City breaks to Amsterdam just got a whole lot easier…
Eurostar have announced that they will launch their first direct service between London and Amsterdam on the 4th April 2018. The journey will take just three hours and 41minutes to leave from London St Pancras station and go directly to the Dutch City.
There will be two daily trains and the price for a one-way ticket will be just £35 and are due to go on sale on the 20th February 2018.
With over 4 million passengers flying to Amsterdam from London each year, it has quickly become one of the busiest European flight routes.
The new Eurostar route was announced back in September 2013 but due to of delays within immigration and passport control they weren’t able to go ahead until now, however this does also mean a direct return service will not be in place until the end of next year. The current return journey will involve a stop in Brussels where passengers will undergo relevant security checks and continue the rest of the route on another train – adding an hour to the journey.
Despite the hiccups, the launch of a new rail service is great news for people who have trouble flying or simply dread the queues at check in and the baggage lounge!
Passengers who are planning to take on this new form of travel to Amsterdam should check that they are covered for a ‘connecting journey’. Similar to a connecting flight (i.e. you leave the UK, change aircraft in Dubai and continue your journey to Australia), there are only a few policies which will offer to cover this part of the journey as standard. Without this cover, if you were to be delayed on your return journey from Amsterdam to Brussels and miss your connection to the UK you could be left out of pocket if you need to pay for alternative transport.