How to take a rail journey from London to Antwerp/Antwerpen

Antwerp/Antwerpen is one of the easiest locations to access when travelling from London to Europe by train.

Simply take the Eurostar to Bruxelles and then hop on one of the frequent trains from Bruxelles to Antwerpen.

(The journey time on the Eurostar website does not include the Bruxelles/Brussels to Antwerpen/Antwerp journey).

The variations in journey time on the other websites partially depend on the connecting time between the trains at Bruxelles Midi/Zuid station.
The quicker journey times are indicative of a connecting time between trains of around 20 minutes.
More information is available on the changing trains at Bruxelles-Midi station guide.

But tickets will be valid on any train between Bruxelles and Antwerpen; and there are a minimum of 4 x IC trains on from Bruxelles per hour.

At St Pancras:

Eurostar is currently suggesting that Standard Class And Standard Premier ticket holders should be at the Eurostar departure area in St Pancras International 90 mins before departure; and that Business Premier ticket holders should be there 45-60mins prior to departure.

The departure gates will close 30 mins prior to departure for Standard Class And Standard Premier ticket holders; and 15 mins prior to departure for Business Premier ticket holders.

Our guide to taking a Eurostar from London is here.

Note that London is in a different time zone to mainland Europe, it is one hour behind; hence what can seem like a discrepancy between the journey time and the interval between the departure and arrival times.

Eurostar sells 'Any Belgian Station' tickets that are valid for the Eurostar between London and Brussels/Bruxelles + the IC (Intercity) train from Brussels to Bruges/Brugge.

A big plus of the 'Any Belgian Station' ticket is that you can opt break up the journey and explore Brussels/Bruxelles between trains, without incurring additional charges.
You only have to take the train to Antwerpen / Antwerp train within 24 hours of arriving in Brussels.

So when looking up this journey on Eurostar, enter 'Any Belgian station' in the search box.

Book Early And Save: Yes

Online bookings open: up to 6 months ahead of the travel date
This booking period tends to be shorter when looking up journeys between mid August and mid October.

Seat reservations are automatically included when booking tickets on the Eurostar, but seat reservations are not available on the IC train on from Bruxelles.

Eurostar train's general ticket terms:

'Customers can exchange tickets for travel in Standard and Standard Premier class multiple times without paying an exchange fee, as long as tickets are exchanged 7 days or more before the departure time of their individual journey
Though if the new ticket option is more expensive the difference in price will need to be paid, but if it is cheaper the price difference won't be refunded.
But make the exchange within 7 days of the individual journey and an admin fee of £30 will need to be paid, along with the price difference
Tickets to travel in Standard and Standard Premier class are not refundable.
In contrast tickets to travel in Business Premier Class can be refunded and they can be exchanged to alternative departures without paying the admin fee, or the price difference'.
Eurostar's full ticket terms and conditions are here .

Using Rail Passes on Eurostar:

Rail pass users can now pay reservation fees to travel on Eurostar trains, in a similar manner to other international European high speed trains.

The new rail pass reservation fees are similar to the cheapest single journey ticket prices, but as those cheapest tickets can sell out quickly, it's likely that the rail pass reservation fees will save money.

You can purchase these online with no booking fees on B-Europe
Booking in advance is recommended as it's not unknown for rail pass reservations on specifc Eurostar services to sell weeks in advance, there is evidently limited availability per departure.

If you are a UK resident, your rail pass + reservation is only valid if you take a train from the UK on the first day that your pass is valid for and return to the UK on the final day that you will be using a pass