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München / Munich to London by train
How to take a thrilling high speed rail journey from Munich/München to London
There are two optimum route options for a journey by train from Munich/München to London:
-
Make two transfers between trains and travel via Bruxelles, thereby avoiding having to make a transfer between stations in Paris.
On this routing the optimum end-to-end journey involves having to make the connection between trains in Koln/Cologne. -
Travelling via Paris (not available on Saturdays) on the direct train from München to the Gare de l'Est, then heading to the Gare du Nord in order to take the Eurostar on to London.
Or if you will be departing on Monday, Thursday and Saturday, you can take the relatively new Nightjet service to the Gare de l'Est and head over Gare du Nord for the Eurostar
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Routes
Option 1: travelling by day via Paris
Journey Summary
10hr 39min (Mon to Fri and Sunday); 9hr 39min (Sunday)
Daily
Travel Information
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.
1 x connection per day
Change trains in: Paris
Tickets
Book Early And Save: Yes
Online bookings open: Around 120 days ahead of the travel date (usually)
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.
Where to book
| Ticket Provider | Approximate Cost | |
|---|---|---|
| Trainline | from €95 approx |
Train 1
Travelling On
Journey Features
This is a journey of five distinct parts;
1: Between Munchen and Stuttgart there are pleasant views, particularly from the left of the train after departure from Ulm.
2: Between Stuttgart and Karlsruhe, the train will spend around 20 mins on the high speed line, between the tunnels the railway crosses spectacular viaducts and the image at the top of the page was taken from one of these.
3. South of Karlsruhe the train initially travels on another high speed line, until it has passed Baden Baden.
4. The train then leaves the high speed line and makes it way, fairly slowly, towards the border with France, see if you can spot when you have left Germany behind, it won't be announced on the train.
5: Between Strasbourg and Paris, the train travels at up to 300 km/h on the fastest high speed line in France.
The train will reverse direction on departure from Stuttgart.
Train 2
Travelling On
Journey Features
Good to Know
Final Destination: London St Pancras
Some trains also call at: Ashford International or Ebbsfleet International (these station calls are currently suspended_
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 shorter.
Checking-in:
Eurostar requests that holders of Standard Class And Standard Premier tickets check-in a minimum of 30mins before departure, and 45mins before departure on weekends and holidays.
It is up to you to allow time to pass through check-in and board the train.
If you have a Business Premier ticket, Eurostar recommends that you only have to check-in 10 mins before departure.
At Gare Du Nord the check in and waiting area for the Eurostar (the 'Hall Du Londres') is at an upper level, above the main concourse.
The access to this upper level is some distance from the voie/platforms/tracks that the Eurostars depart from.
The escalators leading up to Eurostar departures are located at the rear wall of the station building, on the opposite side of the concourse to voies/platforms/tracks 14 - 15.
It's not a scenic journey, but it is a journey with distinct phases and highlights:
1: There is little to see from the high speed lines in France, particularly after Lille (the trains to Paris will rush through Lille Europe station).
2: 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.
3: As the train nears Ebbsfleet International station, comes the scenic highlight of the journey - the crossing of the River Medway on a high bridge.
4: After Ebbsfleet International (which can only be seen from the right) the train will enter a tunnel under the River Thames.
As the train exits this tunnel, from the left, the Queen Elizabeth II road bridge can be seen.
5: For most of the final 8 -10 mins of the journey the trains use tunnels to enter London (Stratford International station is located between the tunnels).
Option 2: travelling by day via Bruxelles
Journey Summary
from 10hr 30min (approx)
Daily
Travel Information
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.
Hence our preference for making this journey would be to travel via Paris, as the end-to-end journey times allow for what should be a pretty much guaranteed connection in the French capital.
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.
Mon - Sat = 1 x connection per day
Sunday = 2 x connections
Change trains in: Koln and Bruxelles/Brussels
Tickets
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.
Where to book
| Ticket Provider | Approximate Cost | |
|---|---|---|
| DB | * | |
| Trainline | from €69.90 |
Train 1
Travelling On
Journey Features
Good to Know
Final Destination: Essen
The train also calls at: Munchen-Passing and Augsburg; Ulm and Stuttgart
Journey description:
This is a journey of six distinct phases
- Until Stuttgart the train will travel on a conventional railway and the most scenic part of this journey occurs to the north of Ulm, when the railway threads through some narrow valleys; these don't use the new section of high-speed line that's now open north of Ulm.
- The train will reverse direction on departure from Stuttgart and head on to the high speed line.
- For around 25 minutes the train will travel at more than 250 km/h until the outskirts of Mannheim.
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Train 2
Travelling On
Journey Features
Good to Know
Final Destination: Paris - Nord
For virtually the entire train journey from Koln to Bruxelles the trains, will either be travelling at up to 290 km/h on purpose built high speed lines, or up to 200km/h on section of railway, that has been re-engineered to allow trains to travel faster.
It is a journey of six distinct phases:
- Between Koln and Aachen the trains travel at up to 200 km/h on a re-engineered stretch of railway.
- Then for most of the the 25 min journey between Aachen and Liege the train will travel at up to 290 km/h on a high speed line; this is also the most scenic part of the trip.
- Then for around five minutes after departure from Liege, the train will travel fairly slowly on a route which ascends from the city.
- Next up is the HS2 Belgian high speed route as far as Leuven, in theory the ICE and Thalys trains can accelerate back up to around 290 km/h on this part of the trip.
- From Leuven to just north of Brussel-Nord station the maximum speed is 200 km/h.
- For most of the journey between Brussel-Nord and Brussel-Zuid the railway crosses the city centre in a tunnel.
Train 3
Travelling On
Journey Features
Good to Know
Final Destination: London St. Pancras International
Some trains also call at : Ebbsfleet International; Ashford International (these station calls are suspended until further notice)
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 shorter.
Most of the departures between Bruxelles/Brussels and London will be by the e320 trains, but the e300 trains are still used on some departures (they are to be re-introduced in 2022).
Our guide to taking the Eurostar from Bruxelles/Brussels has more information including details of check-in and how to connect into the Eurostar from other train services.
Our guide to arriving by Eurostar in London is here.
It's not a scenic journey, but it is a journey with distinct phases and highlights:
1: There is little to see from the high speed lines in Belgium and France.
2: 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.
3: As the train nears Ebbsfleet International station, comes the scenic highlight of the journey - the crossing of the River Medway on a high bridge.
4: After Ebbsfleet International (which can only be seen from the right) the train will enter a tunnel under the River Thames.
As the train exits this tunnel, from the left, the Queen Elizabeth II road bridge can be seen.
5: For most of the final 8 -10 mins of the journey the trains use tunnels to enter London (Stratford International station is located between the tunnels).
Option 3; Depart on Mon, Thurs or Sat and travel overnight
Journey Summary
13hr 27min
Not Every Day
Travel Information
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.
Available when departing on Mon, Thurs and Saturday
Tickets
**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.
Where to book
| Ticket Provider | Approximate Cost | |
|---|---|---|
| Trainline | * | |
| Rail Europe | * |
Train 1
Travelling On
Journey Features
Good to Know
If you'll be heading to Munchen Ost from the city centre on local S-Bahn trains, check whether the train is running on time, then aim to be at Munchen Ost ready to board at around 11:45.
Train 2
Travelling On
Journey Features
Good to Know
Final Destination: London St Pancras
Some trains also call at: Ashford International or Ebbsfleet International (these station calls are currently suspended_
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 shorter.
Checking-in:
Eurostar requests that holders of Standard Class And Standard Premier tickets check-in a minimum of 30mins before departure, and 45mins before departure on weekends and holidays.
It is up to you to allow time to pass through check-in and board the train.
If you have a Business Premier ticket, Eurostar recommends that you only have to check-in 10 mins before departure.
At Gare Du Nord the check in and waiting area for the Eurostar (the 'Hall Du Londres') is at an upper level, above the main concourse.
The access to this upper level is some distance from the voie/platforms/tracks that the Eurostars depart from.
The escalators leading up to Eurostar departures are located at the rear wall of the station building, on the opposite side of the concourse to voies/platforms/tracks 14 - 15.
It's not a scenic journey, but it is a journey with distinct phases and highlights:
1: There is little to see from the high speed lines in France, particularly after Lille (the trains to Paris will rush through Lille Europe station).
2: 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.
3: As the train nears Ebbsfleet International station, comes the scenic highlight of the journey - the crossing of the River Medway on a high bridge.
4: After Ebbsfleet International (which can only be seen from the right) the train will enter a tunnel under the River Thames.
As the train exits this tunnel, from the left, the Queen Elizabeth II road bridge can be seen.
5: For most of the final 8 -10 mins of the journey the trains use tunnels to enter London (Stratford International station is located between the tunnels).
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.
See if there’s a unique journey guide for your trip, featuring info on the trains, tickets & stations.
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