Trains to Berlin

To answer your question, £400 return is definitely not the best price you can find online for London to Berlin trains.

UPDATE: Loco2 now sells London Spezial tickets for London - Berlin trains from €59 one-way

Read our blog:

London to Berlin by train: How to find a London Spezial ticket

Check out other recommended routes and Trains to Berlin

Your best bet is to look for the London Spezial fares which can be as little as €59 one-way for standard class and includes the Eurostar to Brussels, and a connecting ICE train from Brussels to Cologne. Loco2 is integrated with Deutsche Bahn so we will show you when these fares are available. From Cologne you can connect to any of the numerous trains to Berlin. These tickets can usually be found 3 months (roughly 90 days) in advance of travel.

At the moment the following scheduled Eurostar services are eligible for London Spezial fares:

Mondays-Fridays: Departing London at 06:50
Mondays-Saturdays: Departing London at 10:58
Sundays: Departing London at 08:58

These trains from London are eligible because they connect to the following trains from Brussels:

Mondays-Fridays: Departing Brussels at 10:25, 14.25 & 18.25
Saturdays & Sunday: Departing Brussels at 14.25 & 18.25

On the way back look for trains leaving Berlin at 06.49 any day of the week, and at 10.49 on weekends and some weekdays. Sorry it's not more straightforward.

There are a finite number of London Spezial fares starting at €59, and going up in increments of €10 as the tickets sell out. Annoyingly, there's no visibility of how many of each ticket exist, and there is the added complexity that Deutsche Bahn may show none available because the Eurostar leg has sold out, rather than the onward trains.

Another option is to purchase a Eurostar ticket to Brussels Midi which is available 120 days in advance (compared to 90 days for most European trains) and then look for another type of promotional Deutsche Bahn fare called Europa Spezial 30 days later. These start at [€39 one-way] - details for how to find a Europa Spezial can be found in our Trains to Berlin booking guide

Any more questions, or if anything isn't clear just ask.

In my experience (and I do London - (Brussels) - Berlin about 4 times a year) the best bet is to follow Kate's suggestion and use London Spezial.

There's also a little trick to be able to use it to get cheap Eurostar fares as well - I've written a comprehensive blog post about it here.

Hi,

Thanks for all the great info. I'm planning a trip from Oxford to Dresden by train. I have friends in Berlin who I'd like to catch up with so I'll probably train it through Berlin both ways.

I'm intending to travel out on Wed 2 of January and return Thurs 10th of January.

The Deutsche Bahn website is not letting me book after 8 of December this year. Do I need to call or is this likely to be a temporary problem though it has been this way for a week now.

Kevin

Hi Kevin,

The reason you haven't found any trains beyond 8th December is because of the winter timetable change which takes place every year at around this time. The timetable changes affect most international trips in Europe and many train operators and mean that, for a short period, there is limited availability while the new timetables and fares are loaded.

You can read more about the winter timetable changes in this post.

SNCF, the French booking system, has released its winter timetable today. But Deutsche Bahn usually releases theirs slightly later. This year we anticipate that they will open services for booking on Tuesday 16th October. From that date onward you should be able to find tickets up to 90 days in advance i.e. for travel in January.

So, hang tight for a few more days and you should find the trains you need. You will however be able to purchase the London to Europe portion of your trip now. Eurostar services are not affected by the winter timetable change so you can buy some parts of your trip now if you wish.

Super thanks

I'll wait until next week.

Kevin

Hi Kate,

Thanks for the response. Will I limit my options for cheap fares if I book my eurostar part of the trip now? The London Spezial fares for eurostart definitely look good value for money.

Kevin

Hi Kevin,

If you get the booking right it should cost you €49 per person per single ticket, London - Berlin, changing in Bruxelles Midi and Köln Hbf, or London - Dresden, changing in Bruxelles Midi and Hannover. But if you're travelling on a Friday or a Sunday the chances of getting this price are quite low. Make sure you book as soon as the new data post-8th Dec change is on the DB site!

Thanks Jon,

I've been playing around with the figures for the first week of December to see what happens. Currently €109 to Dresden which is actually my final destination. I have a concern which you might know about. In Brussels there is only 17 minutes time between eurostar arrival and local service to Brussels midi and then 33 minute wait before departure. Is that enough time? I doubt whether I have many other options as that connection gets me into Dresden at 11:28 in the evening so increasing waiting times causes the trip to fail.

Kevin

Hi Kevin,

I don't quite understand the question. Do you have 17 minutes or 33 minutes to interchange, or are these two separate services?

In my personal experience it's possible to make a pretty swift interchange at Brussels but the company line is: always leave plenty of time, unless you are familiar with the route or very confident. So err on the side of caution and leave more time if you have a choice.

However, changing trains at Brussels Midi station is straightforward, with plenty of information in multiple languages and platforms clearly signposted. It also benefits from being consistent - Eurostar trains always depart/arrive from the same platforms, and high-speed ICE and Thalys trains can be found on one of 4 adjacent platforms. If you expand the map you can locate all the relevant platforms (in green) to get an idea of what to expect.

Click to see a detailed plan of the station:

It's certainly possible to change trains in the allotted 20 minutes, but if you're carrying lots of baggage (or children) or aren't feeling nimble, we would recommend manually inputting your own stopover to give yourself more time.

Apologies. The 17 mins is described as a transfer time. I assume the amount of time it takes to walk from the eurostar terminal to Brussels Midi. There there is 33 minutes waiting time.

Kevin

Hi Kevin,

If you buy the Eurostar part of the trip now you won't be able to take advantage of the Europa Spezial fare mentioned above. They are sometimes hard to come by (due to their limited availability) but are definitely worth having so I would recommend waiting to see what deals you can find. Even if you aren't able to purchase the cheapest Europa Spezial you are likely to find a good value ticket.

Also, since you are looking far in advance, cheap tickets for the Eurostar portion of your trip are likely to still be available if you decide, on the 16th Oct, that you want to split your journey.

Thanks Kate. My plan for today was to find a map of Brussels Midi and you've done it for me.

Kevin

Hi Kevin,

I think it's unlikely to take 17 minutes to walk between the Eurostar terminal in Brussels and the domestic train platforms. To give you an idea of how long it will take to change trains at Brussels Midi station, have a look at this map of the station.

You'll notice that Eurostar trains always depart and arrive into platforms 1 and 2 (at the bottom of the map). Above those, platforms 3, 4, 5 & 6 operate most high-speed trains; Thalys, ICE and TGV. The rest of the station is where you'll find domestic trains. So although I can't tell you which platform your train will depart from, it's likely to be one of the high-speed platforms, so you can reassured that it won't be too far to walk. Click the map to expand:

Just to let you all know I've booked most of my train journeys. My outward trip to Dresden is anxious making as I only have 20 minutes at Brussels Midi to change to the train to Köln. I have plenty of time for my train change at Köln but only have 8 minutes to change trains in Hannover for the train to Dresden. This cost me €153 including transaction fee.

My return trip is from Berlin to London, but the best fare I could find was €199. The last time we traveled to Berlin my partner booked the trains and she had us traveling out of Berlin-Spandau so I tried that. Low and behold there was a ticket for €49 or €99 first class. I decided to spoil myself and I booked the first class ticket. With booking fee that came to €103.

I've never ridden first class before so 10 hours of first class travel should be pleasant. :-)

I've got one more ticket to pre-purchase which is the trip from Dresden to Berlin but I have to confirm with my friends in Berlin first what works for them in how long I'm staying over.

Kevin