Ship Luggage by Train
 

I'm not sure why I'm asking.but I'm tinkering a little bit.

Many years ago, I believe on our first trip to Europe, we were going from Berne to "somewhere".

I remember going to the train station in Berne with our suitcases and sending them ahead. It might have been to Lucerne or maybe it was to Geneva. It probably doesn't really matter.

Later that day we took the train to "somewhere" and retrieved our luggage.

Is there such a thing these days as sending ones luggage ahead?

Hi Myer, I don't know but am curious about the answer. It makes sense.

Opposite, in a recent trip, I bought a couple of new things so sent some dirty clothes home by mail.

SNCF provides luggage transfer services. I don't know about other national rail companies, but I would imagine they do.

Have you thought about taking smaller bags?

It's not like it was long ago when you could check a bag at one station and pick it up anywhere practically in Europe. But trains no longer offer service and may work with other companies - I don't think in France you can check bags at one station and pick them up at another by the time your train arrives (you used to have to check bags by a certain time to guarantee bags being there when you arrive) I'd like StCirq who lives in France to explain how it is done there - where do you check your bags and where retrieve them - at station? And how much per bag?

Switzerland is one country that does do this for all domestic stations but costs about $15 per bag.

You are over worried about taking your bags on trains from Mainz to Amsterdam where you have to change once - and again it's no big deal with those luggage carts and plenty of room inside trains to stow luggage. I do not think any sending baggage ahead is offered by the railways but private companies like FedEx, etc could send bags to your hotel but again very expensive.

Switzerland is about the only place where traditional checked baggage operates TMK. And France perhaps as StCirq says.

OP I think is planning to go Mainz Germany to Amsterdam C.S.

PalenQ,

You guess incorrectly.

We're thinking of taking a few day trips from Amsterdam. Rotterdam and Utrecht don't appear to be an issue.

However, over the years we've been to Brugges twice but never to Ghent. I don't know when we'll be in the area again. But I also don't want to spend 5 hours (2 1/2 each way) on a day trip. It's not called a train trip.

So I thought I'd look into flying from Frankfurt to Brussels, train to Ghent, spend the day and sleep over in Ghent and train to Amsterdam the next morning. There's a direct train with no changes from Brussels airport to Ghent that looks like it may fit the plane arrival.

No problems yet really.

My concern is then going from Ghent to Amsterdam with a change of trains and our luggage.

St Cirq,

We do take smaller bags than we used to.

Well Gent to Amsterdam is via Antwerp and there are so many trains no reason to put in a tight connection. And first class has more space than 2nd class for luggage as there are abut 25% fewer seats in same-size train carriage. 2nd class can get really crowded on regional trains. You may want to look into taking Thalys high-speed train Antwerp-Amsterdam and use the ABS or All-Belgian-Stations fare for a few euros extra on the Thalys fare where you could take any train Gent to Antwerp within 24 hours of your Thalys train (great deal if planning to overnight in Antwerp) and just hop on. Ideal for a few-hour look at Antwerp too (luggage storage probably in station.) If booking really early then you can get a really low fare on Thalys - otherwise regular IC trains to Amsterdam are cheap on a flat fare so compare both - they do not do reservations at all so just hop on - nice thing about that is you don't have to hassle with pre-booking months in advance to get cheap fare though a slight discount may be gotten by that - book thru Belgian Railways site. Tulips is a Belgian who knows all about that and menachem a Dutch also and will give the right info for sure. www/seat61/com has loads of great tips on booking own online tickets. For general info like your baggage questions and difference between classes, etc also BETS-European Rail Experts and www.ricksteves.com.

I believe it won't be completely safe to expedite your bags by train in advance if they are to cross borders. Changing employees on the border is always an issue of trust. I also wonder how they are accepting checking bags in without the owners as it could become a great way for any terrorist organisation to conduct an attack with some explosives. Do you know the security checks conducted for the bags and the owner before they are allowed? Are there any? I remember boarding the trains without any checks when we were in Lille, regardless if we are travelling domestically or between countries.

Within Europe, outside of Switzerland, I don't know of any good options -- but WITHIN Switzerland, there are excellent options, described with exquisite detail on the sbb website (as already noted by others).

Seems that won't be helpful to Myer (sorry), but since at least one person said they were following to see what could be learned....

Not helpful to the op, but --

Germany also ships your luggage on the trains, both domestically and to Switzerland.

However, it takes about a week. First you have to make the appointment 2 or 3 days in advance for the pick up (Hermes), then you have to allow 4 or 5 working days for the luggage to arrive. It costs around 20 € domestically and about double that to Switzerland. I've done this a few times, both going and coming from Switzerland.

Obviously not useful for the average tourist.

The DB website says that they also ship to France, though I've never tried it.

s

Here is the SNCF baggage service: https://mesbagages.oui.sncf/

Seems like French service which picks up bags anywhere and ships to anywhere costs about 40 euros? Nice for lots of bags but not for a light bag.