Eurostar Snap - do you know this hack to get cheap trains across the Channel?

The Eurostar makes travel between France and the UK that little bit simpler; it helps cross-channel families feel closer and the journey slightly more manageable. 

However, the downfall can be that it usually isn’t cheap, making the fairly straightforward journey more inaccessible, especially when Ryanair and EasyJet fly all over the country. 

Eurostar Snap is a great way to save some money if you don’t mind a bit of last minute planning, and all it requires is that you can be slightly flexible with your date and time of travel. 

How it works 

You can book from up to 14 days before your trip right up to the day before through the Eurostar Snap website.

You pick your day and preferred time slot for travel – between 7:00-13:00 or 13:00-20:00, and you can invite up to three friends to join the booking. Tickets can be up to 50% cheaper than the standard price. 

Eurostar then picks your train for you within this selected time slot.

You will be sent your train details 48 hours before you travel, giving you plenty of time to get yourself ready. 

Looking on the website, it is possible to book a one-way ticket for the following day between London and Paris for £50. Meanwhile, a standard one-way ticket for the next day in August was around £190. 

And as well as being cheap, it still allows you to earn Club Eurostar points, which can be saved up to get a free ticket. 

The service is available both ways between the following cities:

• Paris and Brussels

• Paris and Amsterdam

• Paris and Rotterdam

• Paris and Cologne

• London and Brussels

• London and Paris 

• London and Lille

• London and Amsterdam

• London and Rotterdam

There are a couple of things to note – you won’t get a seat selection which means you aren’t guaranteed to be able to sit with your friends, and tickets are non-exchangeable, non-refundable and non-transferable. 

Tickets also sell out fairly fast, especially in peak season, which can mean it’s a risk to wait until two weeks before, in case there aren’t any Snap tickets left, which could result in you paying last minute hiked prices. 

However, Eurostar Snap is an especially good option if you are looking to travel outside peak times, for example midweek. 

Eurostar could soon face competitors on the Eurotunnel route. After years of holding the monopoly, rival train companies will soon be allowed to operate on the tracks, with many suggesting they will offer much lower prices. 

Uber is among those proposing rival services, partnering with startup Gemini Trains.

Meanwhile, Eurostar itself also has plans to launch new London routes, with trains to Cologne, Geneva and Frankfurt in under six hours. 

This would require work at London St Pancreas to allow for an increase in services – there are currently around 17 aller-retours per day between London and Paris.