Liverpool to Leipzig - Hilfe!

[dojo]

Hello RailUK forums. I've got a dilemma; I want to get from Liverpool to Leipzig in early July, and I've decided that I can either fly to Berlin then somehow navigate myself to Berlin Hauptbahnhof and hop on a train to Leipzig, or I can go Liverpool - Birmingham - Stansted, and then just fly straight there, but no flights website seems to acknowledge the existence of this service. I wondered if anyone had experience getting from the UK to Germany whilst avoiding spending the obscene amount of money a through flight from Liverpool (or even Manchester) to Leipzig costs. Also if anyone can offer a more scenic (read:cheaper) route, which I guess will automatically include the Eurostar, please let me know. I'm pegged at around £150 for one adult so far, and money is quite the issue for this trip!

(I'm quite aware that I might be better posting this in some sort of general transport forum but there's no harm in asking, right?)

 

[me123]

Hi dojo; welcome to the forums! I've just moved it over here because it's really a ticketing query.

Generally, a flights website won't acknowledge the rail service to Stansted Airport. I've had a look at the NXEC journey planner, and you can go to Stansted from Liverpool Lime Street station for £68.70 Off Peak Return on a train. That means you have to know the date your departing for Leipzig, but you can return whenever you want to within a month as long as you travel Off Peak and avoid London, changing at Birmingham or Leeds & Peterborough or something.

On this, you can travel via London City and change from Euston to Liverpool Street for a Stansted Express train, for the £78.90 Any Permitted Off Peak Return, but you do have to use the tube. You can get discounts with a railcard if you've got one; if not, it's probably not worth the investment for this journey alone.

There's also Advance fares available for this route, however. These may be cheaper but you are constrained to a certain service in each direction so if your flight's delayed on the way back, you risk losing your money.

Now, I've checked Leipzig Airport and I can't find and airline that flies anywhere from Leipzig to the UK. You can, however, fly to Berlin in ryainair from London for as little as a penny(!) if you book on the right days and then onto Leipzig. I'll allow £60 when you include tax.

It's about €46 (£43.36 at time of writing) from there to Leipzig: Take the S-Bahn to Berlin Hbf and on to Leipzig.

So, that'll cost you either:

• Train to Stansted avoiding London, Fly to SXF, Train to Leipzig = approx £153
• Via London, approx £160

I've also looked at Eurostar for you. You can't go direct, yet again, and it's going to cost you about the same, take much longer and be much more hastle.

From what I can see, the best way is to fly from Liverpool or Manchester. But can you perhaps post dates and times of travel we can probably confirm that for you.

 

[dojo]

Thanks so much! I'm going on the 7th, back on the 13th, but didn't really want to leave it too late, so looking over the info you've given me I've just gone and booked a Liverpool to Berlin flight (£65 return!). I'll guess I'll just have to wait a few months to get the Berlin to Leipzig train ticket. 46€ seems entirely manageable. Maybe they'll accept my 16-25 railcard...lol

 

[33056]

Not sure how far in advance you can book, but there is a Dauer-Spezial price of 29 Euro (single) if you can book it in time; there are only a limited number of seats at that price. The drawback of this is the same as any advance purchase ticket in that you have to use the service that you booked for and there are no refunds if you miss the train for any reason, such as your flight landing late.

You can book using the DB BAHN website, which I think will allow you to print your own ticket out at home. Sorry can't say exactly how it works as I have never bought a ticket in this manner, but there is more information HERE .

 

[D841]

Thanks so much! I'm going on the 7th, back on the 13th, but didn't really want to leave it too late, so looking over the info you've given me I've just gone and booked a Liverpool to Berlin flight (£65 return!). I'll guess I'll just have to wait a few months to get the Berlin to Leipzig train ticket. 46€ seems entirely manageable. Maybe they'll accept my 16-25 railcard...lol

I take it you're flying Easyjet to Schoenefeld Airport? I use this flight fairly regularly myself.

From the airport terminal, it's a 200m semi-covered walk to the railway station. Once there, take the S-Bahn to Suedkreuz. You'll only need a zone B+C ticket to do this as you don't enter the city zone A. For maps, timetable and other information, check www.bvg.de .

The Leipzig trains call at Suedkruez. It's approximately an hour's journey, and the trains run hourly, and alternate between ICE and IC services. Check with DB's UK office for fare possibilities. There is a flat fare in existence in connection with flights, i.e. to and from the airport, but I can't remember the price.

As for Stansted, I'm sure Ryanair used to fly to Leipzig/Halle from there, but I'm not sure of the current position, as I stopped using them a couple of years ago.

 

[me123]

Maybe they'll accept my 16-25 railcard...lol

With the railcard, you would be able to get cheaper trains to Stansted than what I mentioned (about £46.30 OPR route Not London) but I could understand the hastle involved.

 

[dojo]

Wow, this is all a massive help. I'm feeling confident now too - as long as I don't run into anything like the Tube's Northern Line at 5.15pm on the S-Bahn, I should be fine. Thanks!

 

[gordonthemoron]

The ryanair flight from stansted to 'leipzig' actually flies to Altenburg which is about 30km south of Leipzig & Dresden (i.e. quite a way although there is a bus service run in conjunction with ryanair).

Berlin Schoenefeld is a fairly crap airport but nowhere near as bad as Altenburg, which is a former military airbase (still has the shelters for the fighters), the terminal building appears to be made up of a few portacabins

 

[Railjet]

I've also looked at Eurostar for you. You can't go direct, yet again, and it's going to cost you about the same, take much longer and be much more hastle.

Too late for the OP now, but he could have got a London-Leipzig train ticket from DB at €49 each way.