Help with train from Frankfurt to London after Avalon river cruise

[TikiIslandGirl]

Hello, me/mom/niece are taking a long overdue river cruise in September on Avalon Imagery II-that ends in Frankfurt. My niece will fly back home from Frankfurt after the river cruise and me and my mother will be heading up to London. My mother loves train travel so we will take the train to London. So my question is-the main train station in Frankfurt is closer to Avalons dock in Frankfurt vs taking the train from the airport. I was wondering about would it be easier/cheaper just to get a taxi for the 3 of us and head to the airport (don't know how far from a terminal drop off to the train station is-she is flying Lufthansa) or get my niece a transfer via Avalon to the airport and me/mom take a taxi to the main train station. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

[rcaruso]

At the airport there is Fern (long distance, as well as Regional train) that is out of the Lufthansa Terminal (Terminal 1 I believe).  The main train Station in Frankfurt is a short walk (although depends how many suitcases you have) by short 15-30min. I guess depends on how much the Avalon transfer is--but may just be best to travel to airport together.

[notamermaid]

This is the map excerpt:

 

Avalon Waterways may be near Eiserner Steg, a bridge. The many grey lines near it are the railway tracks and the main station. As rcaruso has said, this is within walking distance. Avalon Waterways may also use the blue forked lines at the top right corner. That is the Osthafen dock. Right at bottom left is a pink icon for the airport hotel. That is how far out the airport is. I think you may find it easiest to go to the airport together with a shuttle that Avalon Waterways no doubt offers. From there you yourself can go - literally walk - to the high speed train terminal right at the airport from which trains leave for Cologne. In Cologne you typically connect for London via Brussels.

 

notamermaid

 

[TikiIslandGirl]

4 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

This is the map excerpt:

 

Avalon Waterways may be near Eiserner Steg, a bridge. The many grey lines near it are the railway tracks and the main station. As rcaruso has said, this is within walking distance. Avalon Waterways may also use the blue forked lines at the top right corner. That is the Osthafen dock. Right at bottom left is a pink icon for the airport hotel. That is how far out the airport is. I think you may find it easiest to go to the airport together with a shuttle that Avalon Waterways no doubt offers. From there you yourself can go - literally walk - to the high speed train terminal right at the airport from which trains leave for Cologne. In Cologne you typically connect for London via Brussels.

 

notamermaid

 

Thanks for the map and suggestions. It does look like the easiest to just all 3 go to the airport and easy access to the the train station. My mother would also feel better dropping her 32 y/o granddaughter off at the airport LOL

[notamermaid]

One thing I forgot to mention:

2 hours ago, TikiIslandGirl said:

My mother loves train travel so we will take the train to London.

From Frankfurt you can go via the hills - high speed - to Cologne during which journey you will see lots of forest rushing past. Do check if it is convenient for you to take the fast train that goes via Koblenz from which windows you can see the river and the castles. It takes longer but is more scenic in my opinion.

 

notamermaid

 

[TikiIslandGirl]

1 minute ago, notamermaid said:

One thing I forgot to mention:

From Frankfurt you can go via the hills - high speed - to Cologne during which journey you will see lots of forest rushing past. Do check if it is convenient for you to take the fast train that goes via Koblenz from which windows you can see the river and the castles. It takes longer but is more scenic in my opinion.

 

notamermaid

 

Notamermaid-thanks for all your help. I was looking at long distance trains from the airport. It looks like I can get from Frankfurt-to Bruxelles Midi  (change to Eurostar)-just one change. Is this a senic route??

[Canal archive]

You’ll need to head for a city that links with the Eurostar, Paris Gare du Nord or Brussels or Amsterdam. It’s that old chestnut sorry from the Eurostar you really cannot see the fish. 🧜

Edited June 24, 2023 by Canal archive

[notamermaid]

29 minutes ago, TikiIslandGirl said:

Notamermaid-thanks for all your help. I was looking at long distance trains from the airport. It looks like I can get from Frankfurt-to Bruxelles Midi  (change to Eurostar)-just one change. Is this a senic route??

Not sure. You need to check that Koblenz is in the description, i.e. via Koblenz rather than Montabaur. For example like this:

 

Sorry, left the language on German. This is an IC. No change. You can see that Koblenz pops up as a stop. This means the train goes the river route. Cologne via Brussels is the same fast route for all trains as far as I know. These are ICE or Thalys. I prefer the Thalys. Not sure what the Eurostar company merger will do to the travel experience: https://www.thalys.com/de/en

 

notamermaid

 

[Canal archive]

Looks like they’re trying and I think still a woman at the helm, with a bit of effort and good will could be a happy merger. There seem to be some doubts about the British passport side of things well all I can say is about 2022 when we took the car and still had to prove Covid credentials, we sailed through no problem. It is the way to travel between Europe and the U.K. I think the only time I would quibble with is Avignon to St Pancras - no passport control (pre covid) at Avignon so we had to stop at Lille get off go through control and return to our seats don’t know what’s happening now. 
I do know we could get on the first Eurostar from St Pancras travel to Marseille have a superb French lunch back on board and return to the U.K. in one day, I’ll let you know when we do it, any recommendations for the meal.

[Daisi]

Sharing a taxi amongst the 3 of you to the airport will be cheaper than Avalon's transfer, as they charge per person ($60.00 CDN for our trip each end) , taxi is per distance. Notamermaid is correct about the scenic route along the river if you can do it, we took the "milk run" train(s) from Basel to Amsterdam the day after our Rhine cruise, and loved the scenery. Of course note the *day*. We started around 9:30, and got to the hotel in Amsterdam around 5:00. We planned it so knew the time it would take, but it was well worth it.

[pontac]

Eurostar trains are limited see article here Adieu Mickey Mouse: Eurostar’s shrinking ambitions seven years on from the Brexit vote | Eurostar | The Guardian

 

Suggest tickets are bought in advance via rail travel experts. Ffestioniog Travel in the UK is one such specialist and they can give up-to-date advice in English. Another CruiseCritic forum user that I met on a Ukraine cruise* has been travelling in Europe and books her tickets in the USA with Ffestinniog as have I. Tickets are digital now, so you can do it all with email.

 

I haven't given link as while I know one cannot recommend cruise travel agents I don't know about train travel agents.

 

*happy days, great cruise from Odesa up the Dnipro  to Kyiv, so sad what's happened.

[TikiIslandGirl]

5 hours ago, pontac said:

Eurostar trains are limited see article here Adieu Mickey Mouse: Eurostar’s shrinking ambitions seven years on from the Brexit vote | Eurostar | The Guardian

 

Suggest tickets are bought in advance via rail travel experts. Ffestioniog Travel in the UK is one such specialist and they can give up-to-date advice in English. Another CruiseCritic forum user that I met on a Ukraine cruise* has been travelling in Europe and books her tickets in the USA with Ffestinniog as have I. Tickets are digital now, so you can do it all with email.

 

I haven't given link as while I know one cannot recommend cruise travel agents I don't know about train travel agents.

 

*happy days, great cruise from Odesa up the Dnipro  to Kyiv, so sad what's happened.

Just wondering-what is the benefit of booking train tickets with a train TA vs booking directly?

[pontac]

Depends on journey, and whether you want to speak or email a query in English.

 

A simple point to point, e.g. Paris to London via Eurostar is easy to book direct with Eurostar on their website. A more complex journey where there are several options, connection and rail services and you want advice maybe you'd get a better service from a specialised TA*.

 

Also depends on ones confidence in choosing the route and dealing with websites not in English. 

 

*this board says you need a TA to book your river cruise. That's something I've never done, always booking direct with cruise line. So, what do I know? 🙂

[Island2Dweller]

Book direct with Eurostar if your journey is on their network only.  That would mean if travelling from  Amsterdam Brussels Lille Paris.

As you are trying to book an itinerary across different operators (Eurostar plus DeutscheBahn) then it gets messy.  Sadly cross operator rail ticketing is nowhere near as integrated as you would hope.  This is where an agent with specialist knowledge (such as Ffestiniog) is really useful.

[Canal archive]

TikiIslandGirl ask your TA if they are or have the capability of working with European or U.K. travel organisation Eurostar bookings are fairly straightforward for anyone but if your wanting to link up with other i.e situations you may need an on the ball TA w ho thinks outside the box. Good luck

[notamermaid]

Yes, connecting Deutsche Bahn and Eurostar tickets is a bit of a hazzle. I did it through a local TA many years ago. Since then I have used a brick-and-mortar TA but far away from where I live (over the phone).

 

Oh, and leave yourself plenty of connection time. Deutsche Bahn website for example has the option of extending the connection, like minimum 15 minutes, etc. Cologne is a large transport hub and Brussels I found complicated and big. My tip: build in visiting time in Cologne, just to see the cathedral - perhaps an hour or two. It is just outside the gates of the main train station, impossible to miss 😉.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

10 hours ago, pontac said:

*this board says you need a TA to book your river cruise. That's something I've never done, always booking direct with cruise line. So, what do I know? 🙂

It has become clear to me from the Azamara forum that Brits get much less benefit from travel agents than we in the US do.  In my experience there is no reason for a Yank not to use a TA and get either a discount or have someone in their corner, or both when booking a cruise.  But I have read many horror stories about how Brits lose all control when they turn their booking over to a UK TA.  So YMMV.  [And I don't apply this reasoning to booking hotels or airfare, where those industries are making sure that the best prices and the best T&C terms are reserved for direct bookings.]

[TikiIslandGirl]

9 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Yes, connecting Deutsche Bahn and Eurostar tickets is a bit of a hazzle. I did it through a local TA many years ago. Since then I have used a brick-and-mortar TA but far away from where I live (over the phone).

 

Oh, and leave yourself plenty of connection time. Deutsche Bahn website for example has the option of extending the connection, like minimum 15 minutes, etc. Cologne is a large transport hub and Brussels I found complicated and big. My tip: build in visiting time in Cologne, just to see the cathedral - perhaps an hour or two. It is just outside the gates of the main train station, impossible to miss 😉.

 

notamermaid

 

 

Thanks everyone for the responses-but I'm a little confused. I travel for work constantly and very comfortable booking flights/hotels/cars. I always just book direct. So I want to make sure I'm not missing something. So I see doing a single booking of Deutsche Bahn and Eurostar could be a problem. But if I book myself directly with Deutsche Bahn the Frankfurt to Brussels leg. Then separately book Brussels to London on Eurostar (leaving plenty of time- 77 minutes) would I have problems with getting from one to the other??? Is it better to have a TA do this (I really don't have one as I always just book directly 

[Host Jazzbeau]

I'm not an expert on European trains, but my research always starts with www.seat61.com, which not only describes all the train options but also describes the options for booking from the US.

 

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, TikiIslandGirl said:

But if I book myself directly with Deutsche Bahn the Frankfurt to Brussels leg. Then separately book Brussels to London on Eurostar (leaving plenty of time- 77 minutes) would I have problems with getting from one to the other???

I would say it should work but I am a little out of my depth here, being in the country itself. I could book direct but prefer a TA to do the work (I benefit if things go wrong, like altering my booking). Over to your fellow countrymen...

 

The 77 minutes sounds fine to me for within the precinct and allowing for a not so rare delay by the train, but I am not sure if you need to go through any customs checks.

 

Edit: Thanks, jazzbeau, forgot to mention the great website themaninseat61.

 

notamermaid

 

Edited June 26, 2023 by notamermaid

[Canal archive]

Going through the countries who are signatories to the Schengen Agreement no problem. It’s going in and out when the challenges start. Whenever you’re travelling themaninseat61 is absolutely required reading.

Edited June 26, 2023 by Canal archive

[TikiIslandGirl]

2 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

I'm not an expert on European trains, but my research always starts with www.seat61.com, which not only describes all the train options but also describes the options for booking from the US.

 

Thanks for the website recommendation. Very good information

[TikiIslandGirl]

So just an update. www.seat61.com was so helpful!!!! so helpful I just booked the tickets myself. I understand getting from the German Ice train to Eurostar. Thanks for everyones help

 

[Daisi]

That site was really helpful for me when we were planning our trip back along the Rhine. I hope you enjoy your trip.

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

On 6/26/2023 at 4:04 PM, Host Jazzbeau said:

I'm not an expert on European trains, but my research always starts with www.seat61.com, which not only describes all the train options but also describes the options for booking from the US.

 

That is the best site for train travel in Europe.  I just bought tickets using the Trainline link from his site for the Oui/TGV from Nice to CDG.