Flight-Free Routes to Europe
Travel from the UK to Europe by train, ferry or coach
It's now easier than ever to travel overland without flying from the UK to Ireland, mainland Europe and beyond!
Train travel: There is incredibly detailed information about worldwide train travel on Mark Smith's website seat61.com,
but if you're looking for information combining train travel and where to stay and eat en route, as well as places of interest and things to do on arrival, below is my step-by-step guide to popular holiday routes along with guides to over 50 destinations.
Given that all rail routes to Europe involve taking the Eurostar train from London, I have named most of these trips 'London to' but if you are travelling from outside London to connect with the Eurostar at London St Pancras, please see the box below for information on Travelling from outside London.
Ferry travel: See How to travel by ferry from the UK and
How to travel as a foot passenger from the UK to Europe.
If you'd like to book an overland journey in the UK & Europe
combined with accommodation, the ABTA-bonded travel agency Byway can help, head over to their enquiry form.
Eurostar is the gateway to Europe's high speed train network.
All departures leave from the magnificent St Pancras International Railway Station in central London (adjacent to Kings Cross).
Photo: John Adrian/Eurostar
Plan and book overland train and ferry journeys to cities in Europe:
Under 5 hours from London
London to Amsterdam
London to Brussels
London to Cologne
London to Ghent
London to Lille
London to Lyon
London to Paris
London to Utrecht
Require overnight stopover from UK
London to Copenhagen
London to Florence
London to Gothenburg
London to Lisbon
London to Naples
London to Rome
London to Sicily
London to Venice
Train + Ferry
London to Corsica
London to Ibiza
London to Formentera
Overnight ferry from London
Portsmouth/Plymouth to Santander, Northern Spain
Travelling from the UK to Europe
by train, ferry or coach
Arrive same day by train from London
London to Antwerp
London to Avignon
London to Barcelona
London to Basel
London to Bayonne
London to Bordeaux
London to Brive
London to Geneva
London to Hamburg
London to Interlaken
London to Lausanne
London to Marseille
London to Munich
London to Nantes
London to Milan
London to Nice
London to Toulouse
London to Turin
London to Valence
London to Zürich
Winter Trains to the French Alps
Connecting with Eurostar
It's not particularly well known, but Eurostar has negotiated with rail companies throughout the UK so that you can buy a train ticket to get you to London to connect seamlessly with your Eurostar departure.
There are two kinds of tickets:
1. Through-fare ticket: when you initially buy your Eurostar ticket from Eurostar, you can also purchase your train ticket to London as a 'through-fare' ticket, which combines the price of the UK journey and the Eurostar ticket to Paris, Lille, Brussels (or in fact anywhere in Belgium). For instance, you could buy a train ticket from Manchester to Paris or Newcastle to Brussels. These tickets are available as long as you book less than 3 months before travel. If you need to change station in London to get to St Pancras, your National Rail tickets will be valid for transfers on the London Underground, plus all changes between trains are synchronised so that there are minimal transfer times.
2. Add-on ticket: this is useful if you've already purchased a Eurostar ticket but haven't yet bought your train ticket to London as part of the through-fare ticket scheme (above) OR if you want to book your UK train ticket more than 3 months in advance before travel (not available for the through-fare ticket). You can purchase the initial leg of the journey to London at your local train station (there are about 100 stations in the UK where you can do this). Just take your Eurostar ticket with you to the station and ask to buy
the 'add-on' ticket to take the train to London to catch that Eurostar. The reason why it is worth buying this Eurostar 'Add-on' ticket is that they'll give you what's known as a ticket to 'London CIV', which means that should your train to London be delayed and you miss the Eurostar connection, you can jump on the next available Eurostar. In practice, Eurostar will probably put you on the next available Eurostar anyway, but with this 'Add-on' ticket it is guaranteed.
Photos: RailEurope, Brittany Ferries, Cologne Tourism, Discover Ferries
Please note the information given on the links from this page may be currently different due to ongoing changes to the network. Travel times and journeys may be temporarily altered so you are advised to check with the relevant travel operators before you book and travel.
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