A video guide to train travel from London to Cologne & Frankfurt by Eurostar and ICE. For more information & tickets see https://www.seat61.com/Germany.htm
Made this trip at Easter. Had to wait eight hours in Brussels as one of the ICE trains was cancelled. My advice would be to take the Thalys option, or keep your options open.
Thanks for this Mark. I'm planning a trip in mid-October to Berlin and this is very helpful. As an aside I like the scene at 3:17 on where the gentleman is racing to get to his train, looking rather flustered, only to be held up by someone who obviously has plenty of time on their hands. I've been in both situations!
When will the ICE start running service from Cologne straight to London? For god sakes, its been four years. The safety training in the tunnel can't be taking this long. And besides, why should the ICE fail the safety tests in the tunnel?
Two small comments on the ICE3 (BR 403 and 406): only window seats have power outlets and there are always three compartments in first class (1 x 4 seats, 2 x 6 seats)
I took this trip a few months back and Brussels Midi had closed the short cut for connections with no real notice to the passengers. It was a bit of a trot but I made it to my connection. Do you know if this is permanently closed? Cheers.
As usual, good clear photography with no jerky camera movements, well edited so that you don't get 5 minutes watching a train crawl into the platform, and sensible captions to explain everything. Is there no table service to seats in 1st class ICE?
If I book with DB as early as now – Jan 9 and get a quotation of €259.80 for 2 first class tickets for London- Frankfurt ( Via Brussels), is it a good deal? Also, will there be meals on both trains-Eurostar & ICE? In my own estimate, if both trains will offer meals ( Bfast for EST & Lunch for ICE), then we will get the first class ticket. This is my first time to be on 1st class and its seems exciting! Mark, your opinion is highly appreciated. You're now our official Travel Consultant to everything we need to know about travel around Europe and beyond!
hi there, has anyone done this trip and bought the ticket directly from eurostar? When I click to purchase from eurostar it says once i arrive to brussels-midi/zuid i have 24hrs to to take any train from brussels-midi/zuid to dusseldorf. Have you heard of this before?
This is what it says on eurostar's website: CONNECTION: Change in Cologne Hbf
You can travel on any train displayed below on the day of your Eurostar journey.
Hey Mark, thanks for the video. I'm completely ignorant of train travel in Europe (American) except for some things I saw on your website. I'm planning on traveling from London to Oslo this summer (before medical school starts :)). Will I be able to stop at cities along the way using this mode of transportation or will that be really expensive? I assume I'll have to buy a new ticket each time, right? If so, is there an affordable mode of transportation that'll allow me to spend a few days in a couple of cities before arriving in Oslo?
Great video. Looking forward to my trip from St. Pancras to Koln via Brussels, with 20 minute layover. Also took your suggestion and booked the new train service from Koln to Berlin – three times cheaper and four hours quicker! Many thanks.
33 Comments
Perfect timing. I'm doing this exact trip in September…had been hunting for something similar a few weeks ago, and decided to take a look again. 🙂
Made this trip at Easter. Had to wait eight hours in Brussels as one of the ICE trains was cancelled. My advice would be to take the Thalys option, or keep your options open.
What is average speed????
Decidement , tout semble parfait , pour nos amis Europeens Congratulation…pour les efforts et les reves de trois generations….
Thanks for this Mark. I'm planning a trip in mid-October to Berlin and this is very helpful. As an aside I like the scene at 3:17 on where the gentleman is racing to get to his train, looking rather flustered, only to be held up by someone who obviously has plenty of time on their hands. I've been in both situations!
When will the ICE start running service from Cologne straight to London? For god sakes, its been four years. The safety training in the tunnel can't be taking this long. And besides, why should the ICE fail the safety tests in the tunnel?
Thank you Mark. This will really save our bacon as we travel to Berlin for Christmas this year.
@LSBonnPower , the ICE will start the service in 2016
Two small comments on the ICE3 (BR 403 and 406): only window seats have power outlets and there are always three compartments in first class (1 x 4 seats, 2 x 6 seats)
Nice vid, thanks!
Nice video!Thumbs up!
How long did the ride take actually? From London to Cologne.
I took this trip a few months back and Brussels Midi had closed the short cut for connections with no real notice to the passengers. It was a bit of a trot but I made it to my connection. Do you know if this is permanently closed? Cheers.
How long does it take to get from London to Frankfurt by train ?
Great stuff. Still audio clicking in some of this piece…
As usual, good clear photography with no jerky camera movements, well edited so that you don't get 5 minutes watching a train crawl into the platform, and sensible captions to explain everything. Is there no table service to seats in 1st class ICE?
If I book with DB as early as now – Jan 9 and get a quotation of €259.80 for 2 first class tickets for London- Frankfurt ( Via Brussels), is it a good deal? Also, will there be meals on both trains-Eurostar & ICE? In my own estimate, if both trains will offer meals ( Bfast for EST & Lunch for ICE), then we will get the first class ticket. This is my first time to be on 1st class and its seems exciting! Mark, your opinion is highly appreciated. You're now our official Travel Consultant to everything we need to know about travel around Europe and beyond!
hi there, has anyone done this trip and bought the ticket directly from eurostar? When I click to purchase from eurostar it says once i arrive to brussels-midi/zuid i have 24hrs to to take any train from brussels-midi/zuid to dusseldorf. Have you heard of this before?
This is what it says on eurostar's website:
CONNECTION: Change in Cologne Hbf
You can travel on any train displayed below on the day of your Eurostar journey.
(Timetable is then displayed here)
Hey Mark, thanks for the video. I'm completely ignorant of train travel in Europe (American) except for some things I saw on your website. I'm planning on traveling from London to Oslo this summer (before medical school starts :)). Will I be able to stop at cities along the way using this mode of transportation or will that be really expensive? I assume I'll have to buy a new ticket each time, right? If so, is there an affordable mode of transportation that'll allow me to spend a few days in a couple of cities before arriving in Oslo?
What if I am a HongKong Chinese, taking this train, how much does it costs? thanks
Lol
1:42 is the DB ICE 3 or something…
Sure it’s not 200mph for the ICE 3
3:03 I can do a better stew than that
@PewDiePie
The meal at 3:03. I would like to have that one.
look on my channel there are th ice 3 on this track 😉
Great video. Looking forward to my trip from St. Pancras to Koln via Brussels, with 20 minute layover. Also took your suggestion and booked the new train service from Koln to Berlin – three times cheaper and four hours quicker! Many thanks.
ICE /Intercity express😉
Grerat video !!
Very good view
Ich spreche ein wenig Deutsch, doch ich habe das Meiste gelernt von Rammstein!
Do you know if this short cut is still in use? We are arriving 9.13pm and our connection to Antwerp is at 9.19pm. worried we won't make it.