Is it safe to leave you bag in a locker in the stations in Europe? We're going to be stopping to change trains in Koln/Cologne and I'd love to walk around for a few hours before pressing on. Is this do-able? I'd hate to come back and find my bags gone. Thanks for the input.

Jessica, my friend and I used train station lockers in Amsterdam, Paris and Barcelona last summer and had no problems at all (the only real challenge was finding an open locker in Amsterdam -- it took us over 1/2 an hour trying to wait for one to become free.)

Jessica - why would you possibly think that leaving luggage in a locker in Europe would not be safe? I would rather leave my luggage in a locker in Europe than anywhere in the states - though I have never had a problem in the states.

I didn't mean to imply that a locker in Europe in particular isn't safe. Actually, I've never left my belongings in a public locker in the states or elsewhere so this is all quite new to me. I've heard horror stories about lockers in the states and Europe and I simply wondered if anyone could shed some light on the issue for me. Thanks for the help.

I'm with Jessica on this. The main concern is that there have been numerous reports about train station lockers being removed or made unusable, presumably due to safety concerns. I always worry these days about doing a mid-point stop on a train trip and finding that there is no where to put my luggage for a few hours while I visit the town.

Dear Jessica,<BR><BR>We used the lockers in Koln last July. It is a very interesting arrangement. You place your bag in a cubicle and deposit the required money and the bags are transported internally to a storage area. When you come back and insert the key card, the computer summons your cubicle and it opens and there are your bags. It took us a minute or two to figure this out, because the locker area looks like just a few lockers.<BR><BR>We trained to Koln from Amsterdam and then we were going on to the Mosel. We wanted to stop in Koln to see and cathedral. We spent 5 hours in Koln - not enough, but we had been there before.

Thank you so much for the info on the lockers in Koln and other places in Europe. I'd heard many negative stories about using lockers in train stations so this positive feedback eases my mind. Thanks!