I’m not sure whether you will be using the railpass for the portion of the ticket between Lille or Brussels and Amsterdam or not. Eurostar is not covered by any railpass, although you are eligible for a specially discounted “passholder fare” which you can usually beat with a little shopping. Look for leisure fares and other specials (both to Amsterdam and to Brussels for comparison — you may not want to use a day of the eurailpass) on www.eurostar.com Book any good prices as soon as you’re sure of the date. If you can’t find a special for the day you want to travel AND you are an adult, then look at buying a passholder fare ticket — it can be a good deal if you’re traveling at a popular time/day of the week/date. 1st class passholder fare is a nice splurge (a great deal compared to regular 1st class or business class tickets), but since the trip is only just over 2 hours, how much can a newspaper, an airline type meal and a bigger seat for 2 hours be worth?. If you qualify for youth fares (under 26) then passholder youth fare on Eurostar is almost exactly the same as regular youth fare, so not worth the trouble.

If you do end up using passholder fare, there are some issues you need to be aware of in advance — which I will describe if you post back that you can’t find a cheaper fare.

06:19 – London St Pancras 09:42 – Brussels Midi 02h23m(duration) Standard
Non flexible $85.00

a random search for September shows $85 for the cheapest ticket. So now I need to use the Eurail pass to travel from Brussels to Amsterdam?

What is a passholder fare? Is that something I need to buy separately? We’re both 29 years old so we don’t qualify for youth fares.

London to Amsterdam by ‘Dutch Flyer’ train & ferry: would you recommend this? it costs 59 euros per person, which is around $84. This would be cheaper than the eurostar train to brussel then use eurail pass to Amsterdam. What do you think?

This would not be my choice given the small difference in price. I see $65 eurostar tickets for London/Brussels on weekdays in September.

Passholder fare used to be on the eurostar website and on the various railpass travel agency websites, but I don’t see it now. I think it’s around $85 in 2nd class, so probably not worth it.

I’d prefer train to flying/ferry, but it’s your call since it might be a little cheaper. If you want to go by train, disregard the trip planner recommendation and just buy a a ticket from the Eurostar website as soon as the go on sale for your dates (I think a little over a month from now). You have two options:

1) an itinerary that books you on the Eurostar to Brussels and then includes a seat on the high-speed Thalys train from Brussels to Amsterdam. Fares for a Wed. in August are £66 if booked right now (Sept. should be comparable).

2) an itinerary that an itinerary that books you on the Eurostar to Brussels and then your Eurostar ticket is good for passage to Amsterdam on any of the “regular” Dutch trains. Low fares in August are £51.

Incidentally, I just bought tickets Amsterdam (technically, any-Dutch-station) to London for August @ € 49 each way, 2nd class, on NSHispeed website (the Dutch Railways site for intl. travel)

Thank you for your suggestions. I will take your advice and take the train.