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Newcastle to Hockenheim, Germany

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mealybar

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Hi,

A couple of friends and myself are thinking of going to the German Grand Prix 20 July. I wondered if anyone has some tips of a thro ticket or pass or singles? How long would it take?would it be cheaper than flying? How much?

We'd be happy getting there sometime not too late on the Saturday, but would consider Friday if its cheaper. And coming back on the Monday. We're all 22 and have YP railcards - I think.

Thanks :)
 
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gordonthemoron

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The only section you'd get a YP discount is Newcastle to Kings Cross, also you'll need to avoid the early morning peak out of Newcastle on the Friday. So you could go mid morning and get there late evening (via Paris or Brussels). Check out www.bahn.de for times and then ring www.bahn.co.uk on 08718 80 80 66 to book a through ticket from London to Hockenheim or use www.eurostar.com to get a ticket from London to somewhere near, e.g. Karlsruhe.

Unfortunately it is likely to cost a lot more by train.
 

yorkie

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When I booked tickets to the south of France, I found it a lot cheaper to get advance NatEx singles (you can use your railcard on these, potentially only about £7 each way!), £59 Eurostar returns, and cheap tickets in France. I am not sure if Germany has cheap AP tickets or not, but it may be worth splitting it how I did.

Make sure you allow plenty of time to check in, assume for an hour delay plus add check in time, so allow perhaps 1.5 hrs from the time your train gets to KGX to the time you depart STP, that way you won't have a problem if some major farce occurs (although, saying that, I have experienced a 3 hour delay before, due to a double suicide, but you can't budget for everything!).

If I had got a through ticket it would have cost a lot more.

It seems splitting tickets is increasingly becoming the cheapest way to do many journeys these days.
 

Max

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To be honest, the cheapest combined Yorkshire-Paris tickets start from £75, which is barely anymore, and of course there's the added guarentee of them honouring your ticket if a connection is missed. There are some cheap AP tickets in Germany, as well as bargain day tickets (if you're willing to travel on more regional trains than ICE). www.bahn.co.uk has lots of useful info for train travel in Germany.

If my geography serves me correctly, Hockenheim could well be quickest via Eurostar to Paris, TGV to Strasbourg, then DB on from there. I could be wrong though, do don't hold me to that ;)
 

Max

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Max, that's the route that www.bahn.de generally chooses

Yeah, with the new TGV line to Strasbourg now open it must be fairly quick to get across there. We visited southern Germany the year before last, and did a bit of a touring holiday using the train. We visited a number of towns in that region, including Baden Baden and Freiburg. The IC stock used on DB is very much like unrefurbished GNER Mk3s, with nice, comfy padded seats (in a bit better condition though)! Personally, I found the German rail network to be efficient, comfortable but quite expensive. There are bargains to be had though.
 

beermaddavep

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You could always travel overnight from London-Goppingen
http://www.bahn.de/nachtzugreise/view/en/angebote/partner/eurostar_en.shtml

115 euros each way.

Probably the cheapest and quickest way is to fly Lufthansa )NCL to Dusseldorf(217 quid return) then train onwards to Hockenheim (3 hours, 29 euro each way advance, or buy a special railandfly add on for about the same fare but valid on any train)

Leave NCL 09.40 you should arrive around 16.00
Returning approx 11.00 arrive NCL 17.05

You will need to book this sharpish though cos the plane is only a 50 seater and might fill up fast!

The return BA flight NCL-Heathrow- Stuttgart is about £800...
 

gordonthemoron

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You could get the oivernight ferry from North Shields to Amsterdam and then onwards with Deutsche Bahn. Train tickets are probably cheaper via the Dutch railways website (www.nl.ns)
 

mealybar

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Thanks everyone for the help.

Decided to go with;

Train to Edinburgh, and the bus shuttle to the airport. Flight to Cologne. Train from Cologne to Hockenheim via Manheim.

Way back; train from Hockenheim to Karlsruhe, then catch the night train to Paris Est, walk or metro to Nord and catch the Eurostar. Then on a NXEC from Kings Cross home. Its gong to be quite a weekend!

Only bit I havent booked yet are the German trains (inc the night train) just a bit worried about getting the tickets or print at home, has anyone done this before?

Am I wise in getting the airport connection (from Cologne) in advance or get it on the day? Incase of delay? Will there be an increase in price?
 

gordonthemoron

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I've done night train tickets from www.bahn.de which they send to you, takes 4 or 5 days, only problem with that is the website doesn't show the price. Also used www.dbnachtzug.de, this lets you print the ticket at home, not sure if it works for international trains, give it a go, this does show ticket prices. Both websites are available in english.

Alternatively, ring DB in surbiton, phone no 08718-80-80-66, and they can book it for you (I've used this method too).

Have fun :grin:

It makes no difference in price for the airport connection as DB do not offer reductions on single day journeys (they do on night trains). However, you probably cannot buy a ticket from COlogne Airport to Hockenheim as there is no ticket office, just a machine, you'd have to get the s-bahn to Cologne Hauptbahnhof and buy an onward ticket there. I'd recommend buying an open single on www.bahn.de to print at home.
 
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