Travel Cheaply from London to Cologne (Köln), Frankfurt, Berlin, and Munich (München)
Cheap bus and train tickets offer alternatives to low-cost airlines for travel from England to Germany. On the London to Cologne (Köln) route the Eurostar, Thalys TGV, and ICE trains can be faster than flying.
Low-cost airlines helped to make traveling between London and German cities such as Cologne, Frankfurt, and Berlin cheap. However, in recent months the number of flights from England to Germany has been reduced drastically. At the same time, more traditional ways of travel including buses and trains are still available and increasingly appealing for travelers from England to Germany. On some routes, such as London to Cologne, trains can be both price and time competitive, while trains from London to Southern Germany (Stuttgart and Munich) or London to Berlin take much longer than flying.
One-way fares from London to Germany can be as low as €49 when using Eurostar and Deutsche Bahn trains only.
Cheap Trains from London, England to Cologne (Köln), Germany
Traveling by Eurostar train from London to Paris and Brussels have been increasingly popular since the introducing of the Channel Tunnel. However, trains from London’s St Pancras International station to Germany can be fast and cheap too.
Some train journeys from London St Pancras and Cologne Main Station (Köln Hauptbahnhof) can be as short as 4:45 (plus the check-in time required for Eurostar trains – 30 minutes for most travelers). The Ebbsfleet, England to Aachen, on the German-Belgium border, is an hour faster. When traveling from London to Cologne by train, transfers are always required at Brussels South (Bruxelles Midi) Station from the Eurostar trains to either to the Thalys TGV or German Railways ICE (Inter-City-Express) trains.
- Reservations are compulsory for Eurostar and TGV trains but are usually not required for the Deutsche Bahn ICE trains.
Cologne (Köln) is a major railway junction with fast and frequent connections to other German cities. Traveling times from Cologne (Köln) to other major German cities by regular ICE trains are:
- Frankfurt – an hour
- Hamburg – four hours
- Berlin – four hours
Frequent services on both ICE and regional trains run from Cologne to Düsseldorf and other cities in the Ruhr area such as Essen and Dortmund.
Buying Tickets for Trains between Germany and London
Check-in times and security screening are non-existent for German trains and even the Eurostar require much less schlep than any airport. One-way tickets for the London to Cologne train journey range from UK £40 non-flexible to UK £183 full flexible and compare favorable with cheap flights on low-cost airlines. Taxes alone on flights from London-Stansted (STN) to Cologne-Bonn (CGN) can amount to UK £35. Free luggage allowances of two suitcases on Eurostar trains are much more generous than free hand luggage only on most British and Irish low-cost airlines, while on a German train travelers may basically transport all they can carry.
To save the most, be on the lookout for special offers but bear in mind that taking advantage of such special deals may require separate tickets for the London to Brussels and Brussels to Cologne legs of the journey. Also bear in mind that with true discount tickets, the second leg of the journey may not be guaranteed if the train on the first leg is delayed for whatever reason.
A special deal offered by Deutsche Bahn is the London Spezial. When crossing the German-Belgium border by ICE train only and then the Eurostar to London, one-way fares for advance bookings from anywhere in Germany to London (or return) can be as low as €49 (or €99 in first class). This deal is not valid on TGV Thalys trains.
Various Rail Europe offices sell tickets to non-German residents, e.g. Rail Europe USA, Canada, & Americas and Rail Europe UK. However, Train Ticket Offers by Deutsche Bahn often gives the best discounts and are increasingly available to travelers from all countries.
Slow Trains and Ferries from London, UK to Cologne, Germany
Trains rarely go on boats these days but it still possible to take the train to the channel and the ferry to the continent. The logical option to Cologne is via Harwich and Hook of Holland. Trains from London depart from Liverpool Street Station to Harwich. The overnight ferry to Hoek van Holland Haven (Hook of Holland Harbor) in the Netherlands takes around seven hours. Trains from Hook of Holland to Cologne require transfers in Rotterdam, Venlo, and Mönchengladbach for a total journey time of 14 to 15 hours – the Eurostar looks increasingly attractive!
Cheap Bus Tickets from London, England to Cologne (Köln), Germany
Traditional bus trips from England to Germany are still available. National Express Eurolines operate bus services from many UK locations to around 30 cities in Germany. Overnight buses from London Victoria Bus Station to Cologne Bus Station take around 12 hours, including the short ferry ride across the English Channel. Other German cities that can be reached by direct bus from England include Berlin (19 hours), Frankfurt am Main (16 hours), Hamburg (17 hours), and Munich (20 hours).
Bus travel from the UK to Germany is clearly slow and not particularly cheap. Bus fares, in contrast to especially low-cost airline fares, do not increase much over busy periods such as weekends and holidays. Standard one-way tickets from London to Cologne are around UK £47, while returns are UK £80. Cheaper tickets and special deals are sometimes available on internet-only sales and currently include £15 connection return fares from anywhere in the UK to London if coupled with a coach trip from the UK to Europe .
Flights on low-cost airlines from England to most German destinations remain faster and mostly cheaper than rail or bus services. However, a sharp decline in the number of flights available between the United Kingdom and Germany, may see a steady increase in flight prices too. For cheap flight to Cologne, travelers are fortunate that Cologne-Bonn Airport (CGN) is the most popular airport for low-cost airlines in Germany. Trains from London to Bavaria take a more leisurely ten hours but are surprisingly popular too.
