luggage storage in Europe

Depends on where you are traveling, but most larger train stations do have some sort of storage options. Some countries have lockers, some just have staffed luggage hold facilities, some have both. There are a few countries, like Portugal, that have none.

Hi Bruce,
We were traveling from Baden Baden to Stuttgart recently and stopped over in Karlruhe for a few hours to visit a museum. It was the first time we tried storing our luggage at the train station and it worked great. Signs in the train station indicated where the luggage storage area was located. The lockers were large enough for two pieces of luggage and a backpack. It cost around 4-5 EUR (if I remember correctly). Once you insert the money you get a token. That opens the locker when you return. It couldn't have been easier.

I had a similar question. Does anyone know if storage lockers are available in train stations in Britain?

Most train stations have convenient lockers. The few I've been in that don't are used to people asking if they can put their bag behind the counter for a couple of hours.

At the end of a business trip, I stored my work clothes at the airport for a week while I travelled with a daypack and one change of clothes.

Shelley, I have never seen lockers at train stations in the U.K. They do have manned left luggage facilities at train stations in London. They x-ray your bags before accepting and give you a receipt.

For the UK, this site will show you the facilities at a station http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/

I found that planning where to store luggage was a snap, once I looked in Rick Steve's books. Each city guide has quite a detailed description of facilities available, include luggage storage.

It's great to know where they are, but even better for planning where you know there is not one available, or which station it is located.

Thanks everyone! That helps a lot. I'll check out the site and Rick's books.

Shelley

The Bayern-Takt website shows stations in Bavaria and indicates if they have lockers. Go to www.bayern-takt.de, click on Englische Version, then on Our Services, finally on Station Layout. You will see a pulldown menu with the name of all stations. On the station page a check box indicates if they have lockers and a symbol of a suitcase in a box shows where they are. My wife and I were able to store both of our Rick Steves Convertible (non-wheeled) bags in the smallest lockers.