What it looks like
London → Paris, priced as a coach
from our data- Overnight coach in the table
- $30 to $60, 8h 20m
- Eurostar on the same pair
- $60 to $180, 2h 20m
- What the optimizer compares
- the midpoints, $45 against $120, door to door
- Why the coach is in it at all
- It also removes a hotel night
Both enter the optimizer as itineraries, so a coach or a train can simply win the leg on price plus the night it saves, and lose it again when that night is the trip's second. The card still shows the Eurostar either way, because two hours against eight is your call, not ours.
When it does not work
- The table is finite. A city pair that is not in it is only ever priced as a flight, even when a great train exists.
- Fare bands approximate a booking a few weeks out. Rail fares in the UK, France and Spain move enormously with how early you book.
- Ground legs are never “verified”. Follow the link and see the real price before you count on it.
- Ferries get cancelled by weather and rarely have a same-day alternative.
- The time cost is counted now: every hour a train or coach takes is weighed against the fastest way to make that leg, but at the rate you picked. A coach that saves $60 and eats a day is a fair trade on “cheapest” and a bad one on “fastest”, and the planner will answer differently for each.
Risk
Low risk
The worst case costs you time, not the trip.