijon has been particularly compromised by the (temporary) reduction in train services due to the pandemic.
On Saturdays the intervals between Eurostar arrivals and TGV departures in Paris is so long, that the ticket agents aren't offering any departures at all.
The usual option for making a connection in Lille, thereby avoiding the cross-Paris transfer, isn't currently available.

How to travel from London to beautiful Aachen in Germany on a combination of Eurostar and ICE trains.
No direct trains are available

There is a choice of three options for taking a journey by train from London to Canterbury, all of which are operated by Southeastern.

1. Taking a hi-speed service from St Pancras International station to Canterbury West (these trains share the high speed route between London and Ashford with the Eurostar services).

2. Canterbury West also has direct trains which commence their journeys at Charing Cross station and then call at Waterloo (East) and London Bridge options.
   If the starting point of your journey is convenient to these stations (particularly London Bridge) the speed advantage of the trains from St Pancras becomes less of a factor.

3. Trains from Victoria station, which is on the opposite side of central London, go to Canterbury East station.

The only current viable option for making the journey by high speed trains from London to Béziers, is to travel via Paris
However, you will need to make the transfer across the French capital between the Gare Du Nord, which is where the Eurostar will arrive, and the Gare De Lyon, the departure station of the TGV train.

However, when the usual (pre-pandemic) timetable is available the other options typically are
1: make a transfer within Lille Europe station (this is normally available year round
2.; When the direct London to Marseille resumes operating in the summer of 2022, taking that train and making the one connection in Lyon or Marseille, is the easiest option for a London to Béziers rail journey.

There are now direct Eurostar trains from Amsterdam to London, but if the timings of those departures don't suit, the other option is to take a train to Bruxelles and connect there into one of the more frequent Eurostars from the Belgian capital to the UK.

Look up the journey on the ticket agents and this indirect journey will involve taking a high speed Thalys trains to Bruxelles and connecting into a Eurostar.

Though if you will be making this journey with a Eurail or InterRail pass and can't book a rail pass reservations on a direct train, you will save money if you take an Intercity train to Bruxelles instead of a Thalys.

The significant advantage of the direct trains are that they avoid what can be an awkward connection at Midi station in Bruxelles, where the timing of the arrival of the train from Amsterdam needs to be factored into the need to check in for the Eurostar departure.

There are up to three options for making the journey by train from Lyon to London.

1. Year round, the most frequent option is to travel via Paris and make the cross-city transfer between terminals in French capital.
2. Also available year round there is the option to travel via Lille and thereby avoid the cross Paris transfer.
3. On certain dates in the summer there is a direct train, which by default becomes the optimum option.

There are up to three options for making the journey by train from Marseille to London:

1. Year round, the most frequent option is to travel via Paris and make the cross-city transfer between terminals in French capital.
2. Also available year round there is the option to travel via Lille and thereby avoid the cross Paris transfer.
3. On certain dates in the summer there is a direct train, which by default becomes the optimum option.

Connections are available at Basel SBB when travelling from a swathe of other Swiss destinations including Bern, Biel, Luzern and Interlaken.

Despite the reduced Eurostar timetable in response to the pandemic, it is still not only possible, but entirely feasible to make a journey by train during the day from Milano to London (as long as you won't be travelling on a Saturday).
The timings allow plenty of time to cross Paris , so you won't be rushing from the onward connection against the clock.

Though something to look out for is that the trains to Paris will depart from Porta Garibaldi station in Milano and not at the city's main station, Milano Centrale.

What isn't now an option is taking an overnight train from Milano and then a Eurostar on from Paris, as the night train between Italy and Paris has now been withdrawn.

There are two optimum route options for a journey by train from Munich/München to London:

1. Make two transfers between trains and travel via Bruxelles, thereby avoiding having to make a transfer between stations in Paris.
   On this routing the optimum end=to-end journey involves having to make the connection between trains in Koin/Cologne.

2. Travelling via Paris (not available on Saturdays) on the direct train from München to the Gare de l'Est, then heading to the Gare du Nord in order to take the Eurostar on to London.

What currently isn't an option is taking the overnight train from München to Bruxelles and then on by Eurostar, as that train to the Belgian capital isn't operating at the moment.

Connect in Zurich when travelling by train to London from a swathe of Swiss destinations including Chur, Lugano, St Gallen and St Moritz.

The only viable route involves crossing Paris city centre to make the transfer from one high speed train to another.

Two of the European rail routes which have been particularly impacted by the pandemic and the resulting reduction in the numbers of usual departures, are those between London and Paris and between Barcelona.
However, despite that it is still possible to take a journey by train in a single day by train from Barcelona to London with lots of time available to make the connection between high speed trains in Paris, which should virtually ensure a stress-free journey.

The journey by train from Cologne/Köln to London involves making a transfer between high speed trains at Bruxelles-Midi station.
Eurostar provides the services on to London from the Belgian capital, but ICE and Thalys trains share the route between Köln and Bruxelles.
The split between these two services impacts on the end-to-end journey times and the ticketing; in terms of both price and availability.

Though due to the current reductions in the number of timetabled trains as a consequence of the pandemic, the departure and arrival times have become more important, due to the more limited options for making the end-to-end journey.

When taking a combination of ICE + Eurostar trains or Thalys + Eurostar trains, up to 8 connections per day are usually available, but for the time being there are only 3 or 4 departure options per day.

There are three options available when taking a journey by train from Wien/Vienna to London:

1. Despite the current reduction in the number of Eurostar departures it is still a straightforward journey by day with only two changes of train required.

2. What is currently compromised is what is usually the simplest option for a rail journey between the Austrian and UK capital cities, which involves just two trains; the night train to Bruxelles and the Eurostar on to London.
   The night train departs Wien Hbf on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday evening, but its usual connecting service on from Bruxelles-Midi station is among those services which remain suspended.
   Therefore for the moment, spending most of the day in Bruxelles is required, if you want to leave Wien/Vienna by this train.

3. Also compromised is the overnight option on the evenings when the Wien to Bruxelles train isn't available.
   The required additional connection from Koln to Bruxelles also arrives at Midi station at around 09:30 and the next Eurostar on to London isn't departing until 16:00.

This end-to-end journey is less complicated than you might have supposed, with only two easily timed connections required.
Though travelling overnight is not an option on this route.