Betsy

We're considering various options to travel from London to Cologne in the spring of 2014. One option may be to take the Eurostar from London to Cologne (this can be done on one ticket), traveling to Brussels, then taking an ICE train to Cologne. I'm wondering if it's possible to stop over for a night between Brussels and Cologne, maybe in Aachen? I've searched eurostar.com and seat61.com without success. I know I could phone Eurostar, but it's more fun to ask Fodorites.

flanneruk

Europe's high speed railway network works pretty much like planes in this respect.

On most of the subsonic train system you buy a ticket for the route, then worry (if you want to) about reserving a seat. So,unless you've bought a promotional fare limiting your flexibility, you can usually get on and off as often as you like en route.

But on the high speed system - and certainly on Eurostar and ICE - buying the right to travel and booking a seat can't be separated. If you book a ticket to Cologne on ICE, you can get off at Aachen - but that's it. The bit of the journey you've not taken is forfeit.

If you want to stopover in Aachen, you need to buy a ticket from London to Aachen, then a separate ticket from Aachen to Cologne. This might not add up to significantly more than a straight London-Cologne ticket. Or it might. Or sometimes, depending on promotions, a London-Cologne ticket might be cheaper than a London-Aachen one

You need to check the actual costs for the days and times you intend travelling.

Betsy

Thanks flanneruk, that's exactly the information I need. Do you have any suggestions for finding promotions? We're not yet within the 120-day period to book.

PalenQ

Thalys trains run more Brussels to Cologne routes than ICE trains do - www.thalys.com for discounted tickets that must be booked months in advance to get - like deep discounted Eurostar tickets sold in limited numbers and non-changeable non-refundable - if going to Aachen you may eschew the Byzantine Thalys fare structure and just buy a straight up full fare ticket once in Brussels - on an ICE train - with a full fare ticket Brussels to Cologne I think it may be possible to stop off at Aachen without formality if you are re-boarding the same type of train - this is usually the case with full fare tickets but it would be no cheaper I think than simply buying a Brussels to Aachen and then Aachen to Cologne ticket - the discounted tickets as flanneruk says do not allow stop offs but I'm not so sure that full fare tickets on ICE trains to do or even Thalys for that matter - ICE trains do not require seat reservations whilst Thalys trains do.

For lots of great info on these trains I always spotlight these IMO fantastic sites - www.seat61.com as you have already seen and www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com.

And you say you are buying one ticket London to Cologne - currently that is not possible but in 2014 I guess it may be as the various European railways finally start to integrate fares so making a London to Cologne ticket possible - Eurostar to Brussels and connecting Thalys or ICE to Cologne - and if discounted yes no stop-offs allowed.

Personally I was underwhelmed with Aachen after the cathedral - have you been to Brussels before - if not consider staying there - lots of see and do for all interests.

chartley

The U.K. Eurostar website does actually offer through fares from London to both Aachen and Cologne. Journey time from London to Cologne is 5 hrs 15 minutes with fares ranging from £50 to £100 for a Tuesday in November.

It might be worth checking the combined cost of a through ticket London-Aachen followed by aticket from Aachen to Cologne.

PalenQ

The U.K. Eurostar website does actually offer through fares from London to both Aachen and Cologne.>

OK about time - the trick is to figure out how much that ticket is charging for Brussels to Cologne and how much London to Brussels - perhaps individual components could be cheaper?

anyway this is a very new development in accordance with an agreement to once again offer through fares on several key rail lines - like Eurostar, Thalys, ICE, TGV, etc. - Thus things are coming around to what they once were - years ago you could buy a ticket from any station in Continental Europe to any other station - that's when they had a flat fee but now with all the various discounts that was hard - so hopefully this development would give the best possible fares available for the whole trip.

But I would price each trip separately and compare to the overall price. Brussels to Cologne or Aachen could well be 29 euros on www.bahn.de/en - I wonder if the add-on fare from Brussels on Eurostar ticketing uses a 29 euro fare or higher?

Betsy

Thanks, PalenQ, for the budgeteuropetravel.com reference. That's a new one for me.

The German rail site offers Eurostar tickets from London to many locations in Germany. I'm working on figuring out the pricing structure as recommended by chartley and PalenQ above to have a plan in place at 120 days out when it becomes possible to book.

PalenQ

WQell I would not be too concerned about the Brussels to Aachen or Aachen to Cologne tickets - Brussels to Aachen at full fare on German trains is 35 euros and Aachen to Cologne 16.20 euros on regional trains and 21.50 e on ICE - so it is easy to figure out whether the all-inclusive Eurostar fare is a good deal or not.

PalenQ

Plus as said before Aachen and Cologne are in the same Lander Ticket so the Lander Card could be used on the regional trains and for the rest of the day in Cologne itself.