Green Traveller's Guide to taking the train from London St Pancras International Railway Station to Hamburg, Germany.
Journey Time: from 8 hours 37 mins
Sample timetable: Depart London 9.01am, arrive Hamburg 7.14pm
Changes: 2
Transfer: Quick same-station change of platform within Brussels Midi station and another at Cologne Hbf railway station
Frequency of Departures: 11/day
Carbon emissions: 23.1kg (flight would be 130.5kg)* Train tickets provided by Trainline:
Tickets provided by Trainline, which allows you to buy tickets for multiple train operators in multiple European countries. It does charge a small booking fee, but offers several useful facilities, such as a free email alert service to let you know as soon as bookings open for your chosen route so you can snap up the cheapest tickets when they become available.
How to book train tickets as part of a package with accommodation
If you want someone to book the whole journey for you or combine it with staying in hotels en route, get in touch with the travel agent Byway through its page for booking enquiries.
What's the journey like?
Take the Eurostar to Brussels Midi station where there's an easy same-station platform change to board the high-speed Thalys or ICE trains to Cologne. Keep an eye out on the platform at Brussels for the handy guide to the layout of incoming trains, which shows you where your carriage will arrive into the station so you can make your way to the correct part of the platform before the train arrives. On arrival at Cologne, you then have to change trains to take the Intercity train to Hamburg (a journey of about 4 hours).
Stopover hotels to break the journey in Brussels and Cologne
If you want to break the journey and stay overnight to see a bit more of Brussels and/or Cologne while you're travelling through, there are lots of lovely places to stay near Brussels Midi and Cologne Hbf railway stations (we've stayed at Hostel Koln, which is about a 20-minute walk from the railway station). Here are some examples of hotels that are conveniently nearby: Hotels near Brussels Midi and Hotels near Cologne Hbf
Miss your connection?
Don’t panic. Railteam’s ‘Hop on the Next Available Train’ service means that if you have missed your connection because of a delay on the preceding leg of your journey, you’ll automatically be put on the next available high-speed train. NB Remember to get your ticket stamped by your Train Manager.
For more overland train routes to Germany, see our Flight-Free Train & Ferry Journey Planner
On arrival
Willkommen in Hamburg! By the banks of the River Elbe in northern Germany, Hamburg is a waterfront city with lots of great cafes, restaurants, shops, theatres, museums, galleries, and a vibrant nightlife scene. There are lots of hotels near the train station, see below:
Hotels near Hamburg's train station
We sent writer Anna Shepard by train to Hamburg, here's what she had to say:
"Before setting off for a weekend in Hamburg, I told my German neighbours where I was headed. “There are lots of parks and expensive cafes, but it's not as fun as Berlin," they told me. "Why don’t you go there?” Everyone knows you can have a good time in the country's eclectic capital, but I wanted something different. And my interest was piqued by Hamburg's reputation as Germany’s greenest city, with fantastic public transport, bike-loving citizens and fairtrade boutiques."
Read her full review: Hamburg, Germany's greenest city?
Gute Reise!
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