Expert tips to save money on UK-France train travel – and what to do if you’re delayed

I always dreaded this moment. Arriving at the station for the first leg of a cross-Channel train journey, involving three trains, to find the first train has been delayed.

First there’s false hope. Maybe if I sprint through Paris Metro I’ll make it to Gare du Nord before the Eurostar check-in closes? Even false hope quickly evaporated as my already delayed train ground to a halt in the midst of the French countryside, to be overtaken by a cow. I scanned the Eurostar app for later trains, all over £200 one-way.

When I moved to France in 2021, I made the decision that I wouldn’t fly between France and the UK. So as not to bankrupt myself, I’ve picked up plenty of tricks.

Advance planning is key. Eurostar has a sale roughly every three months. If you download their app, you’ll be notified as soon as tickets go on sale (the current sale ends on 9 January). Sale fares between London and Paris are just £35 one-way. If Paris isn’t your final destination, always check fares between London and Lille. It’s often cheaper to get a connecting train from Lille than from Paris.

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If you’re planning multiple trips to France during the year, buy a railcard (€49/£41). Unlike in the UK, French railcards aren’t age restricted, and you don’t even have to have a French address. You typically save a third on fares.

UK trains are often my biggest budget buster, so if it’s looking too expensive, I break the journey into dozens of tickets and stages via SplitMyFare.

Back to being overtaken by a cow. Eurostar has a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ with several European railway companies, which means that if one leg of your journey is delayed, Eurostar or the domestic rail company are obliged to get you on the next available train. All you need is a slip of paper filled out by the train manager of the delayed service, like a school late note.

I put it to the test to see if it worked in practice. The guard on board my delayed Lyon-Paris train was confused and told me I didn’t need a signed document, but I persisted and was directed to the SNCF office at Paris Gare de Lyon. Cue more confusion, and more persistence on my part — it seemed customers rarely took advantage of the gentlemen’s agreement. Nonetheless, a few minutes later I was in possession of a scrap of paper, stamped by the SNCF. I presented it to the Eurostar ticketing staff, who in the space of under five minutes had swapped it for a brand new ticket on the next train heading to London, free of charge. Easy.

The stipulations: your connection on the continent has to be with one of the Railteam partnering companies – you’ll find them listed here – which rules out cut-price services such as Ouigo. Although there’s no name for the agreement with UK rail companies, a spokesperson for Eurostar said that all UK train companies are covered by a similar accord. Make sure you get the late note though – I’m not convinced that the transition would have been so smooth without it.

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