pbfost
Traveller
0 comments
Posted 7 months ago
Hi! I'm heading to Copenhagen for a conference in early October and was hoping to get the train back to the UK, with a couple overnight stops on the way. I was hoping to get some info on the best routes to take and where to stay on the way back. :)
Cheers!
MisterSteve
Traveller
912 comments
As a general rule, try to make your stops where you have to change trains. In this cases assuming that your are planning for Eurostar from Brussels you would have to change at Hamburg and Cologne (and Brussels). There are regular direct trains on each leg but no day trains from Denmark go beyond Hamburg and nothing from Hamburg goes to Brussels. Eurostar has an airline style checkin requirement so have to allow enough time for that, not just for the departure time. Copenhagen-Hamburg trains have been unreliable for the past few months so don't get a late one, DB ICE trains from Cologne to Brussels can have their off days. So I'd say stay in Hamburg and Brussels. But you have to expect this to be dearer than a direct flight - especially with the section from London to home. For east Anglia, east Midlands and north east there is the option of the night ferry from Hoek van Holland, which is basically a suburb of Rotterdam and has rail links at Harwich. Not quite as easy as it used to be but still much beter than the Europoort (miles outside Rotterdam) to Hull ferry. For this you don't go to Cologne, you get a train from Hamburg to
Osnabrück and then change at Amserfoort for Rotterdam (and get the metro to the ferry terminal).
Schedules for all of it and tickets (but not Eurostar, UK or ferry) from www.bahn.com/en
nltrainer
Traveller
1336 comments
or-as always- seat61.com has detailed plans for it all