When will tickets become available?

[ModernRailways]

Hi,
Just wondering if anyone can tell me when tickets will become available for the Deutsche Bahn London Spezial to Berlin for the dates 5th April and then the 9th April.
I can't seem to find anything on the DB website which says when.
Thanks in advance!

 

[317666]

I believe it's three months in advance, so I would check on the 5th and 9th of January respectively.

Edit: Just had a look searching for the dates you specified on the German language version of DB's site, hovering over the little clock icon shows that tickets for the 5th of April are available on the 4th of January, and tickets for the 9th on the 8th of January. I was close!

 

[ModernRailways]

I believe it's three months in advance, so I would check on the 5th and 9th of January respectively.

Edit: Just had a look searching for the dates you specified on the German language version of DB's site, hovering over the little clock icon shows that tickets for the 5th of April are available on the 4th of January, and tickets for the 9th on the 8th of January. I was close!

Thanks very much! Not too long to wait then thankfully! :P

 

[Golghar]

DB tickets can be booked 90 days in advance.

 

[hardshoulder]

Question from a rookie train traveller - how many changes (to Berlin) ?

 

[317666]

Question from a rookie train traveller - how many changes (to Berlin) ?

From London, you would have to change at Brussels (Brussel-Zuid) and Cologne (Köln Hauptbahnhof), so two changes.

 

[ModernRailways]

Question from a rookie train traveller - how many changes (to Berlin) ?

You could do it overnight on the City Night Line which means 1 change. London-Paris, then Paris-Berlin. You arrive into Berlin at around 8am (thanks to 317666 below).
During the day, it would be 2 changes. London-Brussels, Brussels-Cologne, then Cologne-Brussels.

 

[317666]

You could do it overnight on the City Night Line which means 1 change. London-Paris, then Paris-Berlin. You arrive into Berlin at around 5am though.

Not quite true - the Paris to Berlin sleeper arrives at Berlin Hauptbahnhof at around half 8, it's the sleeper from Cologne that arrives in Berlin in the small hours of the morning.

One thing to bear in mind when using the sleeper option, especially if you have a lot of luggage, is that you have to change between two different stations in Paris, the Eurostar arrives at Nord and the sleeper leaves from Est.

For more details about both of these options, I'd recommend taking a look at the following site, it's how I found out about getting to Mainland Europe by train in the first place: http://www.seat61.com/Germany.htm#London_to_Hannover_&_Berlin

 

[ModernRailways]

Not quite true - the Paris to Berlin sleeper arrives at Berlin Hauptbahnhof at around half 8, it's the sleeper from Cologne that arrives in Berlin in the small hours of the morning.

One thing to bear in mind when using the sleeper option, especially if you have a lot of luggage, is that you have to change between two different stations in Paris, the Eurostar arrives at Nord and the sleeper leaves from Est.

For more details about both of these options, I'd recommend taking a look at the following site, it's how I found out about getting to Mainland Europe by train in the first place: http://www.seat61.com/Germany.htm#London_to_Hannover_&_Berlin

So it is! I remember seeing that it arrives at 5am and assumed it was the Paris one. I've edited my post.

When I went to Paris last year we took the bus when we had our luggage as they had a nice fairly large area for wheelchairs/pushchairs that wasn't being used. The bus got pretty full up, but there was still plenty of room. It turned out that our bus was about 15 minutes late and the bus behind was on time so we were essentially picking up two buses worth of passengers. We also did it at around 4:30pm local time so it would have been a busy time.

That's the site I used to plan the trip to Paris, very useful and managed to save us around £300 overall!

 

[30907]

When I went to Paris last year we took the bus when we had our luggage as they had a nice fairly large area for wheelchairs/pushchairs that wasn't being used.

I agree - but Nord to Est is barely 10mins walk so hardly worth it.

 

[hardshoulder]

Off topic, but has anyone used scheduled ferries on the Rhine (other rivers are available) as an alternative to booking an expensive cruise ?

 

[wellhouse]

Off topic, but has anyone used scheduled ferries on the Rhine (other rivers are available) as an alternative to booking an expensive cruise ?

A few years ago, we toured Germany on a Eurodomino, which included KD boats on the Rhine.

Eurodomino is no more, but while Eurail passes (for non-European residents) still include KD boats, Interrail (for European residents outside the country of travel) do not.

We travelled from London to Koblenz via Brussels and Cologne by train in a day, and the following day took the boat to Rudesheim. The Rhine Gorge is spectacular both by rail and afloat, but on the boat there is an extensive wine list including the produce of many of the vineyards you pass. We enjoyed selecting our next bottle with reference to the signs on the river bank!

Info (in English) at www.kdrhine.com

 

[30907]

I've not used the Rhine steamers but have done parts of the Mosel and Elbe, and would personally prefer them to a cruise ship (never mind the cost).

The central bit of the Rhine, which is the obvious one to go for (Koblenz-Bingen) is much slower upstream BTW.

This is the official KD site:
http://www.k-d.com/en/home/

You can get 20% off a one-way trip with a valid rail ticket, but as returns are heavily discounted (by all operators, it seems) this may not be worth it.
http://www.k-d.com/en/kd-scheduled-cruises/day-cruise-rates/