Train from Copenhagen to Hamburg Germany?

What is the fastest train from Copenhagen to Germany?

The direct train.

Is Rail Europe a good place to reserve our ticket or there are better
options?

No. Use either www.dsb.dk or www.bahn.de

The fastest Deutsche Bahn trains from Copenhagen to Hamburg take 5 hours.

Wait around until 2030 (maybe) when the Fehmarn Belt Tunnel is completed and will take only 3 1/4 hours.

Thank you all for your feedbacks.
would you recommend DSB or DB ? Or I do not have a choice? Should I make a reservation in advance ?
Thank you a bunch

Check the price, but www.bahn.com/en is much easier to use. The DSB site is tricky and you may have to keep it in Danish to make it work.

Thank you, I will

Which ever you choose, I would definitely purchase a seat reservation. The Hamburg/Copenhagen train can get extremely crowded. When I was on it, both going and coming back, there were people sitting on the floor because they did not have seats reserved.

And I purchased my ticket on Bahn.de.

Also, you may have to show your passport when you cross over into Denmark. At least I did when I was going last year. So I would have it handy just in case.

would you recommend DSB or DB ?

Use the one you like the best. The train is operated by DB and DSB in cooperation so both companies sell tickets.

I'm Danish and I would use Bahn.de!

It works better and though I haven't done a thorough research, I think their prices are lower.

Thank you for the replies
I did book my tickets on Bahn.de

Very doable train rides from Berlin to Copenhagen via Hamburg central station. You have at least 30 mins at Hamburg Hbf before your train to Copenhagen. Hamburg Hbf is absolutely the most taxing train station in Germany at which to transfer with luggage in tow, can't think of any other German train station in that context.

The 'new' trainsets, using electrically hauled old DB rolling stock, have now entered service, with 7 car long trains and 5 daytime pairs of trains daily, so the capacity issues should be considerably eased on this route
There will also be an overnight seated train in each direction using DSB IC3 diesel hauled stock, as well as the two overnight sleepers which both start in Berlin and run forward to Stockholm.
Eventually brand new 8 car Talgo style trainsets will be introduced, when technical issues have been resolved.

My Wife and I were married in Lyngby (suburban Copenhagen) and returned to Germany taking the train to Hamburg for our first night. Copenhagen is on an island.

The train is put on a ferry (without locomotives) and when in Germany picks up new locomotives.

The train is put on a ferry (without locomotives) and when in Germany
picks up new locomotives.

That must have been a while ago. The trains haven't used the ferries since 2019 and haven't used locomotives in many years.

The only train ferry now left in Western Europe is the one from mainland Italy to Sicily, which both of the overnight sleeper trains to Sicily still use. The next closest one is at Lake Van on the Turkey/Iran border, although it doesn't currently convey the trains, passengers currently have to travel as foot pax connecting between the Turkish and Iranian trains.

Many years ago train ferries on several routes ran across the English Channel (until the Channel Tunnel opened, and afterwards for freight), carrying the through London to Paris (and further afield) trains. And in my youth there were several train ferries from Germany to Sweden, all now gone.

Take a Deutsche Bahn (DB) train from Copenhagen to Hamburg Hbf, and you'll reach your destination in just 4h 36m on the fastest services.

And in my youth there were several train ferries from Germany to
Sweden, all now gone.

You're not that old then I assume. There are still train ferries from Germany to Sweden, although only used by freight trains. The last route that carried passenger trains was cancelled in 2020.

I'm in my 60's.

Gosh, that recently for the last passenger train ferry. I suppose that was the one from Sassnitz. I thought it had been gone longer than that.

Although I never used it I can remember the hovercraft from Copenhagen Airport to Malmo- before the bridge was built.

I can't remember the name of the ship but there was a wonderful old ferry (when built the largest ferry on the Baltic, but now titchy half a century or more later) which used to do an overnight cruise from Stockholm to the Alands and back - a hugely different experience to the big fancy Viking and Silja boats we have now). She seems to have gone before Covid.

I sadly never got on the Silja Finnjet when it was in icebreaking mode - that was supposed to be quite an experience.

The only really long train trip I've done in Sweden is the Narvik (Norway) to Gallivare then all the way down the Inlandsbahn. I've mainly done ferry hopping, or used to enter Sweden via the Helsingor superflex ferries or the Frederiksaven to Gothenburg ferry then train up to Oslo and onwards. I don't think I've even done the Malmo to Stockholm main line as I've done Stockholm from either Oslo or Gothenburg. I've never flown in to any Scandinavian country- always overland.

My Baltic cruise which took in Bornholm and Gotland was a bit of a cheat, as it was a cruise, rather than getting there on the ferry routes!!

I've done much of the Danish rail network and almost all the Norwegian network, but as I say most of the Swedish network is a mystery to me, as is the whole of the Finland network.

Gosh, that recently for the last passenger train ferry. I suppose that
was the one from Sassnitz. I thought it had been gone longer than
that.

Correct, it was the Trelleborg-Sassnitz route. It was used until 2019 by the Stockholm-Berlin night train. But in 2020 the route was cancelled due to the pandemic, and when the night train was reinstated it was rerouted via Denmark.

Although I never used it I can remember the hovercraft from Copenhagen
Airport to Malmo- before the bridge was built.

I've only read about them. But it was a bit interesting that an airlined operated hovercrafts.

I can't remember the name of the ship but there was a wonderful old
ferry (when built the largest ferry on the Baltic, but now titchy half
a century or more later) which used to do an overnight cruise from
Stockholm to the Alands and back - a hugely different experience to
the big fancy Viking and Silja boats we have now). She seems to have
gone before Covid.

Was it one of Birka's ships? Sadly that company was killed by the pandemic.

I've done much of the Danish rail network and almost all the Norwegian
network, but as I say most of the Swedish network is a mystery to me,
as is the whole of the Finland network.

Feel free to ask. It's my job to know things about railways, and I'd say I know a lot about the Swedish rail network. And a quite a bit about the Finnish.

It was far older than any of the Birka fleet- it was somewhere between the age of the late lamented Marco Polo cruise ship (1965 built) and the Astoria cruise ship (1948 built) and was the only ship the line in question owned. Sadly I have totally mislaid my voyage log, for what was 2 weeks ferry hopping in the Baltic starting and ending at Harwich in England. It was an organised trip with road coach support, so very different from my usual independent style of travel. But essential for the ground that was covered, which couldn't have been done in the time available by train.

Finland by train has just never happened because of the historical issues in getting there overland through the Baltics. And now you can go round the top by train from Finland to Sweden which is quite an improvement. And Finland is now easy- London to Latvia by just 3 changes of train, then the Lux Express to Estonia.

I simply don't know how it is that in all the times I have been to Trondheim I always used the Oslo-Gothenburg-CPH-AMS-HVH (or a variant thereof, like Helsingor, Kiel or Esbjerg) route rather than the Storlien-Stockholm- CPH-AMS-HVH route.

It was far older than any of the Birka fleet- it was somewhere between
the age of the late lamented Marco Polo cruise ship (1965 built) and
the Astoria cruise ship (1948 built) and was the only ship the line in
question owned.

Maybe Ånedinlinjen's Birger Jarl/Baltic Star? https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Birger_Jarl_(ship,_1953)#/media/File:MS_Birger_Jarl_september_2011.jpg

And now you can go round the top by train from Finland to Sweden which
is quite an improvement.

Almost, you have to walk across the border. But three daily trains between Luleå and Haparanda is a huge improvement. And the line is being electrified on the Finnish side which might improve things.

I simply don't know how it is that in all the times I have been to
Trondheim I always used the Oslo-Gothenburg-CPH-AMS-HVH (or a variant
thereof, like Helsingor, Kiel or Esbjerg) route rather than the
Storlien-Stockholm- CPH-AMS-HVH route.

Next year the route via Storlien will be much easier when the line is electrified on the Norwegian side. SJ has promised direct trains between Stockholm and Trondheim once it is electrified all the way.

That's her, the Birger Jarl, in her second career, under that name.

I see she is still afloat.

The other historic ship I want to visit in Stockholm is the Dunboyne- thought to be the oldest surviving ship from my home town of Whitehaven in England.

I was meant to get to the Dunboyne in Spring 2020 from a cruise ship docking at Nynashamn (suburban train ride in from there), and we all know what happened to that idea. That was another of my cheats, rather than using Polferries from Gdansk.
My excuse for doing it on a cruise was that there were also calls at Skagen (for the railway from Hirtshals and Hjorring) and Kalundborg (for train to Copenhangen), then Helsinki as well as other ports.

The name Dunboyne lingers on in Whitehaven as the name of one of the rooms at our Civic Hall (entertainment venue).

The poor OP must be wondering where this thread has gone to!!

I see she is still afloat.

She is, but barely. There has been some scandals around the ship and the current owner has been involved in a legal battles of different kinds.

The other historic ship I want to visit in Stockholm is the Dunboyne-
thought to be the oldest surviving ship from my home town of
Whitehaven in England.

I had to google the name as I've not heard of her. But today she is know as Af Chapman and quite well known in Stockholm. Currently she is being renovated but will open again in December.

The poor OP must be wondering where this thread has gone to!!

True, sorry about that mmonajatire!