How to take a thrilling high speed rail journey from Munich/München to London

Travelling on Monday - Friday:

The only direct train of the day from München to Paris typically departs at 06:51.

On Mondays to Fridays and Sundays the typical schedule allows around 2hr 4-mins to make the transfer between the stations in Paris and check-in for the Eurostar.

On Saturdays a typically earlier departure from Paris is available, which cuts the end-to-end journey time by an hour, but still allows for an easy 1hr 40 min for transfer between the Paris terminals.

So making the connection into the Eurostar train on to London is virtually guaranteed.
In the very unlikely scenario of missing the booked connection due to the late arrival of the train from Munchen/Munich, tickets can be transferred free of charge to a subsequent departure at the Eurostar ticket desk in the Gare Du Nord.

Be wary of booking end-to-end journeys via Paris which involve making an additional connection in Stuttgart as the combinations of trains can involve making tightly timed connections which won't be guaranteed.

Book Early And Save: Yes

Online bookings open: usually open around 6 months ahead of the travel date.

Look for the journey option that departs Munchen/Munich at 06:51 daily with only 1 x change of train

As this routing always allows a minimum of two hours in Paris, an option is use the left luggage offices at the Gare De l'Est or Gare Du Nord and take the time to see something of the French capital between trains.

Although this routing via Paris tends to more expensive than the alternative route via Bruxelles/Brussels.

On Monday to Fridays in particular, the ticket agents can offer an option which also departs Munchen at 06:51 and arrives into London around 30 minutes sooner, plus it also tends to be cheaper.
However, it involves 2 x changes of train as it involves taking a TGV from Paris to Lille and then connecting in for a Eurostar in Lille-Europe station

Eurostar does not sell tickets for this journey.

Eurostar train ticket terms summary

The only ticket type are the Flexible tickets, but it is the class of service you opt to travel by, which impacts on the terms and conditions of travel.

*Exchanges

Book to travel in Standard and Standard Premier class:
The booked date and time can be exchanged to a different departure to the same destination up to one hour* before departure time.

• If the cost of your new ticket is more than the cost of your original ticket, you will be required to pay the difference;
• If the cost of your new ticket is less than the cost of your original ticket, you will not receive a refund of the difference.

Book to travel in Premier class:
The booked date and time can be exchanged to a different departure up until the end of the previous day, without having to pay any price differences on any other charges.

The Eurostar ticket terms summary is here

Refunds

Book to travel in Standard and Standard Premier class:

• Up to seven days or more before the date of departure you will need to pay a fee of £25 per person for a one-way / single ticket and £50 per person for a two-way / return ticket - So you will only receive any sum you paid in excess of these sums.
• Less than seven days before the date of departure, tickets are non-refundable - Also applies if you exchanged a ticket to an alternative departure, under seven days ahead.

Book to travel in Premier class:
Up until the end of the day before departure date, tickets can be refunded at no additional cost

Seat Reservations on the Eurostar

Reservations are mandatory so seats are assigned when booking - But after a booking has been completed, you use the ‘Manage Your Booking’ facility, which can be easily found on the Eurostar website and select specific seats within the travel class you have chosen.

You will need to enter a Booking Reference number - but other booking agents such as Trainline, Rail Europe, SNCF Connect, B-Europe and NS International, will also include this number on the communication sent to you.

The impact of the connections

There is relatively new E.U. legislation which protects travellers against financial loss in the event of missed connections due to train delays, but it only applies to 'through tickets'.
The Eurostar terms and conditions specifically state that when booking journeys which combine Eurostar + Thalys trains 'through tickets' will be issued.
However, 'for all other journeys that combine a Eurostar Service and a service provided by another carrier(s), including when purchased in a single commercial transaction, those tickets will be separate contracts and issues regarding delays, missed connections, cancellations, compensation, and the management of aftersales will be handled accordingly'.

Though SNCF / DB which operate the train to Paris, and Eurostar, are members of The Railteam Alliance which offers a Hop on the next available train (HOTNAT) policy.
It 'allows travelers to take the next high-speed service leaving from the same station as originally planned when a delay on or cancellation of a preceding Railteam member’s high-speed service prevents them from making their originally-planned connection. This service is free of charge and is subject to the following conditions:

• HOTNAT only applies at the station at which the passenger originally planned to change trains and in cases of train delays and train cancellations.
• The approval of HOTNAT is subject to the available capacity on board each train. Seats are not guaranteed'.

So 'issues regarding missed connection and cancellations' should be 'handled' by Railteam's HOTNAT policy.
Though HOTNAT can't be applied if the arrival into Paris is after the final Eurostar of the day has departed for London.

Much more info is available on this ticketing guide.

Seat Reservations:

On this route seat reservations are mandatory on the trains on this route, so they are included when booking tickets.

Take care when looking up this journey as when departing from München at 07:28 daily, the connecting time in Koln Hbf between the arrival of the ICE train from Munchen and the Thalys train on to Bruxelles, will be around 35-40 mins.
Pretty much ideal if the train arrives on time, however, making this connection is not guaranteed!
It is not particularly unusual for the ICE trains from Munchen/Munich to arrive more than 30 minutes late into Koln hbf.

If need be tickets can be transferred free of charge to later departures, but it's a scenario that's best avoided.

Though on Sunday an option is to depart Munchen at 06:48 on an end-to-end routing, which allows more than 80 minutes to make the connection in Koln/Cologne, though you will need to transfer between Koln Messe/Deutz stationand Koln hbf.

Book Early And Save: Yes

Online bookings open: usually open around 6 months ahead of the travel date.

When looking up this journey target the trains which depart at 07:28 daily and at 06:44 on Sundays.
There will be other journey options available, but look out for tightly timed connections between trains of under 30mins, as they are definitely best avoided on this route.

Eurostar train ticket terms summary

The only ticket type are the Flexible tickets, but it is the class of service you opt to travel by, which impacts on the terms and conditions of travel.

*Exchanges

Book to travel in Standard and Standard Premier class:
The booked date and time can be exchanged to a different departure to the same destination up to one hour* before departure time.

• If the cost of your new ticket is more than the cost of your original ticket, you will be required to pay the difference;
• If the cost of your new ticket is less than the cost of your original ticket, you will not receive a refund of the difference.

Book to travel in Premier class:
The booked date and time can be exchanged to a different departure up until the end of the previous day, without having to pay any price differences on any other charges.

The Eurostar ticket terms summary is here

Refunds

Book to travel in Standard and Standard Premier class:

• Up to seven days or more before the date of departure you will need to pay a fee of £25 per person for a one-way / single ticket and £50 per person for a two-way / return ticket - So you will only receive any sum you paid in excess of these sums.
• Less than seven days before the date of departure, tickets are non-refundable - Also applies if you exchanged a ticket to an alternative departure, under seven days ahead.

Book to travel in Premier class:
Up until the end of the day before departure date, tickets can be refunded at no additional cost

Seat Reservations on the Eurostar

Reservations are mandatory so seats are assigned when booking - But after a booking has been completed, you use the ‘Manage Your Booking’ facility, which can be easily found on the Eurostar website and select specific seats within the travel class you have chosen.

You will need to enter a Booking Reference number - but other booking agents such as Trainline, Rail Europe, SNCF Connect, B-Europe and NS International, will also include this number on the communication sent to you.

What if you miss a booked connection in Bruxelles:

Both ICE and Thalys trains are available between Koln and Bruxelles.

Eurostar classifies end-to-end journeys involving Thalys + Eurostar trains as 'through tickets'.

There is relatively new E.U. legislation which protects travellers against financial loss in the event of missed connections due to train delays, but it only applies to 'through tickets'.
The Eurostar terms and conditions specifically state that when booking journeys which combine Eurostar + Thalys trains 'through tickets' will be issued.
However, 'for all other journeys that combine a Eurostar Service and a service provided by another carrier(s), including when purchased in a single commercial transaction, those tickets will be separate contracts and issues regarding delays, missed connections, cancellations, compensation, and the management of aftersales will be handled accordingly'.

Though DB, which operates the ICE train, and Eurostar, are members of The Railteam Alliance which offers a Hop on the next available train (HOTNAT) policy.
It 'allows travelers to take the next high-speed service leaving from the same station as originally planned when a delay on or cancellation of a preceding Railteam member’s high-speed service prevents them from making their originally-planned connection. This service is free of charge and is subject to the following conditions:

• HOTNAT only applies at the station at which the passenger originally planned to change trains and in cases of train delays and train cancellations.
• The approval of HOTNAT is subject to the available capacity on board each train. Seats are not guaranteed'.

So 'issues regarding missed connection and cancellations' should be 'handled' by Railteam's HOTNAT policy.

Though HOTNAT can't be applied if the arrival into Paris is after the final Eurostar of the day has departed for London.

Hence the recommendation to book journey options which involve taking the Thalys train between Koln and Bruxelles.

Much more info is available on this ticketing guide

The recently introduced Nightjet train is typically scheduled to depart from Munchen Ost station shortly after midnight on Monday, Thursday and Saturday and arrive at the Gare de l'Est in Paris at 09:42 on the following mornings; Tuesday, Friday and Sunday.
Note that this train does not depart from the city's main station, Munchen Hbf.

At 11:13 a Eurostar to London will be usually scheduled to depart from the Gare Du Nord, so the fastest end-to-end journey allows a little under 1hr and 30mins to make the transfer between the stations in Paris and check-in for the Eurostar.

**Online Bookings Open:**Usually from around 6 months ahead of the travel date

When looking up this journey you may need to specifically enter Munchen Ost as the departure station, in order to see the details of this end-to-end journey.

Book early and save:* Yes

The end-to-end journey time of 13hr 27 min is dependent on making an 88min connection in Paris, if the Nightjet trains arrives on time, the check-in time for the Eurostar can be made with around 30mins contingency.
However, European night trains aren't particularly reliable time-keepers, they travel long-distances and get to cities around the same time as the morning rush hour.

End-to-end tickets could in theory be transferred to a later departure, if the Nightjet train were to arrive at the Gare de L'Est too late for a connection into the 11:10 Eurostar departure from the Gare Du Nord.
However, the ticket agents evidently mitigate against that scenario by offering end-to-end tickets that involve taking a subsequent Eurostar on to London; and thus a connecting time between trains in Paris of a around three hours.

Though in this scenario if you would rather avoid this and book separate tickets for each part of the journey, so that you can depart Paris at 11:10; you would then likely have to re-book for the Eurostar in the event of a late arrival of the Nightjet into the French capital.
Only booking the entire end-to-end journey in the one transaction offers the protection against having to re-book the Eurostar.

Eurostar train ticket terms summary

The only ticket type are the Flexible tickets, but it is the class of service you opt to travel by, which impacts on the terms and conditions of travel.

*Exchanges

Book to travel in Standard and Standard Premier class:
The booked date and time can be exchanged to a different departure to the same destination up to one hour* before departure time.

• If the cost of your new ticket is more than the cost of your original ticket, you will be required to pay the difference;
• If the cost of your new ticket is less than the cost of your original ticket, you will not receive a refund of the difference.

Book to travel in Premier class:
The booked date and time can be exchanged to a different departure up until the end of the previous day, without having to pay any price differences on any other charges.

The Eurostar ticket terms summary is here

Refunds

Book to travel in Standard and Standard Premier class:

• Up to seven days or more before the date of departure you will need to pay a fee of £25 per person for a one-way / single ticket and £50 per person for a two-way / return ticket - So you will only receive any sum you paid in excess of these sums.
• Less than seven days before the date of departure, tickets are non-refundable - Also applies if you exchanged a ticket to an alternative departure, under seven days ahead.

Book to travel in Premier class:
Up until the end of the day before departure date, tickets can be refunded at no additional cost

Seat Reservations on the Eurostar

Reservations are mandatory so seats are assigned when booking - But after a booking has been completed, you use the ‘Manage Your Booking’ facility, which can be easily found on the Eurostar website and select specific seats within the travel class you have chosen.

You will need to enter a Booking Reference number - but other booking agents such as Trainline, Rail Europe, SNCF Connect, B-Europe and NS International, will also include this number on the communication sent to you.