How much cheaper are child fares?
How much cheaper are child train fares to the Alps than adult fares? It's an important question for families considering train travel.
Train companies often say fares are around 25% cheaper for children aged 4-11, but I was wondering what the real answer is, and whether there is a consisten pattern.
So I spent a hour checking and comparing adult and child fares on the daytime Eurostar Ski Train for every date of the ski season.
Using the excellent Loco2 train-booking website, I looked up return prices from London to Bourg St Maurice to see what the real difference betweeen adult and child fares is.
My conclusions:
1. The normal discount for children aged 4-11 seem to be 30%
2. Since on some peak dates the child discount is not currently available (see Easter below) I assume that Eurostar has a certain number of child discounts that it makes available, and then once these are sold only adult prices remain.
3. I don't have a third conclusion, but good things come in threes. Hmm.
| Outbound date | Return adult price | Return child price | Child saves |
| Sat 20th Dec | £339 | £238 | 30% |
| Sat 27th Dec | Sold out | ||
| Sat 3rd Jan | £239 | £167 | 30% |
| Sat 10th Jan | £239 | £167 | 30% |
| Sat 17th Jan | £254 | £178 | 30% |
| Sat 24th Jan | £269 | £189 | 30% |
| Sat 31st Jan | £239 | £167 | 30% |
| Sat 7th Feb | £179 | £142 | 20% |
| Sat 14th Feb | Sold out | ||
| Sat 28th Feb | £174 | £122 | 30% |
| Sat 7th March | £209 | £146 | 30% |
| Sat 14th March | £189 | £132 | 30% |
| Sat 21st March | £179 | £125 | 30% |
| Sat 28th March | £339 | £338 | 0% |
| Sat 4th April | £299 | £244 | 1% |
It is also worth noting that if you have children aged three or under, they can travel on the train for free, but without a reserved seat.
I hope this serves as a useful guide for calculating travel costs - great that the consistent 30% discount exists to encourage what is a very lovely journey for children to enjoy.