Paris To Amsterdam By Train WITH Bikes

The company that runs trains between Paris and Amsterdam is Eurostar. Because they recently merged the cross channel and continental services together their website is a bit confusing, as the rules are different for London to Europe, as they are for Paris to Amsterdam.

See https://www.eurostar.com/rw-en/travel-info/travel-planning/luggage/bikes

Basically you need to book a spot (as the number of bikes per train is limited) and it will cost you 30,- extra.But it is not clear where you can book that. I would give them a call.

Thanks @Wengen.

This sort of non-friendly policy seems more like I would expect from the US Amtrak system than one in Europe, but I guess user-unfriendly knows no borders :(

Inter-city trains these days aren't really designed and built to carry cargo like bikes. Just bums on seats. It doesn't really pay to give over lots of space to a bike at less than the profit of another seat or two I'd imagine. Even within the Netherlands, the most bike friendly country on the planet, it can be a bit of a faff. Most folks that are doing a commute will have a "station bike" at their destination.

I'm not sure I can offer any actual help with your logistics. Swapfiets springs to mind as a way of multi-country bike rental though.

When is this going to be by the way. I just learned that from the December timetable onwards there are going to be again three classic train pairs between Paris and Brussels. This because the Belgian railways have realised that if they do not offer that someone else eventually will. And taking a bike on these trains will be possible. But I am still waiting for some more details.
Would require a change in Brussels. But between Brussels and Amsterdam there are big changes afoot as well.

These new trains from Brussels to Paris were first run as the Olympic specials.
They said at the time that the intention was to make them permanent from the December timetable change.

There is a stopping service from Brussels to Paris changing at Charleroi and Maubeuge. But looking at the SNCB Bikes on Trains planner the Charleroi to Maubeuge train is not bike friendly- https://bikeontrain.belgiantrain.be/

However that shows that the 0953 train (changing at Gent) to Lille is bike friendly- that train specifically- 2 hours to Lille Flandres.

Then you can reserve a bike space on TGV INOUI trains from Lille to Paris for € 10 - https://www.sncf-connect.com/en-en/train/bike-onboard

These latest responses seem like there MAY be hope :)

We'd be doing this in the late Spring through early Fall window - no firm plans in place yet due to obstacles like this train thing.

Thanks!

Long distance cycling is very popular in Europe and while local trains do not require a reservation most long distance trains do and these get booked up weeks in advance. So you'll need to do some detailed planning:

• If you want to go by fast train then reserve early. You can use the Bahn website with the filter set to only show trains that will carry bikes to see what is available
• Use regional trains. This will take you longer but you won't need reservations and most trains will have some space
• Use Flixbus, again like the long distance trains some of these busses carry bikes but they also book up quickly, so you need to plan long term.