Paris- Hamburg by Train

neral1

I and my wife want to travel by train from Paris to Hamburg any suggestions please ?

I live in London would like to travel during the day.
Looked at the trains services looks very confusing - what train service to use French or German?

Any suggestion or experiences will be very helpful. Do the prices go up with time?

Thanks.

callum9999

neral1 wrote: »

I and my wife want to travel by train from Paris to Hamburg any suggestions please ?

I live in London would like to travel during the day.
Looked at the trains services looks very confusing - what train service to use French or German?

Any suggestion or experiences will be very helpful. Do the prices go up with time?

Thanks.

Go to Bahn.com and book it there. It will show French and German train options.

Yes the prices are just like UK trains - a standard fare with a range of advance purchase fares limiting you to a specific train that are much cheaper. The earlier you book them, the better chance of getting the cheaper tickets (though it's limited to something like 2 months in advance).

Looks like the best you're going to get is €49 each (seemingly only on Tuesdays, but €69 is quite easy to find on most days - they have a good "saver fare finder") with 1 or 2 connections, taking about 8 hours.

Voyager2002

The German Railway site is good, and has a version in English: I think quoting the same fares as the German site. It gives fares for journeys within Germany and at most one other country: so it would NOT work for any trains that pass across Belgium on the way to Hamburg.

The French site voyages-sncf is also good, but if you ask to see it in English it transfers to another one where the fares are unduly high. So work in French with that one...

As with trains in the UK there are a limited number of advance-purchase tickets that have zero flexibility, and you need to book them as soon as they go on sale.

I suggest you read the advice given by The Man in Seat 61 (Google his site) and explore the booking website that he recommends, Capitaine Train.

callum9999

Voyager2002 wrote: »

The German Railway site is good, and has a version in English: I think quoting the same fares as the German site. It gives fares for journeys within Germany and at most one other country: so it would NOT work for any trains that pass across Belgium on the way to Hamburg.

The French site voyages-sncf is also good, but if you ask to see it in English it transfers to another one where the fares are unduly high. So work in French with that one...

As with trains in the UK there are a limited number of advance-purchase tickets that have zero flexibility, and you need to book them as soon as they go on sale.

I suggest you read the advice given by The Man in Seat 61 (Google his site) and explore the booking website that he recommends, Capitaine Train.

Maybe on this route it doesn't (though I'm not sure going via Belgium/Netherlands is particularly logical unless you wanted to stop off there) but not as a rule. I've bought several tickets from Germany to the UK via Belgium.

BakerBoy

You can get to Frankfurt (Main) Hbf from Paris Est (4 hours), and to Hamburg Altona (4 hours) from Frankfurt (Main) Hbf.

Here is the link to the Bahn arrivals/departure page.

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/bhftafel.exe/en?ld=96252&rt=1&

neral1

Thanks guys helpful. I am surprised by the ticket prices - Astronomical.

callum9999

neral1 wrote: »

Thanks guys helpful. I am surprised by the ticket prices - Astronomical.

It's quite a long way to go. Contrary to what people love to claim, train prices on the continent aren't significantly lower than they are in the UK.

peachyprice

neral1 wrote: »

Thanks guys helpful. I am surprised by the ticket prices - Astronomical.

Seriously? It's 550 miles, do you know how much it cost to go that far in the UK?

Voyager2002

neral1 wrote: »

Thanks guys helpful. I am surprised by the ticket prices - Astronomical.

Are you looking at the inflexible fares on specific trains, or the full-fare flexible tickets? Fares for the latter are, per kilometre, very similar in Germany and the UK (perhaps a bit less in France).

Voyager2002

callum9999 wrote: »

Maybe on this route it doesn't (though I'm not sure going via Belgium/Netherlands is particularly logical unless you wanted to stop off there) but not as a rule. I've bought several tickets from Germany to the UK via Belgium.

OK, they have improved since I last used them. At that time journeys from the UK (involving three countries) could be booked by telephone but not on-line.

callum9999

Voyager2002 wrote: »

OK, they have improved since I last used them. At that time journeys from the UK (involving three countries) could be booked by telephone but not on-line.

I first booked a ticket like that online over 3 years ago! Maybe it's different for the UK as it's physically impossible to get a train from Germany to London without going through a third country?