Norway to London. By Rail. In three days...Maybe.

[SeatBackForward]

I may have a few days over a weekend between events later this year, the first event in Norway and the second event in London. Sure I could fly, but I want something more challenging. So considering doing Oslo to London by Rail. I know I could just fly and spend a few days visiting one place, but I have a passion for railways, and would rather do this than be a tourist in one or two places.

There are some overnight rail routes in Europe, But I haven't seen much of Europe and it would be shame to pass it in the night. So would prefer just daytime routes.

Some possible routings are: Oslo>Gotenburg>Copenhagen>Hamburg>Amsterdam>Brussels>London. OR could consider going out further to say Switzerland or even Milan/Venice.

Any suggestions on ideas? Will likely get a four day rail pass (if these are still a thing)

 

[NM]

Sounds like a great idea. While I can't help too much on the routing, I am keen to see what you come up with and how the trip goes.

 

[VPS]

Good luck

I assume you know about The Man in Seat 61 | The train travel guide

This guy is currently catching trains in Scandanavia https://twitter.com/jonworth

 

[ausfox]

We took the Eurostar from near Amsterdam to London in 2019. Fast, comfortable and not expensive. I say south as I can’t recall which city but all Eurostar trains didn’t start from Amsterdam. The connection was comfortable and interesting in particular the enormous hothouses.

 

[Scarlett]

Have you previously been up to the Flåmsbana?

Also, that leg between Copenhagen and Hamburg certainly is interesting for a rail trip. 🛳

 

[SeatBackForward]

Have you previously been up to the Flåmsbana?

Also, that leg between Copenhagen and Hamburg certainly is interesting for a rail trip. 🛳

Unfortunately I'm not likely to be able to head that way. I plan on actually starting the trip in Stavanger on the west coast of Norway and get a day train to Oslo, its about 7hrs. So heading towards Bergen would be against the flow. But who knows I'm still in early planning, I could consider doing this then returning to Oslo and then flying onwards.

I've also found out I might need to meet some European clients if possible - but given its a weekend I really don't want to be bothering them

Post automatically merged: Jun 22, 2022

Good luck

I assume you know about The Man in Seat 61 | The train travel guide

This guy is currently catching trains in Scandanavia https://twitter.com/jonworth

View attachment 282508

That Seat61 website is good, There's so much info available on European rails, it can be difficult to know where to start!

Post automatically merged: Jun 22, 2022

Sounds like a great idea. While I can't help too much on the routing, I am keen to see what you come up with and how the trip goes.

Will keep this one going then, its planned for 1st half of November, so a lot can happen before then yet.

 

[SYD]

Rome2rio.com will throw up some suggestions for you. If you can get to the Eurostar from Brussels or Amsterdam, that’s probably going to be the quickest.

We took the Eurostar from near Amsterdam to London in 2019. Fast, comfortable and not expensive. I say south as I can’t recall which city but all Eurostar trains didn’t start from Amsterdam. The connection was comfortable and interesting in particular the enormous hothouses.

Rotterdam? Or maybe even Antwerp or Brussels - both easily accessible from AMS.

 

[mrsterryn]

Sounds like an amazing train trek. Definitely love travelling by trains

 

[VPS]

If you’re going via Brussels then Bruges is only an hour on the train and well worth a visit. An overnight is good when all the day trippers have gone

 

[Forg]

We took the Eurostar from near Amsterdam to London in 2019. Fast, comfortable and not expensive. I say south as I can’t recall which city but all Eurostar trains didn’t start from Amsterdam. The connection was comfortable and interesting in particular the enormous hothouses.

You do have to think about where you are vs where you want to go to … the concept of avoiding the whole airport-security circus appealed to me so I organised Eurostar return when wanting to get from UK to Ghent in 2012. Except I didn’t think of a few downsides … firstly, where I was staying was 10min on the train to Stansted vs ~1.5hr to get to St Pancreas … secondly picking up a rental in the middle of Brussels on a Friday afternoon is not great (2nd worst traffic in Europe if I remember correctly) and probably added nearly an hour to the drive. Flying from Heathrow was a faster, if possibly less intriguing, alternative for a similar trip in 2018.

If you’re going via Brussels then Bruges is only an hour on the train and well worth a visit. An overnight is good when all the day trippers have gone

I actually think Ghent is a good alternative … as it’s very similar, except is “real” and a proper working city, as opposed to a tourist invention. And a helluva lot of the same stuff is better but cheaper, for example getting waffles on the street in late autumn seemed to be something that even non-tourists would do in Ghent and they were half the price for at least the same (OMFG they were good!) quality.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Rome2rio.com will throw up some suggestions for you. If you can get to the Eurostar from Brussels or Amsterdam, that’s probably going to be the quickest.

Rotterdam? Or maybe even Antwerp or Brussels - both easily accessible from AMS.

Rome2Rio is such an awesome site. Developed by some guys in Melbourne I thought. I always use it as a first pass at looking at options.

 

[SeatBackForward]

If you’re going via Brussels then Bruges is only an hour on the train and well worth a visit. An overnight is good when all the day trippers have gone

I actually think Ghent is a good alternative … as it’s very similar, except is “real” and a proper working city, as opposed to a tourist invention. And a helluva lot of the same stuff is better but cheaper, for example getting waffles on the street in late autumn seemed to be something that even non-tourists would do in Ghent and they were half the price for at least the same (OMFG they were good!) quality.

Thanks for the tips.

I suspect I wont have much time to explore anywhere really (I mean there's so many cities I could choose from in that sense). Depending on what I I end up routing, I might need a couple of nights stay in some hotels and I may decide to throw in a few hours of sightseeing close to the hotel/station, but this one is about railways!

Post automatically merged: Jun 24, 2022

Sounds like an amazing train trek. Definitely love travelling by trains

Indeed, a childhood fascination with trains, well railways to be more specific. I was hoping to have gone to India in 2020 before Covid cancelled it for more Indian Railway action some love it, some hate it, but rarely is anyone in the middle. Might try and squeeze in an overnight on Amtrak later this year also.

 

[SYD]

Rome2Rio is such an awesome site. Developed by some guys in Melbourne I thought. I always use it as a first pass at looking at options.

I was quite surprised that it gave a not totally insane rail option. As well as some ferry+rail options (that you might consider also).

 

[SeatBackForward]

I was quite surprised that it gave a not totally insane rail option. As well as some ferry+rail options (that you might consider also).

Yeah, its actually a really good site for looking at options, though the results are not always 100% accurate - especially with all the changes Covid has caused.

My actual starting point is Stavanger, Norway. There is a ferry from Kristiansand to Eemshaven but that's 18hrs on a ship, I'd much rather the train and that's why OSLO>GOTENBURG>COPENHAGEN>HAMBURG>AMSTERDAM looks more plausible. The question is whether I want to stop somewhere for the night, or take an overnight train (not a sleeper service as such) - this is always appealing as it avoids needing accommodation, but having a break is also good...

 

[Forg]

Thanks for the tips.

I suspect I wont have much time to explore anywhere really (I mean there's so many cities I could choose from in that sense). Depending on what I I end up routing, I might need a couple of nights stay in some hotels and I may decide to throw in a few hours of sightseeing close to the hotel/station, but this one is about railways!

That sparks another thought ... I've only spent enough time to start "looking for stuff to do" in Belgium (for work reasons), anywhere else I've been outside of Sydney has been a holiday & hence planned. Which means I only have any sort of experience with Belgian public transport, as opposed to elsewhere in Europe.

Sooo - the point of this is to say they have really good all-weekend deals on SNCB. You buy your ticket to Wherever on a Friday afternoon, it costs about the same as a full-price return, except it's valid from Friday arvo to early Monday morning for any number of return trips & you can also hop on & off anywhere in between.
So in case that arrangement is available elsewhere you're travelling, it might be nice to know in case you're able to plan to be somewhere on the weekend & get unlimited train travel to nearby cities.

 

[SeatBackForward]

That sparks another thought ... I've only spent enough time to start "looking for stuff to do" in Belgium (for work reasons), anywhere else I've been outside of Sydney has been a holiday & hence planned. Which means I only have any sort of experience with Belgian public transport, as opposed to elsewhere in Europe.

Sooo - the point of this is to say they have really good all-weekend deals on SNCB. You buy your ticket to Wherever on a Friday afternoon, it costs about the same as a full-price return, except it's valid from Friday arvo to early Monday morning for any number of return trips & you can also hop on & off anywhere in between.
So in case that arrangement is available elsewhere you're travelling, it might be nice to know in case you're able to plan to be somewhere on the weekend & get unlimited train travel to nearby cities.

Thanks, and this highlights one of the problems I'm facing. There are so many options in Europe. The Eurail 4 day pass is around USD$300 and essentially lets you get onto any Euro rail service, and only pay extra where reservations are required on High-speed or overnight services. BUT if I know where I'm going, there might be better local options such as the Belgium one.

But on the other hand, seeing as my last leg will be Eurotunnel service, there goes half the cost of the Eurail pass there itself!

EDIT: ok maybe not a half, that's overly dramatic, but substantial nonetheless.

 

[Cossie]

Not sure when you are travelling through Germany, but there is still the 9 euro ricket for all of Germany as posted elsewhere. No high speed services, but one way to visit many places.

9-Euro-Ticket

Energy costs are rising. As one response, the German government is planning to launch a special-offer ticket as part of its support package for bus and rail transport. For 9 euros, you can travel throughout Germany on local/regional trains for a whole month in June, July or August. Sales at...

www.bahn.com

 

[SeatBackForward]

Just saw this on the Eurostar page:

We’re not selling any tickets between St Pancras International, Rotterdam Centraal and Amsterdam Centraal on the following dates until the timetables have been confirmed:

The weekend I'm considering in November is listed. So looks like I'll HAVE to end up in Paris. At least that helps

Post automatically merged: Jun 24, 2022

Not sure when you are travelling through Germany, but there is still the 9 euro ricket for all of Germany as posted elsewhere. No high speed services, but one way to visit many places.

9-Euro-Ticket

Energy costs are rising. As one response, the German government is planning to launch a special-offer ticket as part of its support package for bus and rail transport. For 9 euros, you can travel throughout Germany on local/regional trains for a whole month in June, July or August. Sales at...

www.bahn.com

Thanks, but I'm planning this for November. I think that was a Summer special they were running?

 

[Cossie]

Just saw this on the Eurostar page:



The weekend I'm considering in November is listed. So looks like I'll HAVE to end up in Paris. At least that helps

Post automatically merged: Jun 24, 2022

Thanks, but I'm planning this for November. I think that was a Summer special they were running?

Yes, a special for June, July and August. I bought one for July, but probably won’t get to use it now.

 

[BCons]

There’s a very comfortable overnight ferry from Oslo to Copenhagen, from where the boat train (it splits into multi carriage sections on a rail ferry to cross the femer belt) can get you to Lubeck, Hamburg and then onwards to Amsterdam and Eurostar.

Night 1 on the ferry, night 2 say in Hamburg, final night in Ams or Rdam or Ghent or whichever Benelux city connects you to Eurostar.

Recommend (as others have above) to research rail on Seat 61, get yr rail tkts at Trainline, and find yr ferry tkts at Direct Ferries.

Did the Coph/Oslo ferry trip a number of times in the course of business travel, and rail Coph back to Hmbg as well.

Let’s know how you get on, it’s an interesting and comfortable trip.