We have a four country select pass-France,Germany,Italy and Austria. We plan to take the Thalys train from Cologne to Paris but we read at the Euraide site that we will be charged full price for the Belgium section since we do not have Benelux on our railpass. Any help or suggestions??
Posted by
Buffalo Grove, IL
82 posts
you do not need to go through Belgium to get to Germany from France. Just take a train from any of the Alsace towns into Germany. For example, a train from Strasbourg to Stuttgart.
Posted by
Ottawa, Canada
4555 posts
Taking a trip that avoids Benelux will sharply increase your journey time. Since you already have a pass, you might want to save a day of it and just pay for the Koln-Paris trip thru Brussels. You can find specials for as low as 25 Euro pp. Check out bahn.de and tgv-europe.com. Remember as well that, when you do use your pass, many of the fast trains require reservations/supplements which cost extra...and the rail companies restrict the number of reservations available to pass holders.
Posted by
Nederland, CO
1530 posts
Welcome to the Board Lorna! I'm thinking that it's probably cheaper to pay that portion as the DB website says the fare for the entire way is 45.5 euro. I think you could call Euraide today and see if that's something they can help you with if you plan on getting them to do the rest of your reservations.
Anybody else have better ideas?
Posted by
Atlanta, Georgia
135 posts
Hi, Lorna, I don't have a better idea, except I agree, the way through Benelux is the fastest. Just in case this is your first European train trip: not all the doors on the inside of the train cars have handles or door knobs or whatever. They also don't open automatically. Look for a set of buttons on the side wall to the right of the door, like elevator buttons. Have fun!