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Thousands of people have snapped up tickets to some of Europe's most popular destinations over the extended bank holiday weekend.

Eurostar has seen bookings rise by 30% compared with the same period last year as Britons look to make the most of their extra days off.

And bookings are up by 46% among people leaving the UK, compared with the royal wedding weekend in 2011.

The recent strengthening of the pound against the euro has also helped to boost ticket sales among UK travellers, with Avignon, Bruges and Amsterdam among this year's most popular destinations.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people are expected to visit London from Europe to enjoy the jubilee celebrations.

Friday, June 1 is likely to be the busiest day - with more than 30,000 people set to travel between the UK and Europe on that day alone.

Ten extra services have been added to meet the extra demand, but tickets are selling fast.

Eurostar has long enjoyed royal connections, ever since the Queen first opened the Channel Tunnel and Waterloo International station in 1994.

The monarch has even been known to travel on Eurostar herself, most recently for a visit to Brussels in the summer of 2007.

Eurostar's commercial director Nick Mercer said: 'The Queen's Diamond Jubilee will start a once in a lifetime year of celebrations for the capital, with the London 2012 Festival and the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer.

'London is the hottest destination this year and it's fantastic that so many people from across Europe are travelling with us to join both the jubilee and Olympic celebrations.

'At the same time, for those Brits who want to take advantage of the jubilee double bank holiday, there's still time to book that trip to Paris, Avignon, Lyon, Bruges and many more destinations with the extra services we're running.'

Sarah Tawton