Bristol (or Bedminster) to Paris and return Oct 2023

[DLJ]

Hi

Partner and I are looking at either of the following itineraries:

Sunday 22nd Oct: Bedminster -> Paddington
Monday 23rd Oct: St. Pancras -> Gare du Nord
Thursday 26th October afternoon: Gare du Nord -> Bedminster

Or

Sunday 22nd October: Bedminster -> Gare du Nord
Wednesday 25th October afternoon: Gare du Nord -> Bedminster

Best option I can see is for the first itinerary - a super-off peak return for the UK leg at £93.90 with Two Together Railcard (advances would save a couple of quid, but I think we'd rather have the flexibility), and £426.00 for Eurostar.

Booking via Raileurope gives broadly the same price (it's a few quid cheaper, but that's for a booked trains in the UK).

Any ideas for cheaper options? Flights are available for around half the cost, but we'd really prefer to go by train and have the stopover in London.

Thanks in advance

 

[Watershed]

For a similar price you could get much more flexibility and validity with an Interrail pass. The cheapest pass is valid for any chosen 4 days within a month, and costs £226 each (assuming you're both aged 28-59) when bought through Myinterrail.co.uk (run by ATOC, i.e. the UK industry body).

You'd need to add on €30 each, per direction, for Eurostar reservations - these are only available until the public fare reaches a certain threshold so for example on Mon 23rd you can get one for the 08:01, 10:31, 11:31, 12:31, 13:31, 14:31 etc. You can see reservation availability and book on the SNCB website here.

 

[30907]

For a similar price you could get much more flexibility and validity with an Interrail pass. The cheapest pass is valid for any chosen 4 days within a month, and costs £226 each (assuming you're both aged 28-59) when bought through Myinterrail.co.uk (run by ATOC, i.e. the UK industry body).

You'd need to add on €30 each, per direction, for Eurostar reservations - these are only available until the public fare reaches a certain threshold so for example on Mon 23rd you can get one for the 08:01, 10:31, 11:31, 12:31, 13:31, 14:31 etc. You can see reservation availability and book on the SNCB website here.

Though if you want the stopover in London, you have to pay Bedminster-London or back separately.
(You might get away with it on a paper interrail ticket, and I have had a report of a specialist company doing that, but that would up the price...)

 

[Watershed]

Though if you want the stopover in London, you have to pay Bedminster-London or back separately.
(You might get away with it on a paper interrail ticket, and I have had a report of a specialist company doing that, but that would up the price...)

The shortest Interrail Global pass is valid for 4 days, including 2 domestic days of validity. So an overnight stopover in London (in both directions) would be fine.

 

[mangyiscute]

The shortest Interrail Global pass is valid for 4 days, including 2 domestic days of validity. So an overnight stopover in London (in both directions) would be fine.

I'm pretty sure that the day you take the eurostar counts as one of the domestic days, since the eurostar service is at least partly within the UK - therefore, the two days of Eurostar travel would take up the domestic validity days, meaning that there wouldn't be any other domestic days left over.

 

[Thames99]

Would CIV tickets to and from London International be a cheaper option?

 

[mangyiscute]

Would CIV tickets to and from London International be a cheaper option?

These cost £66 each with the railcard added, compared to £46 each for a super off peak return, so it would only be worth it if op wants to travel during anytime (which might be necessary if doing the whole journey on one day, but then interrail passes would be the better option)

 

[30907]

I'm pretty sure that the day you take the eurostar counts as one of the domestic days, since the eurostar service is at least partly within the UK - therefore, the two days of Eurostar travel would take up the domestic validity days, meaning that there wouldn't be any other domestic days left over.

Indeed it does, which was my point.

 

[DLJ]

Many thanks all - we may re-schedule to next year when we have a little more time and interrail.

 

[Welby]

The Global InterRail is, in this case, 4 days travel in one month. The additional days for travelling in the UK are in addition to the pass, but must be taken within the overall validity of the pass. So in your case the pass must start on the 22nd and will show an expiry date of 21 Nov.

 

[Haywain]

The additional days for travelling in the UK are in addition to the pass,

I don't think that's right - I believe that the domestic travel is taken from the overall validity of the pass, so that it is 4 days in total, not 4 days outside GB and 2 days within GB.

 

[MrJeeves]

I don't think that's right - I believe that the domestic travel is taken from the overall validity of the pass, so that it is 4 days in total, not 4 days outside GB and 2 days within GB.

And you'd be correct

 

[Haywain]

And you'd be correct

Thanks - I haven't used Interrail (yet) and I'm still trying to get my head around how it all works!

 

[mangyiscute]

Yeah you get the number of days travel that it states on the pass, up to two of these days can include travel within your home country (officially for entering and leaving but you can use them whenever, it doesn't have to be at the start and end) and a train count as being on the day of validity as long as it is scheduled to depart before midnight CET at the end of that day (which means in theory if you have a pass say valid on a monday, you can't take a train at 23:30 in the UK since the day ends when it turns Midnight in western europe, however you'd most likely be fine) which is why sleepers are fine (if you board before midnight) but you cannot do onwards travel from a sleeper without another day of validity