Travelling to Berlin by rail

[rodent279]

Wasn't sure where to put this, so mods please move if you think somewhere else would be more appropriate.

 

Going to Berlin in September, and would like to go by rail. Has anyone on here done that, and what's the best way, from Bristol, either via London, or avoiding?

 

Cheers N

[Taigatrommel]

I've done Berlin to Cheltenham by rail in a day, leaving Berlin at about 0700 and arriving in Cheltenham about 1900.  Changes were Cologne, Brussels and London.  It can be done at reasonable prices with through ticketing from London to Berlin.  Picking a random day in September (the 12th) I found the following offers through www.bahn.co.uk:

 

 

There are other slightly more involved options, eg booking to Cologne with Eurostar and getting a DB ticket from there to Berlin (in advance they're as little as €19.90).  An alternative route is via Amsterdam, there's fares from £35 London-Amsterdam and then you should be able to get the Berlin Intercity for about €40.  It works out as a slower route, though Amsterdam-Berlin is loco hauled all the way on the direct train.

Edited May 24, 2018 by Taigatrommel

[Wickham Green]

Wasn't sure where to put this, so mods please move if you think somewhere else would be more appropriate.

 

Going to Berlin in September, and would like to go by rail. Has anyone on here done that, and what's the best way, from Bristol, either via London, or avoiding?

 

Cheers N

Since the Night Ferry ceased operating the only way BY RAIL has been Eurostar, of course ...... avoiding London gives you the option of joining at Ebbsfleet - which you'd struggle to get to without passing through London - or Ashford which has very few Eurostar services. No, your best bet is St.Pancreas, I'm afraid - then Brussels for an ICE or Thalys to Berlin ..... possibly with a change at Koln. 

[Zomboid]

That's not strictly true if it's permissible to include a ferry. Bristol - Portsmouth - France is very possible without going via London. Though the ferry is quite slow compared to the Eurostar, and quite what the onward train options from St Malo etc are like I couldn't say.

[rodent279]

Thanks gents. Think via Brussels & Köln is probably the hot favourite, but Poole/Pompey to la France & onwards to Berlin via Paris is a wildcard option. Also Harwich-Zeebrugge & onward if that ferry still runs.

 

That's not strictly true if it's permissible to include a ferry. Bristol - Portsmouth - France is very possible without going via London. Though the ferry is quite slow compared to the Eurostar, and quite what the onward train options from St Malo etc are like I couldn't say.

Seems to be fairly slow Le Havre to Paris, ~3hrs-ish. But I do like a bit of boeuf bourgignon on the boat, washed down with a nice rude French red!

 

I could fly, but not sure it'll be much cheaper, unless I want to travel at WTF? o'clock, and the two advantages of the train are you're not so restricted in luggage, and it's easier to break the journey and have a night in, say, Köln.

Edited May 24, 2018 by rodent279

[Zomboid]

The Harwich ferry goes to the Hook of Holland at the moment, I believe. Which has a convenient adjacent station.

[wagonman]

As Taigatrommel says, the easiest is Eurostar to Brussels and change there and again in Köln or Frankfurt. There is a YouTube film of the reverse journey – takes 11 hours by train, or 11 minutes by YouTube!

 

Sorry can't figure out how to post a link but it's easy enough to find!

[phil-b259]

Have a look at this well regarded website https://www.seat61.com/Germany.htm#London_to_Hannover_&_Berlin

[Joseph_Pestell]

This far ahead, I am fairly sure that you could fly more cheaply. But the train will be much more fun.

[rodent279]

This far ahead, I am fairly sure that you could fly more cheaply. But the train will be much more fun.

I'm going for the marathon. Others thinking of going have told me they're not finding flights for less than £400. Not looked at flights myself yet, so can't confirm, but as long as it's not exorbitantly expensive, I'd rather go by rail.

[Oldddudders]

I'm going for the marathon. Others thinking of going have told me they're not finding flights for less than £400. Not looked at flights myself yet, so can't confirm, but as long as it's not exorbitantly expensive, I'd rather go by rail.[/quote

And by rail you spend less unproductive time in terminals. Eurostar requires you to be there less than an hour before departure, which compares favourably with any affordable air travel in recent times, I think, and other trains on your itinerary are just turn up and go.

[duncan]

The Harwich ferry goes to the Hook of Holland at the moment, I believe. Which has a convenient adjacent station.

 

 

      The military personnel trains in the late 1950s ran from the Hook to various points across Germany & on to Berlin.  Mother used them travelling to Paderborrn (?)  when she was an army teacher. 

[SRman]

I am thinking in a similar vein to a few others here: my wife and I will be travelling from Copenhagen to either London or Manchester, probably in September. We have been offered a flight but would much prefer to take in some scenery, even if it means 13 hours or so on trains with at least a couple of changes of train. We could possibly do a stop over en route to break the journey up a bit. Maybe ... [thinking hard here] ... maybe we could stop in Hamburg and take in Miniatur Wunderland ... hmmmm.   

[burgundy]

Going to Berlin in September, and would like to go by rail. Has anyone on here done that, and what's the best way, from Bristol, either via London, or avoiding?

 

Cheers N

 

I know that it is not as much fun, but it is quite hard to ignore £40 each way by EasyJet, from Bristol to Schoenefeld, with a take off at 1300.  

Best wishes 

Eric 

[ColinK]

I’ve done a few trip to/from NW England to various places in Germany, far more relaxing and enjoyable than flying.

 

Only had one poor journey years ago when we returned from Berlin using the sleeper to Paris then Eurostar. The French went on strike and we had to vacate our comfy sleeper and go by bus instead. Given all the problems in France at the moment, its best to avoid it. Brussels is much easier and quicker (although the area round the station is very seedy).

 

Rather than trying to do the whole journey in one day, we usually have a night somewhere on route. Gives another place to explore. Koln is our usual stopover, but there are others. Again this can save you money as it means you don’t need to use an expensive early morning Eurostar departure.

 

As mentioned earlier, there are ways of saving money by buying a Eurostatar ticket plus one or more other tickets. Have you thought about using someone like Rail Canterbury or Ffestiniog Travel to book the tickets for you? I’ve used both and they have saved me money and time trying to find all the options.

[eastwestdivide]

The Harwich ferry goes to the Hook of Holland at the moment, I believe. Which has a convenient adjacent station.

Although the Hook-Rotterdam railway is currently (still) being converted to light rail, with bus replacements to the Rotterdam suburbs (Schiedam?)

[jonhall]

It is a VERY long way by train, as an example I did a Railtrail holiday that took eurostar to Brussels, ICE to Koln, then Berlin with only 20 minutes at Bruxells and 45 in Koln, and staying at the Intercity hotel which is effectively ON Berlin Ost station, and one of our party was so desperate for a fag he managed to miss the connection in Brussels, but managed to get from Brussels Midi to the airport, buy an air ticket and fly to Berlin, then transfer from the airport (not always easy in Berlin) and arrived at the hotel about 20 minutes after the last of our party had checked in!

 

IF you still want to do it (and I've done so several times) the cheapest way is to book through DB website 92 days out (as close after 11pm UK time as possible), and a spar price StPancras>Berlin through ticket should be possible at 59 euro standard or 109 first class, but these are based on you using DB service between Brussels and Koln,(and v/v) not Thalys, so you might need to play with the departure times (the 10.58 from StP is a 20 minute connection at Brussels with an ICE). Also worth remembering that DB's allocation of cheap tickets is different to Eurostars, so it may be cheaper to book out and back with different operators. 

 

DO buy a through ticket, when DB has a bad day (which is much more frequent than you might believe reading the British press) it can REALLY go wrong - its comforting to know that if it all goes wrong they have to get you to the destination.

 

Joon

[wagonman]

If you MUST fly, remember that easyJet uses Schoenefeld Airport which is grim – even worse than Luton – while KLM etc use Tegel on the other side of the city. Much nicer, to the extent that any airport can be nice, and a short-ish bus ride to Zoo.

 

But the train is so much nicer...

[phil-b259]

If you MUST fly, remember that easyJet uses Schoenefeld Airport which is grim – even worse than Luton – while KLM etc use Tegel on the other side of the city. Much nicer, to the extent that any airport can be nice, and a short-ish bus ride to Zoo.

 

 

But the train is so much nicer...

 

As you say Tegal requires the use of a bus the airport hving no rail link.

 

Schoenefield by contrast has both the S-barn and DB regional services which makes getting to most bits of the city centre easy - and is more enjoyable for a rail enthusiast anyway.

 

I also HATE big airports with their shopping malls and processing facilities tha make you feel like a cow going off to the Abattoir.

 

Smaller airports may be more basic, but that is no bad thing. It makes the trip more like an an adventure....

[Steamport Southport]

I know that it is not as much fun, but it is quite hard to ignore £40 each way by EasyJet, from Bristol to Schoenefeld, with a take off at 1300.  

Best wishes 

Eric 

 

Last time I went it was only something daft like £29 return from Liverpool. Then got the S Bahn train from the airport to Zoo station. Stayed in the Hostel by the station which was only a few Euros.

 

Did a whole long weekend and didn't even spend £100 on travel, accommodation, food or other essentials (not including beer).

 

 

 

Jason

[rodent279]

Thanks all for some informative posts & useful tips! Keep 'em coming.

 

I really do fancy going by train if it's possible without breaking the bank. There seems to be Sparpreise fares available Brussels-Berlin via ICE to Koln, but not bookable for the dates I want currently. I'm not a fan of flying, and besides, I've not been on HS1 or an ICE yet.

 

cheers N

Edited May 27, 2018 by rodent279

[AMJ]

A few years ago I did Leeds to Warsaw by train when the sleeping trains existed, all booked through Ffestiniog Travel. Coming back was daytime from Poznan with a change in Berlin which nearly went oh so wrong as an hour's connection became 5 minutes due to slow running PKP.

 

As a group of friends we prefer to stay overnight in Köln or Aachen to break up the journey from UK to Germany.

 

The other year when DB drivers had some Industrial action I traveled from Aachen to Dresden to find when I was at one station the service I intended to be on had been cancelled. One of the platform staff indicated your ticket allows you on Ice so get this one to Berlin and change there. Talking with the guard he checked what was running and advised me of a private operator going to Leipzig three hours after getting into Berlin.

 

Some changes can be tight so often best for looking into alternative route.

 

dB app is good even for UK travel

[Zomboid]

In a related question, I'm considering a trip to Germany on the Eurostar and connections, and the connection time it gives me at Brussels is 20 minutes.

The question is simply how achievable is that? Is there any border control to deal with our is it just walk out and find the platform? Are the Eurostar services reliable enough that 20 minutes won't suddenly become 6 minutes?

[jonhall]

Since the hi-speed line into StPancras has opened Eurostar timekeeping to Brussels seem to be pretty good - I've made this connection half a dozen times and would be happy to use it on a through ticket - I might not be quite so relaxed about it if I had split tickets and a restricted ticket onwards.

 

Jon

[Zomboid]

I presume if I book the whole trip in one from DB then it'll be a through ticket?