Ticketing to the Continent

[FozzQuaker]

Can tickets for Mainland Europe be booked and used from British Stations.

I am planning a jaunt away with the wife round the time I goto London and fancy a trip to Holland if I can find something affordable

Could I buy a through ticket from say, Darlington to Eindhoven and go via The Channel Tunnel and I guess, Brussels

 

[DavidGrain]

I do not think it is any longer possible to book European tickets through British stations but travel agents such as Thos Cook will do it for you or you can do it yourself online.

You will need to check this out if it is still possible as I have not done it for some time. Eurostar do through tickets to anywhere in the Netherlands probably cheaper than buying the separate tickets. Now that Eurostar run trains to Amsterdam this might make a difference to your plans. If you look at the Amsterdam Eurostar thread on this Forum you will see that although you can get a through train to Amsterdam from London you have to change at Brussels on the return.

Whilst I do not recommend Trainline, they do have a European tickets service so you can use their website to look at fares. My favourite train operator's website which covers western Europe is DB. I don't normally book UK tickets through Eurostar as in my opinion they make very tight connection times in London although if you are travelling from Darlington to Kings Cross this should not be too much of a problem.

 

[reb0118]

There is a dedicated Rail Sea Rail link from the UK to the Netherlands via the Stena ferry from Harwich Parkeston Quay to the Hoek van Holland. Through tickets are available from any Greater Anglia served station (inc. London Liverpool Street & Peterborough) to any station in the Netherlands. If beneficial you can use a ticket from your home station to London International CIV+ to connect with this.

https://www.stenaline.co.uk/ferry-to-holland/rail-and-sail

https://www.seat61.com/Netherlands.htm

 

[Starmill]

booking.eurostar.com does have some options on this.

I have attached a screenshot showing a remarkably reasonable price on Darlingotn to Amsterdam on Monday 14th May, £67.



Anyone know if Eurostar offer 'Any Dutch Station' tickets, as they do in Belgium? I couldn't get any Dutch stations to show except Rotterdam and Amsterdam.

Incidentally, a quick check on skyscanner reveals that for the same date, the cheapest flight from Durham Tees Valley to Amsterdam is £147 on KLM Cityhopper, or £174 from Newcastle on KLM. Not bad.

Alternatively there is a single from Darlington to London International CIV at £67. You can match this with a ticket from London Terminals to 'Any Dutch Station' priced between £55 and £69 as reb advises. I don't know for sure if these latter tickets can be booked at the ticket office - I think they can? The ticket office should be able to sell you the ticket to London International CIV.

 

[AlterEgo]

Not sure “Any Dutch Station” is available yet though Eurostar have confirmed their ambition to launch such a fare.

 

[Bletchleyite]

If you want to do it online I find loco2.com decent.

 

[DavidGrain]

I booked to Any Dutch Station about 10 years ago on Eurostar to go to Maastricht. The ticket actually came made out to Amsterdam. Guard on the train from Brussels to Maastricht commented that I was going the long way round.

As reb0118 has suggested above try booking to London International for the British leg of your journey, You might get a better fare.

 

[Llanigraham]

Ffestiniog Travel seem to be able to book, and provide an excellent service.
Plus you are helping to support a worthy railway coarse.

 

[30907]

A couple of additional comments:
1. Tickets to London International attract the standard Railcard discount, so a Two Together would pay for itself quickly.
You should be asked for your international ticket or booking reference, and any competent station can issue them
2. Dutchflyer is also valid from Peterborough, so I would consider Advance tickets Darlington - Peterborough and vv, allowing a bit of leeway on the return journey (though the night ferry is unlikely to be delayed). I would book them on the Stena website.

 

[FozzQuaker]

Is passports needed for Holland or can Photo ID be used, before BREXIT kicks in.

I went on a few booze cruises through the tunnel in the early 2000's, and more often than not there was very minimal customs checks, rarely checked leaving the country and only once or twice checked at Calais

 

[telstarbox]

Passport definitely required.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Is passports needed for Holland or can Photo ID be used, before BREXIT kicks in.

I went on a few booze cruises through the tunnel in the early 2000's, and more often than not there was very minimal customs checks, rarely checked leaving the country and only once or twice checked at Calais

A passport is always required to leave the UK and the Common Travel Area (RoI, Isle of Man etc) and re-enter, unless you have a current European national identity card.

 

[dutchflyer]

So, greetings from AMSterdam here then, I will use the direct new €* in 2 weeks coming bak from a UK-visit.
As for the ''any Dutch station'' this was reported here to be withdrawn and replaced by mentioning a specific name of station-thus only (as far as the rulesbooks goes) allowing the direct route- as many Brits were (mis)using the old version as a kind of day-rover. No idea if this still persists-NS-INTernational changes its mood about every 3-4 monthes.
Maastricht as mentioned was likely a specific case at the times when the direct IC BRU-Mstr ran-to belgian fares.
Traditional British main/highstreet travel agencies like ThCook do NOT sell INT railtickets since some 10-12 yrs by now. Even at times when there stll was the ThomasCookINternational printed timetable for nearly all mian EURO-trains. And that was even after ex-BR stopped selling them.
I would always first check with-of course- seat61- and follow his advice. If that turns out to complicated, specialist agencies or the online ones like loco2 are best. Maybe former DB=German Railways or the Swiss Travel centre can also do some help for trips to their home-turfs.

 

[AlterEgo]

So, greetings from AMSterdam here then, I will use the direct new €* in 2 weeks coming bak from a UK-visit.
As for the ''any Dutch station'' this was reported here to be withdrawn and replaced by mentioning a specific name of station-thus only (as far as the rulesbooks goes) allowing the direct route- as many Brits were (mis)using the old version as a kind of day-rover. No idea if this still persists-NS-INTernational changes its mood about every 3-4 monthes.
Maastricht as mentioned was likely a specific case at the times when the direct IC BRU-Mstr ran-to belgian fares.
Traditional British main/highstreet travel agencies like ThCook do NOT sell INT railtickets since some 10-12 yrs by now. Even at times when there stll was the ThomasCookINternational printed timetable for nearly all mian EURO-trains. And that was even after ex-BR stopped selling them.
I would always first check with-of course- seat61- and follow his advice. If that turns out to complicated, specialist agencies or the online ones like loco2 are best. Maybe former DB=German Railways or the Swiss Travel centre can also do some help for trips to their home-turfs.

Re: “Any Dutch Station” I was in conversation with a very authoritative source on the inaugural E* who said E* were still looking at incorporating such a fare.