London to Bredstedt (north of Hamburg) in July - ticket help please!

[mrfilbert]

Hi all,

I'm looking to travel by train from London to Bredstedt (northern Germany) at the end of July. I haven't done a big European rail journey like this for about two decades, so I really don't know what I'm doing and would appreciate some advice.

I've been reading up about tickets and have found that the Sparpreis fares from London were good, but no longer exist. This is all I know. When searching DB & raileurope.co.uk, I can't find any through tickets from London at all for next month or further ahead, but there are some for this month (including a £59 single, which seems very cheap indeed).

So I'm confused. Will I need to book two return tickets (one for the Eurostar, one for the rest), or will I be able to book through tickets nearer the time?

Basically, I'd like to know:

• What tickets should I book?
• When should I book them?
• Where should I book them?

Ideally I'd like to travel as cheaply as possible but I'd also like to avoid getting stranded in Brussels (due to not having a through-ticket) if at all possible!

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Regards,
Filbert

 

[Alfonso]

Hi. DB sparpries are disappearing and I don't think anybody knows of they will come back. Eurostar.com sells tickets to some German stations including Hamburg but not Bredsted. Buying one of these and a local ticket is reasonable though not as cheap as a sparpries, and reduces consequences of having split tickets in Brussels. In theory arriving late and missing an inward train with a partner company is covered by Railteams HOTNAT (hop on next available train) guarantee bit this is not legally binding and only applies to partners trims not all trains. Other options include allowing lots of time between UK-Belgium/Netherlands tickets (Eurostar or sail rail) and buying a more expensive flexible ticket. I'd consider sail rail london to any Dutch station then a ticket from around the Dutch border to where you want to go in Germany too

 

[30907]

The through Eurostar fare to Hamburg is poor value, but is flexible beyond Brussels. Raileurope often won't book more than 2 months ahead even though tickets are available from the relevant operators - I've no idea why!
And of course www.seat61.com is a mine of advice if you haven't discovered it.

More generally:
1. I would be inclined to wait a little for news on the Sparpreis London - neither the ES fare to Brussels nor the DB fare on to Hamburg are likely to go up much just yet UNLESS you have to travel on a peak Friday. If the Sparpreis doesn't come back, splitting at Brussels is the answer.
2. If you are coming back by train, or doing any long-distance travel on from Bredstedt, a 4-day-in-1-month Interrail might be worth costing out; the Eurostar passholder fare is a real bargain, especially at short notice and in Standard Premier. IR also covers a UK leg, if that's relevant.
3. If money rather than time is the pressure, I would pick up Alfonso's suggestion of a Dutchflyer/rail-and-sail. Using the night boat you can travel right across NL, and then have a Sparpreis Niederlande all the way to Bredstedt and be there early evening.
EDIT:
4. I mixed up Bredstedt and Brokstedt earlier (the latter is much nearer Hamburg!). In view of the overall journey time of 12 hours from London, I would personally got for option 3 or overnight in Brussels (which solves the split ticketing problem!); the Ibis at Midi is fine.

 

[mrfilbert]

Thank you both very much - all very helpful suggestions. I hadn't considered the rail & sail option, but I certainly am now. I've quite fancied doing that for a while but the time commitment seems a bit much for a long weekend in Amsterdam, whereas in this case it might be a nice to way to start & end my trip if I can justify another two days of annual leave. I'll also cost out the Interrail option.

If I do decide to go with the Eurostar/DB option, do you have a sense of how late I can leave it to book before prices start going up? I'll be going out on the last Saturday or Sunday of July and back on the first Saturday or Sunday of August. I'm tempted to wait and see what happens with the Sparpreis. It seems that the alleged compatibility issue with Eurostar's new ticketing system is something that is definitely rectifiable before July if there's the will to do it.

I have a spent a lot of time on seat61 but most of the advice there still relates to the Sparpreis tickets.

Thanks again,
Filbert

 

[30907]

Those will be fairly busy weekends.
I would start by doing costings based on the last weekend of March as that will give you the Sparpreis fares and times (IME staying overnight in Brussels gives you the cheapest, but you may need to fiddle with the stopover facility); you can also get a price splitting (overnight?) in Brussels as a worst-case scenario.

If Sparpreis London still looks the best option, I think I would give it another few weeks to allow ES to decide that their new ticketing will work and sort out something with DB, OR to say they are deferring their new system again for a few months.