Other than Eurostar, are there any sub-4-hour options to get between London and Lille (without a car)?
If booked in far enough in advance (where "enough" varies depending on the popularity of the train), it's possible to get a return between London and Lille on the Eurostar for £69 or €88 (depending on which site you book from). For a popular train at the last minute, a one-way non-flexible standard class ticket can cost you £140!
For those looking for the cheapest alternative, we've got the existing question Is there some other train than Eurostar to go from Lille to London? However, most of those suggestions take rather a lot longer than the Eurostar, and probably too long for me.
Are there any other options which deliver a sub-4-hour journey that could be considered for times when the Eurostar is very expensive or sold out, for those without a car? Perhaps some combination involving a plane from a nearby airport, and train or bus to/from there? Or maybe some sort of train+bus combination, or perhaps some sort of train+Eurostar combination to dip from a different fares pool?
Best Answer
It would be a tight squeeze, but depending on where you're starting in London, there's one theoretical alternative: flying via Paris. For example:
- Catch flight AF1981 from Heathrow at 12:15 PM, arriving Paris-CDG terminal 2E at 2:35 PM (1:35 PM London time).
- Catch the TGV Est 5425 at 3:07 PM from Aeroport-CDG (directly under T2), arriving in Lille at 4:01 PM (3:01 London time).
Total time 2 hours 46 minutes! However, this starts from the gate at Heathrow, which isn't exactly realistic; but the remaining 1:14 should be... well, not exactly plenty, but sufficient to get you from central London to your gate. You might even want to allocate a bit more transit time at CDG, which is currently the rather tight but doable 32 minutes.
Brussels would be the other option, but even though it's slightly closer geographically, it's handicapped by the lack of a direct airport-to-TGV connection, making it slower in practice. Rotterdam is even worse, >2 hours away with 3 transfers. Lille has no flights at all from anywhere in the UK.
Edit: Note time difference between UK and France.
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Is there a direct train from London to Lille?
There are 5 direct trains from London to Lille each day.How do I get from London to Lille?
Eurostar operates a train from London St Pancras Intl to Lille Europe 5 times a day. Tickets cost \u20ac85 - \u20ac340 and the journey takes 1h 26m. Alternatively, Blablabus operates a bus from London - Victoria Coach Station to Lille every 4 hours. Tickets cost \u20ac12 - \u20ac15 and the journey takes 6h 15m.How long does it take to get from London to Lille?
Take the train to Lille Leave from the centre of London with Eurostar and arrive into the centre of Lille in just 1hr 22mins. Choose the time and travel class to suit you and your budget.Is there a direct train from London to France?
The Eurostar is the fastest, most direct way to travel from the UK to France. It takes as little as 2 hours and 22 minutes to travel the 212 miles (342 km) from London to Paris on the fastest services.5 steps to travel on the Eurostar 🚄 London to Paris
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Answer 2
IDBus runs coaches from London to Lille. They take some time though, travel time is 5h40. But they are cheap. http://uk.idbus.com/ But this does look like the fastest alternative that does not involve flying or the Eurostar.
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