I believe Eurostar reservations open 120 days before travel. For best fares avoid Fridays and Sundays, don't even look at PM services on those days! Also look at through fares which are a bit hit and miss. For a small supplement you can add onward Belgian travel to a London - Brussels Eurostar fare. And you can add travel from most British mainline stations to the British end of the journey which can be good value and gives you "connecting passenger" rights. But last time I looked at their website I couldn't get it to to do both!

Poperigne is about an hour and three quarters from Brussels but you can also change at Lille. It's one hour twenty from Lille Flandres station which is a short walk from Europe station where Eurostar call (through a shopping centre so timings can vary.....). Lille is closer to London so check connections, you could find it more convenient.

Can't help with Eurolines but in that case if they call at somewhere before Brussels, like Lille or Gent, it would be faster to get off there.

Thanks Steve,120 days is just under 6 months so it's only a few weeks until fares and times are released. Useful to find out that Lille- Poperinge is quicker than Brussles-Poperinge.

120 days is about 4 months...

As Eurostar needs 35mins to get from Lille to Brussels the saving on travelling time would be about 50 minutes BUT
you'd have to check how it fits connections - no point saving 50 minutes travelling if you're sat waiting for 55 minutes on a station. Also, I'd suspect the Eurostar "any station in Belgium" fare has to be via Brussels (but Lille is cheaper to start with). Coming back don't forget to allow time for the Eurostar checkin process on either route.

To check Belgium connections use http://www.b-rail.be/main/E/ and the station names Lille Flandres or Brussel-Zuid. The Belgiums run the trains out of Lille Flandres to Belgium but their website won't quote the price as it's international (the French rail website seems designed to make you buy a car!!)

According to Google Maps the walk between stations in Lille is 350 metres (about the length of a Eurostar train), I knew it didn't feel far when I did it.

Hi

Can anyone tell me if we need to submit API for the Eurostar?

No never been asked for it Corinne and I've travelled a few times by Eurostar .

Hi, used Eurostar as part of travelling by rail from London to Berlin this July and wasn't asked for API details by either Eurostar or DeutscheBahn. DB did ask for ages as part of the booking process but I think that this was because on their standard fares Seniors get an automatic price reduction. We weren't eligible for this but it did only cost us 49Euros each way from St Pancreas to Berlin so we weren't complaining!

SM

Hi both

Thanks for the info - very helpful!