Eurostar London to Amsterdam direct trains on sale this week. Get two return tickets in our giveaway.

Great news! Eurostar have announced the start date for their highly anticipated direct service from London to the Netherlands as Wednesday 4th April 2018. Tickets can be purchased on their website from Thursday - 22nd February 2018, but you could get a pair of return tickets for free in our Eurostar giveaway.

Direct trains between London and Amsterdam have been a long time coming since Eurostar initially proposed the idea back in 2009. And excitement has continually increased ever since. Imagine catching a train in Central London, and in less than four hours enjoying a stroopwafel coffee in a Dutch canalside cafe!

Here are the main details:

• Where from and to? London St Pancras International to Rotterdam & then on to Amsterdam Centraal.
  
• How long will the journey take? 3hrs 1min to Rotterdam, or 3hrs 41mins to Amsterdam.
  
• How many trains will be running a day? Two from St Pancras International: at 08:31 and 17:31.
  
• How much will it cost? Tickets start from £35 one-way

Are there any downsides? Yes: at present only the London to Netherlands leg of the journey is direct. On the return journey you'll have to change at Brussels-Midi/Zuid Station. This means catching a 'Thalys' train from Amsterdam or Rotterdam, getting off at Brussels, going through security and passport control, and then catching the next Eurostar train from Brussels to London St Pancras. The reason is due to facilities for immigration and customs checks not yet being installed at either Amsterdam or Rotterdam. Eurostar have firmly stated this is only a temporary procedure, "The UK and Netherlands governments are both working hard to find an agreement that will allow us to check travellers’ passports before departure from the Netherlands, as we already do in most of our other destinations." Agreement is likely to be reached by the end of 2019.

There are up to ten trains a day from Brussels-Midi/Zuid to London, with a journey time of just over two hours.

And, on Amsterdam-bound trains journey times from London St Pancras to Brussels have been cut by 17 minutes, arriving in a new record time of 1hr 48mins.

Eurostar have announced an intention for future direct services to European destinations including Frankfurt, Cologne and Geneva.

Reminder: Enter our Eurostar competition here to win two return tickets to Amsterdam!