How to take a train journey from Hamburg to Bruxelles / Brussels

The connecting time between trains at Koln Hbf will typically be an easily timed 45 - 55mins (ish)
it's highly likely that you will make the connection, as the timings allows for the train from Hamburg to arrive into Koln Hbf more than 40 mins late.

At Koln Hbf there are elevators on each set of platforms to ease the making the transfer.

Though check which platform (gleis) the train on to Paris will be departing from as soon as you step off the train, it may be leaving from the same pair of gleis (platforms).

Depart Hamburg in the even hours and the onward connection from Koln will be scheduled to be by ICE train - which will also call at Bruxelles-Nord; connect for Brussel-Centraal.

Depart Hamburg in the odd hours and the onward connection from Koln will typically be scheduled to be by a Eurostar train.

Book in advance and save: YES

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

Missing a booked connection at Koln Hbf:

If the ICE from Berlin arrives too late in Koln to make the booked connection into the train on to Bruxelles, you should be able to transfer your tickets to subsequent departures - IF you have booked the end-to-end journey in a single transaction.

If need be this can be done the Reisezentrum desk in Koln Hbf

The alternative ticket booking options:

If you want to minimise the risk of encountering this potentially awkward scenario, then an option is to book separate tickets per train

Booking separate tickets for each part of the journey can also be a money saver; because the discounted prices for the Eurostar train don't seem to be available when booking end-to-end tickets which combine both trains into one transaction.

But if you do opt for that, keep the connecting time between trains front of mind, because by making a separate booking per train, you will forsake any protection against having to re-book, in the event of a train delay causing a missed connection in Koln/Cologne.
Meaning that if a delay causes you to miss the train on to Paris that you have booked tickets for, you may have to re-purchase tickets for that part of the journey.

Final Destination: Paris

The usual arrival time in the Belgian capital is typically scheduled to be at 07:09.

Departing from Hamburg

The train is typically scheduled to depart at 21:55

The train will NOT depart fromthe main station in Hamburg, instead it uses a station named Hamburg-Harburg, which is located to the south of the city centre.

Both Regio and local S-Bahn trains link Hamburg Hbf to Hamburg-Harburg to in 10 to 15 mins.
The Regio trains are faster as they are non-stop, but if a Regio service isn't due to depart, it will be quicker to take a S-Bahn train -on lines S3 or S5 heading to Neugraben or Stage

Though these S-Bahn trains make other calls in the city centre prior to departing from Hamburg Hbf.

• the S3 calls at Jungfernstieg and Stadthausbrücke and Landungsbrücken and Reeperbahn
• the S5 calls at Dammtor and Sternschanze

Book early and save: Yes
Online Bookings Usually Open: up to 6 months ahead of the travel date

The ticketing options depend on the type of accommodation you wish to travel by on the train.
The seats are straightforward, the ticket(s) will include a reservation.

In the couchettes you can either book a place; or solo travellers can pay more and book the entire compartment in order to have sole occupancy.
If you will be travelling in groups of 4 or 6 people, you will be the only occupants of the compartment.
But if you will be travelling in a group of 5, the only method to ensure you won't be sharing the compartment with somebody else, is to book six tickets.
Similarly if you will be travelling in a group of 3 and don't want to share a four person compartment with anybody else, you will need to book four tickets.
Female only couchette compartments are available.

The sleeping cabins are priced according to how many people will be occupying them during the journey.
Solo travellers can either:

• Book a bed in a triple cabin and accept that you may share it with up to two other people (cheapest).
• Book a bed in a double cabin, accepting that you may be sharing it with another person.
• Book a single cabin, to ensure privacy (most expensive).

Pairs of travellers, who are happy to share a cabin, can either:

• Book two beds in a triple cabin, accepting that you may be sharing it with another person.
• Book a double cabin.

Groups of 3 travellers will have sole occupancy of a triple cabin, but groups of four or more will need to split the accommodation to whichever suits them; 2 x double cabins, or 1 x triple + 1 x single etc