London to Rotterdam by train

Note that London is in a different time zone to mainland Europe, it is one hour behind; so when looking at a timetable the journey will look as though it's an hour longer.

The usual timetable

Eurostar had expanded its service of London to Rotterdam direct trains.

The timetable comprised departures from St. Panrcras International at:
07:16 on Mon-Saturday (currently not operating)
11:04 daily This departure has been departing throughout the pandemic
17:16 on Mon-Friday (currently not operating)
17:19 on Sundays (currently not operating)

If the timings of these direct trains don't suit, you can travel on one of the (usually) much more frequent alternative journey options which involve changing trains in Bruxelles/Brussels.

Final Destination: Amsterdam Centraal/CS

All trains also call at: Bruxelles-Midi/Brussel-Zuid
These trains do not call at Ebbsfleet International or Ashford International.
These trains also don't call at Antwerpen-Centraal or Schiphol Airport

Departing St Pancras

Eurostar requests that holders of Standard Class And Standard Premier tickets check-in a minimum of 30mins before departure, and 45mins before departure on weekends and holidays.

If you have a Business Premier ticket, Eurostar recommends that you only have to check-in 10 mins before departure

SMTJ's guide to taking a Eurostar from London is here.

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings usually open: between 138 and 190 days ahead of the travel date.
Seats are assigned when booking tickets.

The prices shown below are the most heavily discounted, one way Standard Class prices

The booking path on the Eurostar website is comparatively straightforward and an advantage of booking direct with Eurostar, is that it offers its ticket purchasers the ability to choose specific seats from a seating plan (after the booking has been made).

The ticketing terms

Also worth knowing is that when travelling by Eurostar you can choose between three classes of service, but it isn't possible to select different types of ticket.

If you book Standard or Standard Premier tickets, you can exchange them if need be, to an alternative departure on your booked route; but if you want to transfer your ticket to a new departure less than 7 days before your travel date, you will need to pay an admin fee of £30 for Standard Class tickets, £40 for Standard Premier tickets PLUS the price difference with the new ticket you will be booking.
What's new, in response to the pandemic, is that these £30/40 charges aren't applied if you want to transfer to an alternative departure more than seven days before your travel date.

Business Premier tickets are less restrictive, they can't be refunded, but they can be exchanged to alternative departures without paying the admin fee, or the price difference.
Business Premier tickets can also be exchanged to the alternative journey options with a connection in Bruxelles, but if you booked Standard or Standard Premier tickets, they can only be exchanged to alternative direct trains.

Eurostar's full ticket terms and conditions are here

Using Eurail and InterRail Passes:

If you will be travelling with a Eurail or InterRail 'Global Pass' you will need to book a rail pass reservation to travel by these trains.

You can purchase these online with no booking fees via B-Europe - or they ARE now available on the Eurostar website.
Booking in advance is recommended as it's not unknown for rail pass reservations on Eurostar services to sell out days or weeks in advance, here is evidently limited availability per departure.

It is worth targeting these direct Eurostar services from London to Rotterdam, the reservation fees of, from €35 if you will be using a 2nd class pass and from €43 if you will be using a First Class pass, are similarly priced as the London to Bruxelles journey.

So by taking these direct trains with a Eurail or InterRail pass, you will;

• save money compared to the alternative journey option of taking a Eurostar from London to Bruxelles and then a Thalys train to Rotterdam from Bruxelles
• save time compared to taking a Eurostar to Bruxelles and then an IC train from Bruxelles to Rotterdam

If you are a UK resident, worth knowing is your rail pass + reservation will only be valid if you take a from the UK on the first day that you will be using your pass.
You cannot use an InterRail Pass to return to the UK by another route and then travel between the UK and Rotterdam.

On the current, temporarily reduced timetable, if you will be travelling on Mondays to Saturdays, taking the direct train, which calls in Bruxelles) is the most viable option for making the rail journey from London to Rotterdam.

Only two other trains from London to Bruxelles are currently available.
The train which departs London at 08:55 does not have a good connection into a Thalys train on to Rotterdam.
Instead it has a 40 min connection into a non-high speed IC train on to Rotterdam that is sue to arrive there at less than 35 mins before the direct train

The Eurostar which departs London at 18:04 only has a good connection into a Thalys train on Sundays, when a 30 min connection is available into the 21:52 Thalys departure on to Rotterdam

Book Early And Save: Yes

Bookings Open: 120 days ahead of the travel date

Eurostar sell tickets for journeys at the cheapest possible for the complete London to Rotterdam high speed train journey; the Eurostar from London to Bruxelles Midi/Zuid AND the Thalys train on to Rotterdam.

A big plus of booking the Eurostar direct on Eurostar.com is that you can access a 'Manage Your Booking' facility - which enables you to change the seat that you will have been initially assigned when making a booking.

In the unlikely event of missing the booked connection in Bruxelles/Brussels, due to a late arriving Eurostar, tickets can be transferred free of charge to a subsequent Thalys departure at the SNCB International Ticket Office in Bruxelles-Midi station.