Season's greetings, I read posts everyday and many subject titles are so vague, you don't know what's up. This is me thinking I am a man of wit. I am working on a trip for late March, 2013. Part 1 is visiting friends in the greater Freiburg area in the Black Forest for a long weekend, then would like to spend a week exploring out of Ludlow. Both of these cities are served by trains, and I know the Eurostar works out of Paris and Brussells. Is there a way to plug them in on one ticket? Or does one buy a ticket to a Eurostar stop, get a E-star ticket, and then one to Ludlow? These would be available for purchase about 90 days out? We could fly, but am interested in taking the train, if it works out. We'll probably be exhausted from socializing, so a down day would not be bad. Randy
Posted by
New Paltz, NY
9102 posts
The German Rail site, rail.de, can give you schedules for the entire journey, but doesn't appear to provide fare info to Ludlow or even London St Pancras.
You'll probably have to purchase three separate tickets, Freiburg to Paris via the rail.de site. Paris to St Pancras via the Chunnel site (http://tinyurl/chunnel-train), and London to Ludlow via the National Rail site at: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/
Posted by
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
4054 posts
Complicated rail arrangements always cry out for the site that knows more about trains than any other: www.seat61.com
Posted by
London, United Kingdom
4684 posts
Book the first leg from Freiburg at www.bahn.de. Initially try booking the whole trip from Freiburg to London, as DB offers limited numbers of very cheap fares from German stations to London, usually going by the Cologne-Brussels-London route. If there are no cheap fares all the way to London, check Freiburg-Paris and Freiburg-Brussels to see which is cheaper or faster. Then book from Brussels or London to Paris at www.eurostar.com. The easiest way to get from London to Ludlow is to travel from London Euston station and change at Birmingham and Shrewsbury. You can get a ticket for the whole route at www.virgintrains.co.uk/ You will probably want to take a night's break at some point. I'd suggest either London or Paris/Brussels.
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
If you want to go all the way from Freiburg to Ludlow in one day, here's a way you could do it. 1. Book Freiburg-Paris on the German Rail site (bahn.de) ASAP (up to 92 days in advance) to get a discount fare as low as €39. 2. Book Paris-London on eurostar.com ASAP (up to 120 days in advance) to get a discount fare as low as €39. 3. Book London-Ludlow ASAP (up to about 12 weeks in advance) at eastcoast.co.uk. to get an advance off-peak fare. Your route will be either Paddington-Newport-Ludlow or Euston-Crewe-Ludlow. If you leave Freiburg at 05:52, you'll connect in Karlsruhe and arrive at Gare de l'Est in Paris at 10:35. Take a 7-minute walk from Gare de l'Est to Gare du Nord. Take the 12:04 Eurostar to London, arriving at St Pancras International at 13:30. Make your way by Tube or taxi to either Paddington or Euston.
Posted by
OP
Eugene, OR
53 posts
Thanks for the help, and glad I asked as my 90 day assumption for the Eurostar was inaccurate. The Eurostar leg is for sale and I should figure out whether to rip the band aid off all at once or rip it half way off and stay a night in Paris. Or instead bite the bullet instead of use a band aid and fly. Or possibly stop using bad metaphors altogether. Any idea how the scenery is on a train from Germany into Paris? Freiburg to Ludlow is about an 11.5 hour affair on the train, at best.