help needed on eurostar tgv and maybe ICE?

[pacerrailgroup]

hi all,

my friend wants me to go with him on a trip on eurostar but the tgv is on his bucket list can anyone advise the cheapest or best route that can be done either in a day or in 2 we live in hull so need to also get there, i believe you can use eurostar civ tickets or something? we would be looking at doing it in march next year obviously i know timetables are not yet available just as in idea and if we can work a German ICE3 (one with clear drivers screen at times in it could be great too...)

 

[43096]

hi all,

my friend wants me to go with him on a trip on eurostar but the tgv is on his bucket list can anyone advise the cheapest or best route that can be done either in a day or in 2 we live in hull so need to also get there, i believe you can use eurostar civ tickets or something? we would be looking at doing it in march next year obviously i know timetables are not yet available just as in idea and if we can work a German ICE3 (one with clear drivers screen at times in it could be great too...)

My suggestion would be the Paris Est-Strasbourg route as it has both TGVs and ICE3 sets running on it, both at up to 320km/h (approx 200mph).

 

[AlexNL]

How about this for a round trip:

- London -> Brussels -> Aachen: Eurostar + ICE (book a "London Spezial" through ticket via Deutsche Bahn)
- Aachen -> Luxembourg via Cologne and Koblenz (book via Deutsche Bahn)
- Luxembourg -> Paris by TGV (book via oui.sncf)
- Paris -> London by Eurostar

This way you'll get Eurostar, ICE, and TGV. And you'll also get a nice scenic view along the Rhine river (between Cologne and Koblenz).

 

[S-Car-Go]

London Special/Sparpreis DB tickets will no longer be available to book from Nov so I hear. This is due to E* transferring to a new ticketing system. I don't think there has been a workaround formulated yet with DB.

E* you can book 6 months ahead, TGV usually 2-3 months. So a through ticket say from London to Bordeaux is limited to the TGV booking window. Check out Ouigo as well, which is a standalone low cost budget double deck TGV, reserved separately from the main SNCF system.

 

[AlexNL]

London Special/Sparpreis DB tickets will no longer be available to book from Nov so I hear. This is due to E* transferring to a new ticketing system. I don't think there has been a workaround formulated yet with DB.

I've tried booking a single from London to Aachen in December, and I didn't have any issues (I didn't pay, though ).

DB say this on their website:

Note: Due to a system change at Eurostar, DB no longer has an interface to Eurostar. As a result, we can no longer offer saver and flexible fares for the entire journey from and to London from 9 November 2019. We are currently working on a more customer friendly solution with Eurostar. In the meantime, you can book your ticket via the international booking platform (link provided in the travel information on bahn.com).

So it looks like the current interface between DB and Eurostar goes down on 09/11/2019, but if you book before that you should be okay. Unless DB and Eurostar manage to implement a new interface, it's my understanding that the reasons for this are purely technical and not due to Eurostar wanting to stop the London Spezial product.