How to take a thrilling high speed rail journey from London to Den Haag / The Hague

This easiest option for a London to Den Haag/ The Hague journey by train, is available when departing London at:

• 06:16 on Monday to Friday
• 08:16 daily
• 11:04 daily
• 18:04 not Saturday

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.

Connecting in Rotterdam

The journey options with an end-to-end timing of around 4hr 10mins allow around 35 mins to make the transfer between trains at Rotterdam Centraal station - which seems generous as there are typically 4 x trains per hour between Rotterdam and Den Haag Centraal.

Around 25 mins after the Eurostar should arrive, there will typically be an IC train departing to Den Haag Centraal.
However, the connection shown on NS International is into a 'Sprinter' train - but not only is a slightly slower than the IC train - it is also 2nd class only.
If you've booked 1st class you'll probably want to take the IC train.

Though it doesn't particularly matter which train you opt to take, the tickets for the part of the journey between Rotterdam and Den Haag won't be train specific - so you can use them on any train on from Rotterdam.

Book online and save: Yes

Online bookings open: 6 months ahead of the travel date (usually)

The end-to-end journey from London to Den Haag / The Hague can be booked on NS International - NS is the national rail operator of trains in The Netherlands.
When looking up this journey on NS International you will need to enter 'Den Haag' in the 'To' search box.

If you miss the booked connection in Rotterdam you can simply hop on the next train to Den Haag, because seat reservations are not available on Dutch trains.

Eurostar ticket terms summary:

The only ticket type are the Flexible tickets, but it is the class of service you opt to travel by, which impacts on the terms and conditions of travel.

*Exchanges

Book to travel in Standard and Standard Premier class:
The booked date and time can be exchanged to a different departure to the same destination up to one hour* before departure time.

• If the cost of your new ticket is more than the cost of your original ticket, you will be required to pay the difference;
• If the cost of your new ticket is less than the cost of your original ticket, you will not receive a refund of the difference.

Book to travel in Premier class:
The booked date and time can be exchanged to a different departure up until the end of the previous day, without having to pay any price differences on any other charges.

The Eurostar ticket terms summary is here

Refunds

Book to travel in Standard and Standard Premier class:

• Up to seven days or more before the date of departure you will need to pay a fee of £25 per person for a one-way / single ticket and £50 per person for a two-way / return ticket - So you will only receive any sum you paid in excess of these sums.
• Less than seven days before the date of departure, tickets are non-refundable - Also applies if you exchanged a ticket to an alternative departure, under seven days ahead.

Book to travel in Premier class:
Up until the end of the day before departure date, tickets can be refunded at no additional cost

Seat Reservations on the Eurostar

Reservations are mandatory so seats are assigned when booking - But after a booking has been completed, you use the ‘Manage Your Booking’ facility, which can be easily found on the Eurostar website and select specific seats within the travel class you have chosen.

You will need to enter a Booking Reference number - but other booking agents such as Trainline, Rail Europe, SNCF Connect, B-Europe and NS International, will also include this number on the communication sent to you.