Hello!,
Am planning a tour through parts of Europe (France/Belgium/Netherlands) and wanted to experience European Rail that will allow me to board with my touring Bicycle (I can easily dismount the panniers)
If need be, For a long journey or to ride the TGV/ICE trains, I can probably partially disassemble my bicycle and wrap it in a tarp as I have done for using the Shinkansen in Japan.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
I’ve not personally traveled with a bicycle but have seen other passengers board trains in France with their bicycles.
Here are a couple of helpful websites:
Hi,
If you plan on doing this in Germany since you listed the ICE trains, it's mandatory to get a reservation for bringing on a bike onto a train, ie, Fahrradmitnahme reservierungspflichtig. Get the reservation at the Reisezentrum in the station. You won't need to disassemble. partially the bike.
As long as you buy the bike a ticket you can take it Dutch trains.
The DeutscheBahn link allows you to request only train schedules that allow bikes without disassembly. They have train schedules for all of Europe, but I believe you'll find similar info on the national railway sites for each country, if you prefer those.
As Fred says, reservations for your bike are mandatory on the German ICE high speed trains.
On regional trains, it's usually a first come first serve system, and you do need a ticket for your bike. Try not to travel at the busiest times when your bike will be in everybody's way.
For local public transportation, there are varying rules. Some will transport your bike at certain times of day only (not at rush hour).
When reading the train schedules, there will be a bicycle icon beside the trains that you can take your bike on. There is also an icon painted on the outside of the train car so you know where to board with your bike. No need to disassemble or remove panniers on regional trains. I have no experience with bikes on the high speed trains.
