Eurostar London-Amsterdam Review

[Note: Service frequency is reduced at weekends; Amsterdam is 1 hour ahead of London time]

London-Amsterdam Eurostar trip

We made the journey between London and Amsterdam by Standard Premier class in October 2018 on the evening departure. We paid our own way, €102 one-way for the trip. You can book the trip at the NS International site

The Eurostar to Amsterdam departs from its terminal at the beautiful London St Pancras station. This is located in the north of London next to Kings Cross station and a short walk from Euston station. You can arrive by tube via any of the Northern, Victoria, Piccadilly, Circle, Hammersmith & City or Metropolitan lines.

Also see how to travel Amsterdam to London for more options on travel between the cities.

The public area inside the station contains quite a decent range of shops, cafés and restaurants. Upstairs you will find the longest champagne bar in Europe, the Betjeman Statue, the famous Dent clock and Paul Day’s 9m tall statue of an embracing couple known as “The Lovers”.

There are 3 classes of travel on the Eurostar:

Standard Class – This is effectively 2nd class with the normal 2-2 configuration seating, seat pitch of approximately 32.5″ (82.5cm) and food/drink available for purchase at the Café Métropole bar buffet car. One-way fares for London-Amsterdam start from £39 or €44.

Standard Premier – A first class “lite” product using dedicated carriages with 1-2 configuration and seat pitch of approximately 37″ (94.5cm). A complimentary light meal and drinks are served at your seat and a selection of magazines is available. One-way fares for London-Amsterdam start from £89 or €96.

Business Premier – A flexible fare business product using dedicated carriages with similar 1-2 config and seat pitch as Standard Premier. A full 3 course meal with drinks including champagne is served at your seat (culinary director is currently Raymond Blanc), plus newspapers and magazines are available. At the main Eurostar stations you get fast-track check-in and a business lounge which has free refreshments and WiFi.

Business Premier ticket prices are by no means cheap, priced from around £260 or €299 one-way.

Eurostar check in time (2023)

Eurostar requests that Standard/Standard Premier passengers arrive at London St Pancras 90 minutes prior to departure. Business Premier passengers should arrive 45-60 minutes before departure.

At Amsterdam and Rotterdam, Eurostar recommends arriving 60-90 minutes for Standard/Standard Premier passengers and 30-45 minutes for Business Premier passengers.

At London St Pancras you need queue to go through a check-in gate (where you simply scan or insert your ticket) and then there is an immediate security check of your luggage. This is followed by a UK exit check and then French border control.

You are then in the main departures lounge area which is used by all Eurostar passengers going to Amsterdam, Paris and Brussels. This area has a newsagent, a bar and café. Free WiFi is available.

Boarding is called about 20 minutes before departure and you go up the escalators to the platform. Check your boarding pass for the coach number as there are different escalators for coaches 1-5 and 6-18.

On the E320 trains, business/standard premier coaches are located at 1-3 and 14-16, with standard class carriages 4-13. The bar buffet is found in coach 8 and 9.

Once onboard the train you can place large cases in the luggage racks near the doors. Otherwise there are overhead racks for medium and smaller bags. Standard Premier class has magazines available for reading (such as Time, The Economist, Wired etc) but no newspapers.

There are UK and Euro power points available on all seats on the E320 trains. USB sockets are also available in Standard Premier/Business Premier seats.

The carriage filled up and shortly after the doors were closed and the train departed. We were soon up-to-speed, passing through Ebsfleet station and out of London towards the Channel tunnel. In terms of scenery, probably the highlight of the Eurostar trip on the UK side is crossing the viaduct over the river Medway near Rochester.

In Standard Premier, morning services before 11am get a light continental style breakfast (pastries, yoghurt and juice) with coffee or tea, served about 25 minutes into the journey. If you travel after 11am you will get a (cold) light meal with the option of soft drinks, wine or beer plus tea and coffee. If you have dietary requirements you can pre-order a special meal via the online booking portal.

To be fair, the food offering used to be a lot better when Standard Premier was known as Leisure Select a few years back.

Continuing the journey, the train slows down for the 50km channel tunnel section which takes about 20 minutes. It then speeds up again on the French side for the high speed run to Brussels Zuid/Midi.

After a short stop, the train continues through Belgium (standard track) and speeds up again after passing Antwerp. The final leg of the trip is on the Dutch high speed track and the train makes a stop at Rotterdam before finally terminating at Amsterdam Central station.

Overall, travel on the Eurostar is highly recommended with its city centre to city centre convenience. Standard Premier class is a comfortable and civilised way to travel in a quiet cabin and will make a good start/end to your trip.

For further info see our guide international trains to/from Amsterdam

How To Book Eurostar Tickets

You can check timetables, prices and make bookings for Eurostar and other international train services at the NS International site

Note, because of border control processing limitations there are some capacity constraints on Eurostar train services – meaning not all seats can be sold. This has kept prices firmer, so you should try to book well in advance to secure the lowest available fares.

We originally published a Eurostar trip report in 2011. Information has been continuously updated and the last trip was made in October 2018. This article was last updated 14 March 2023.

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