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If you're feeling spontaneous and love to travel, you might want to consider booking Eurostar's Snap. These are train fares 'reduced up to 50%' if you're willing to book a last-minute journey – the only catch is that you won't find out your train's departure time until 48 hours beforehand.
You can specify both a travel date and destination, but Eurostar will allocate you a train time based on unsold seats. It told us the number of Snap fares available will vary depending on how full the trains are as it aims to optimise seat capacity.
Warning: These fares are non-refundable, non-exchangeable, non-transferable, and non-cancellable – so if you cannot make the time Eurostar books your train for, you will not get your money back. Snap fares are a good way of getting cheap train tickets if you can be totally flexible and willing to travel at short notice. See full Ts&Cs.
Eurostar told us that bookings can be made two weeks in advance for travel to and from London, and up to eight days ahead for other routes. The latest you can book a Snap fare is the day before departure.
When we checked and compared fare prices to Paris for five day's time, the standard fare on Eurostar's website displayed a price of £97 as the lowest fare option. Comparatively, via Snap, this fare was £40, see image below.
Eurostar wouldn't tell us what the lowest possible discount would be as the exact saving varies depending on availability and demand at the time of booking. Ultimately, this is a bit of a 'no risk, no reward' travel hack as you won't be able to get your money back once you've booked. You'll need to weigh up if a cheap fare is worth a time you may not like to travel during, especially if you live further away from London and need to factor in getting to St Pancras station.
Return journey include:
Paris and Brussels
Paris and Amsterdam
Paris and Cologne
London and Brussels
London and Paris
Or you can travel one way between London and Amsterdam.
As ever with travel deals, the best way to make your money go further is to be flexible. Of course, it may incur more costs and be slightly more risky to book a hotel last-minute, so it's worth having a few options for accommodation to book in case there's no availability or researching a neighbourhood you'd like to stay in beforehand. That said, sometimes you can also bag hotels at a cheaper price if you book last-minute, so it's a bit of a luck game.
Alternatively, if you're lucky enough to stay have friends and family living at your chosen destination, this could be another safe bet to secure yourself somewhere to stay.
How to book:
Visit snap.eurostar.com to select a travel date and destination.
You can book up to four people, although there’s no guarantee you’ll all be seated together.
Eurostar then allocates the train times for the chosen date.
48 hours before departure, Eurostar will confirm the train details.
See our Cheap train tickets guide for more ways to save.
Eurostar has launched a sale with fares for £35 one-way, meaning you can get £70 return tickets to Paris, Lille, Brussels, Amsterdam and Rotterdam from London St Pancras International – the cheapest price for Eurostar fares direct. The sale ends at 10.59pm on Thursday 9 January, but it's best to do it ASAP as the cheapest fares often sell out fast.
The £35 one-way fares are for travel from:
Tuesday 14 January to Thursday 3 April for Paris, Brussels and Lille
Tuesday 14 January to Friday 28 March from London to Amsterdam or Rotterdam
Monday 10 February to Friday 28 March from Amsterdam or Rotterdam to London
Tickets depend on availability, and some dates are excluded – see 'More info' below. Plus, we've a code to bag a return journey from £65 – or book via Uber and you'll get 10% credit back. Here are your booking options:
TrainPal offers tickets slightly cheaper than Eurostar direct, and when you sign up or log in to Trainpal* and enter the code MSE35JAN at the checkout, you can make an additional saving. If you're new to TrainPal you'll get an additional 5% off with this code, making the cheapest return journey currently £64.67. If you've already got an account with it, you'll get an extra 2% off via the same code, making the cheapest return currently £66.71.
To find the cheap fares, you'll need to enter your destination (Paris, Lille, Amsterdam, Rotterdam or Brussels) and search for a return journey – you won't see the extra cheap fares if you search for one-way only. There are no fees when booking via TrainPal and you'll receive digital tickets (same as booking direct).
When registering with TrainPal, you might receive an email from sister brand Trip.com too. Don't worry, this won't sign you up to Trip.com – TrainPal also uses the Trip.com email domain when sending emails to its users.
You can also book train tickets, including Eurostar, via Uber and get 10% back in Uber credit. There's no booking fee here either. The Uber credit will appear within 60 days of completing your journey, and it'll be valid for a further 180 days – it can be used on a future train or taxi booking, or Uber Eats order. This could be a good option if you regularly use the Uber app for travelling as you're essentially getting cashback to use towards your next journey.
Head to the Eurostar website. You'll need to book a return journey to get the cheapest £35 tickets, as they're not available on single journeys.
Eurostar wouldn't tell us how many fares are at £35, but when we checked on Friday 3 January there were a good amount of £35 seats across both weekdays and weekends too, so it's possible to secure cheap seats for a long weekend. Return ticket prices usually range from £39 to £339, and the cheapest of these tend to be very limited, mostly off-peak and need to be booked well in advance, so we reckon this is a good deal given we could find plenty of £35 fares.
The £35 seats are randomly spread across all included dates on both peak and off-peak trains, so it could be trial and error finding the cheap seats. Keep in mind you'll have a better chance of snagging a cheap fare if you're flexible on your travel times and dates.
See our Cheap train tickets guide for more ways to save.
There's a maximum of nine people per booking, and tickets can't be refunded.
If booking via TrainPal, you'll be given 'e-tickets' which you can access on your phone. Similarly, if buying directly from Eurostar, you can download your tickets via the Eurostar app or at Eurostar.com. Alternatively, if booking via Eurostar you can choose to collect tickets from the Eurostar terminal or print them at home by selecting the ‘Manage your booking’ tab.
Children aged under four years old travel for free, but they’ll have to sit on your lap.
Excluded dates:
London to Paris: Friday 17 January, Sunday 19 January, Friday 24 January, Sunday 26 January, Friday 14 February, Saturday 15 February, Sunday 2 March
Paris to London: Friday 7 February, Saturday 8 February, Saturday 22 February, Sunday 23 February
London to Brussels/Lille: Friday 17 January, Sunday 19 January, Sunday 26 January, Sunday 2 February, Friday 14 February, Saturday 15 February, Sunday 9 March
Brussels/Lille to London: Friday 21 February, Saturday 22 February, Sunday 23 February
London to Rotterdam/Amsterdam: Friday 17 January, Friday 24 January, Friday 7 February, Saturday 8 February, Friday 14 February, Saturday 15 February, Sunday 23 February, Wednesday 12 March, Thursday 13 March, Friday 14 March, Monday 17 March, Tuesday 18 March, Wednesday 19 March, Thursday 20 March, Friday 21 March
Rotterdam/Amsterdam to London: Friday 21 February, Saturday 22 February, Sunday 23 February
Due to engineering work, trains will not operate on the following dates:
London to Rotterdam/Amsterdam: Sunday 2 March, Saturday 8 March, Sunday 9 March, Saturday 15 March, Sunday 16 March, Sunday 23 March
Rotterdam/Amsterdam to London: Sunday 2 March, Saturday 8 March, Sunday 9 March, Saturday 15 March, Sunday 16 March, Sunday 23 March
Eurostar is celebrating its 30th birthday by offering 30% off all its fares from London St Pancras International to Paris, Brussels, Lille, Amsterdam and Rotterdam. This means you can get its cheapest fare from £27 one-way, or from £54 return booking directly with Eurostar. To save even more, we've a code to get an extra 5% off for TrainPal newbies – so you could bag a return journey from £50.70. Alternatively, you could book via Uber and get 10% credit back.
The deal is for travel from Tuesday 26 November to Thursday 13 February 2025, depending on availability (though some dates are excluded, see 'More info' below).
You'll need to book by 10.59pm on Thursday 14 November, but it's best to do it ASAP as the cheapest fares often sell out fast. Here are your booking options:
Sign up or log in to TrainPal*, and enter the code EURO30 at the checkout. If you're new to TrainPal you'll get an extra 5% off with this code, making the cheapest return journey £50.70. If you've already got an account with it, you'll get an extra 2% off via the same code, making the cheapest return £53.04.
TrainPal told us you can use the discount code once per account and it's valid for 90 days once redeemed. The code is active until Tuesday 31 December, so even if you decide not to use the code for Eurostar tickets, you can still use it on a different journey booked via TrainPal, even if it's a train departing to and from a UK destination (it doesn't have to be used for a Eurostar journey despite what the discount code may suggest). There are no fees when booking via TrainPal and you'll receive digital tickets (same as booking direct).
When registering with TrainPal, you might receive an email from sister brand Trip.com too. Don't worry, this won't sign you up to Trip.com – TrainPal also uses the Trip.com email domain when sending emails to its users.
You can also book train tickets, including Eurostar, via Uber and get 10% back in Uber credit. There's no booking fee here either. The Uber credit will appear within 60 days of completing your journey, and it'll be valid for a further 180 days – it can be used on a future train or taxi booking, or Uber Eats order. This could be a good option if you regularly use the Uber app for travelling as you're essentially getting cashback to use towards your next journey.
Head to the Eurostar website, where the 30% discount will be automatically applied to all adult fares (there's no discount code needed).
Eurostar ran an offer in September for one-way fares at £35, so with the possibility of £27 one-way fares here, this is the cheapest you've been able to get Eurostar tickets for a while, though of course finding the cheapest fares can be hit or miss. You can use Eurostar's 'find lowest fares' tool to check when's cheapest to travel.
Return ticket prices usually range from £39 to £339, and the cheapest of these tend to be very limited, mostly off-peak and need to be booked well in advance. When we checked on Tuesday 12 November, we spotted a decent amount of the cheapest £27 fares, though as ever with travel deals, it's best to be flexible with dates to get the best price.
See our Cheap train tickets guide for more ways to save.
There's a maximum of nine people per booking, and tickets can't be refunded.
If booking via TrainPal, you'll be given 'e-tickets' which you can access on your phone. Similarly, if buying directly from Eurostar, you can download your tickets via the Eurostar app or at Eurostar.com. Alternatively, if booking via Eurostar you can choose to collect tickets from the Eurostar terminal or print them at home by selecting the ‘Manage your booking’ tab. You must check in at least 45-60 minutes before your departure.
Children aged under four years old travel for free, but they’ll have to sit on your lap.
Excluded dates:
Cross channel (routes that cross the English Channel, connecting the UK with Europe): Friday 29 November, Saturday 30 November, Sunday 1 December, Saturday 21 December, Monday 23 December, Thursday 26 December, Friday 27 December, Monday 30 December, Saturday 8 February, Sunday 9 February.
Continental (routes that operate within mainland Europe and do not involve crossing the English Channel): Sunday 1 December, Friday 6 December, Sunday 8 December, Saturday 21 December, Tuesday 24 December, Saturday 28 December, Monday 30 December, Wednesday 1 January, Thursday 2 January, Saturday 4 January, Sunday 5 January, Saturday 11 January.
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14 January 2025
