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London to Berlin by train
How to take a thrilling high speed rail journey from London to Berlin
How to buy tickets, what's on board the trains, how to use the stations, plus tips for making the journey.
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Routes
Option 1: travelling by day
Journey Summary
9hr 15min (approx) to 10hrs (approx)
Daily
Travel Information
Most of the time this will be a straightforward end-2-end journey showcasing the best of 21st century European rail travel.
However - before booking this trip it's worth being aware of the following:
- The connections with a total journey time of less than 9hr 20minsm, which are the only options sold by the ticket agents when departing on Sat/Sunm are all dependent on making a 20 min connection between trains at Bruxelles Midi/Zuid station.
And these journeys also tend to be the cheapest option on this route. - But the connection is not guaranteedthe ICE train on to Koln/Cologne will depart no more than around 10 mins late, irrespective of when the Eurostar from London will actually be arriving.
- Though you won’t have to buy new tickets/reservations, in the event of a Eurostar arriving too late in Brussels/Bruxelles to make the connection, but if you opt to depart London at 11:04. you won't be arriving in Berlin by the end of the day if the Eurostar doesn't get to Bruxelles in time.
The usual alternatives, which avoid having to change trains against the clock, aren't currently available
The connection in Koln/Cologne:
The connecting time in Koln Hbf, between the arrival of an ICE from Brussels/Bruxelles and the departure of an ICE on to Berlin is always between 30 and 40 minutes.
There is 1 x ICE train per hour from Koln Hbf to Berlin.
Though IF the ICE from Bruxelles arrives too late AND you have reserved on the Koln to Berlin train, you can swap your reservations to a subsequent train free of charge.
Speak to the conductor on the train from Bruxelles, they may be able to arrange the reservation on the ICE on to Berlin for you, but if need be, you can use the Reisezentrum travel desk in Koln Hbf/
If you don’t have assigned seats on the ICE between Koln and Berlin, you can simply hop on to the next train to Berlin at Koln Hbf.
Monday to Friday: 3 x connections per day
Saturday to Sunday: 2 x connections per day
Changing trains in: Bruxelles/Brussels and Koln/Cologne
Tickets
Book Early And Save: Yes
Online bookings open: usually open around 6 months ahead of the travel date.
Worth knowing before booking London to Berlin train journey tickets online (Eurostar does not offer bookings for this journey):
Changes to ticketing on this route:
The German national operator DB has withdrawn its 'Europa Sparpreis Spezial' and no longer sells that type of tickets on this route, as a consequence the cheapest prices of booking the end-to-end journey has increased.
However, DB has retained its offer of 'Europa Sparpreis Spezial' tickets on the Bruxelles > Berlin part of the journey when travelling by the ICE trains (and not the Thalys trains from Bruxelles on to Koln)
As a result it's now often possible to save money by booking separate tickets for the London > Bruxelles journey with Euroster and then booking the Bruxelles > Berlin journey by ICE trains with DB.
Though if you do, it's likely that you will have to re-book tickets for the journey on to Berlin, in the event of a delay to a Eurostar causing a missed connection in Bruxelles.
Which can be an issue when the connecting time between Eurostar arrivals and ICE departures is only around 20 mins.
So an option (usually) is to book the tickets, so that depart London on an early morning Eurostar, so that you can take a later ICE train on from Bruxelles.
Seat Reservations:
Book a 1st class ticket(s) and your seats will automatically be assigned on all trains.
The tickets will be train specific, but seat reservations are optional in 2nd class on the ICE trains between Bruxelles/Brussels and Koln/Cologne and between Koln/Cologne and Berlin
The 2nd class ticket prices you will initially see on Trainline does not initially include the costs of the reservation on these trains.
The 2nd class reservation fee which covers both trains is €4.
Reservations are compulsory on the Eurostar and this is included when booking point2point journey ticket, your Eurostar seats will be automatically assigned irrespective of whether you book 1st class or 2nd class tickets.
Missing a booked connection at Bruxelles-Midi station:
Tickets/reservations can be transferred to alternative connections on from Bruxelles and/or Koln, in the event of a train being delayed and a booked connection being missed; IF you have booked the end-to-end journey together.
Tickets/reservations on to the next ICE to depart can be swapped free of charge at SNCB's International Travel Desk at Bruxelles-Midi station.
Using rail passes:
Rail pass users need to make reservations on the Eurostar and more information about how to do this online is available if you click the Eurostar train details
Choose connections which involve taking an ICE train between Brussels/Bruxelles and Koln/Cologne and you won’t HAVE to reserve on the ICE train(s).
So this is a much cheaper option than journeys that involve taking a Thalys train, on which rail pass users have to pay comparatively expensive rail pass reservation fees.
Where to book
| Ticket Provider | Approximate Cost | |
|---|---|---|
| Trainline | * |
Train 1
Travelling On
Journey Features
Good to Know
Final Destination: Bruxelles-Midi or Amsterdam
Note that London is in a different time zone to mainland Europe, it is one hour behind - so when looking at a timetable the journey will look as though it's an hour longer.
Most of the departures between London and Bruxelles will be by the e320 trains, but the e3300 trains are usually used on some departures.
The usual calls at either Ebbsfleet or Ashford International stations, have been been temporarily suspended until further notice.
Eurostar requests that holders of Standard Class And Standard Premier tickets check-in a minimum of 30mins before departure; though this time increases to 45mins before departure on weekends and holidays.
If you have a Business Premier ticket, Eurostar recommends that you only have to check-in 10 mins before departure.
It's not a scenic journey, but it is a journey with six distinct phases and highlights:
1: For most of the first 8 mins of the journey the trains use tunnels to exit London (Stratford International station is located between the tunnels).
2: Then from the right of the train, there are views of the River Thames marshes and of the Queen Elizabeth II road bridge.
3: The third tunnel that the train will pass through is the tunnel under the River Thames.
4: Shortly after Ebbsfleet International station (can only be seen from the right of the train) is the scenic highlight of the journey - the crossing of the River Medway.
5: The train will slow down as it approaches The Channel Tunnel.
Announcements are no longer made that the train is about to enter the tunnel.
The journey through the tunnel will take around 22 mins.
6: There is little of note to be seen from the high speed lines in France and Belgium.
Please support ShowMeTheJourney
This second version of ShowMeTheJourney is exciting and new, so we are genuinely thrilled that you are here and reading this, but we also need your help.
We’re striving not to let anything get in the way of providing the most useful service possible, hence a facility has been set up with DonorBox which can be used to support the running costs and make improvements.
Instead of advertising or paywalls, your financial support will make a positive difference to delivering an enhanced service, as there’s a lot of ideas which we want to make happen.
So if you have found the info provided here to be useful, please go here to say thank you.
Train 2
Travelling On
Journey Features
Good to Know
Final Destination: Frankfurt (Main)
Departing from Bruxelles-Midi/Brussel-Zuid station:
You will usually* have to pass through security checks before boarding these trains and queues can build up at busy times.
*The security checks are at the entrance to platforms/tracks/voies 3 -6 and these ICE and Thalys trains to Koln are usually scheduled to depart from this part of the station.
But check the departure screens before heading for the security checks, these trains can occasionally be scheduled to leave from platforms/tracks/voies 7 or 8.
For virtually the entire train journey from Bruxelles to Koln the trains, will either be travelling at up to 290 km/h on a purpose built high speed line, or up to 220km/h on a section of line, that has been re-engineered to allow trains to travel faster.
The high speed part of the route comes between Leuven and Aachen.
Train 3
Travelling On
Journey Features
Good to Know
Final Destination: Berlin-Gesundbrunnen
All trains also call at: Bielefeld, Hannover and Berlin-Spandau*
*If your final destination is in West Berlin, the fastest option is usually to leave these trains at Berlin-Spandau and connect there into S-Bahn commuter trains or Regio trains.
The station in the heart of West Berlin is Zoologischer-Garten, but these ICE trains do not call there.
If your final destination is to the north of the city centre, then it's likely that your best option is to take this train to Berlin-Gesundbrunnen station.
Check your onward connections in Berlin on this public transport map.
Travel overnight by train from Cologne/Koln to Berlin:
You can take an overnight train from Koln/Cologne to Berlin, but there are no sleeper trains between the two cities.
So if you need to be in Berlin by 07:00, you can take an ICE train, which happens to travel overnight.
This a journey on which we recommend having something to do on the trip, as it's a train ride with few wow moments.
A highlight of the train comes near the beginning, with the views over the city of Wuppertal, on the left hand side.
Between there and Bielefeld, the train will pass through an industrial landscape.
The train will travel at more than 250 km/h on a high speed line between Wolfsburg and Berlin-Spandau.
Option 2: travelling overnight
Journey Summary
14hr 44min
Monday, Wednesday and Friday
Travel Information
If you will be departing London on Monday, Wednesday or Friday, this combination of trains will usually be available:
- Depart London at 15:04; arrive Bruxelles Midi/Zuid at 18:05
- Depart Bruxelles Midi/Zuid at 19:22; arrive Berlin Hbf at 06:48.
Changing trains in: Bruxelles/Brussels
Tickets
Online bookings open from up to 6 months ahead
You will need to book each journey separately; the details of how to do this are included on each of the respective journey guides:
Where to book
| Ticket Provider | Approximate Cost | |
|---|---|---|
| Eurostar | * | |
| European Sleeper Train | * |
Train 1
Travelling On
Journey Features
It's not a scenic journey, but it is a journey with six distinct phases and highlights:
1: For most of the first 8 mins of the journey the trains use tunnels to exit London (Stratford International station is located between the tunnels).
2: Then from the right of the train, there are views of the River Thames marshes and of the Queen Elizabeth II road bridge.
3: The third tunnel that the train will pass through is the tunnel under the River Thames.
4: Shortly after Ebbsfleet International station (can only be seen from the right of the train) is the scenic highlight of the journey - the crossing of the River Medway.
5: The train will slow down as it approaches The Channel Tunnel.
Announcements are no longer made that the train is about to enter the tunnel.
The journey through the tunnel will take around 22 mins.
6: There is little of note to be seen from the high speed lines in France and Belgium.
Please support ShowMeTheJourney
This second version of ShowMeTheJourney is exciting and new, so we are genuinely thrilled that you are here and reading this, but we also need your help.
We’re striving not to let anything get in the way of providing the most useful service possible, hence a facility has been set up with DonorBox which can be used to support the running costs and make improvements.
Instead of advertising or paywalls, your financial support will make a positive difference to delivering an enhanced service, as there’s a lot of ideas which we want to make happen.
So if you have found the info provided here to be useful, please go here to say thank you.
Train 2
Travelling On
Journey Features
This second version of ShowMeTheJourney is exciting and new, so we are genuinely thrilled that you are here and reading this, but we also need your help.
We’re striving not to let anything get in the way of providing the most useful service possible, hence a facility has been set up with DonorBox which can be used to support the running costs and make improvements.
Instead of advertising or paywalls, your financial support will make a positive difference to delivering an enhanced service, as there’s a lot of ideas which we want to make happen.
So if you have found the info provided here to be useful, please consider saying thank you.
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