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Its Been a LONG time - how does this all work nowadays

I

I Love Travel.
My Wife and I went Interrailing when we were 25, we only found out about it just before the benefit of being a YOUTH ran out. Rucksacks, tents.
 

 

 

Now we would like to hit BOTH Denmark, Billund and Germany, Günzburg Legoland to take our 18 year old son to BOTH places and visit the factories ( which I am reliably informed is a thing now ).

HERES THE QUESTION.
I am trying to use the planner.
I Live near Southampton (UK), and want to travel by train to Billund ( Yes - that IS a Long trip ), stay a couple of days, and then travel down to Germany, and possibly vists a couple of other places while we are there.

Then travel back to Southampton

I Would LIKE to use the train - since at least I will get a break from Driving for a change.

How do I go about “Starting in Southampton”

Do I choose this as a destination first?
How do I ad. a Starting point - I am confused ( a tiny bit ).

I was thinking that the 5 day Global pass might just about do it - with the two days from UK , leaving 3 days in denmark and Germany. - I Only want to be gone just under a week - as we have cats that will have to be looked after.
 

Best answer by ralderton

My best advice would be to avoid the planner, and do your own research. It doesn’t always offer sensible results, especially for such a long journey.

Seat61 is the go to site for help with planning itineraries, and he suggests a couple of routes to get to Denmark. They would all involve a train up to London, then Eurostar to Brussels.

For Legoland, you;d want to get a train to Kolding, then bus.

https://www.seat61.com/Denmark.htm

Then start plugging in dates and times to a good quality planner. www.bahn.com is very good - better than the Eurail planner. Break the journey down into smaller chunks, depending on where you want to spend the night, as a long journey such as Southampton to Billund won’t always generate sensible results.

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ralderton
Railmaster
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  • ralderton
  • Railmaster
  • 1515 replies
  • Answer
  • January 4, 2024

My best advice would be to avoid the planner, and do your own research. It doesn’t always offer sensible results, especially for such a long journey.

Seat61 is the go to site for help with planning itineraries, and he suggests a couple of routes to get to Denmark. They would all involve a train up to London, then Eurostar to Brussels.

For Legoland, you;d want to get a train to Kolding, then bus.

https://www.seat61.com/Denmark.htm

Then start plugging in dates and times to a good quality planner. www.bahn.com is very good - better than the Eurail planner. Break the journey down into smaller chunks, depending on where you want to spend the night, as a long journey such as Southampton to Billund won’t always generate sensible results.

R
Railmaster
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  • rvdborgt
  • Railmaster
  • 10543 replies
  • January 4, 2024

For the Interrail basics, have a look here:

https://www.seat61.com/how-to-use-an-interrail-pass.htm

To plan, please never use the rail planner app or the Interrail website. They're unreliable. You'd better use national planners. For international planning, bahn.com or the DB Navigator app is a good choice.

Please ask questions in the community and not via a private message. That's the quickest way to get a response. I don't work for Eurail/Interrail.
ralderton
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  • ralderton
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  • 1515 replies
  • January 4, 2024

It seems like there’s no train station at Billund, you have to get the train to Vejle, then bus. Example itinerary (based on Seat61)

Day 1: Get a morning train to London Waterloo
Cross London by tube
1301 Eurostar to Brussels, change for Cologne. Arrive 1815
Dinner and hotel in Cologne

Day 2: Leave Cologne 0811, change at Hamburg to arrive Kolding 1540
Change for train to Vejle, then bus to Billund. (Or direct bus Kolding to Legoland)

-

Alternatively, it’s possible to get from Southampton to Hamburg in a single, long day - leaving at 0730. Then a quick hop to Denmark the following day.

T
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  • T
    thibcabe
T
Full steam ahead
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  • thibcabe
  • Full steam ahead
  • 4891 replies
  • January 4, 2024

From Billund to Günzburg either :

- a long travel day (8am - 9pm from Vejle)

- get to Hamburg, night train to Munich East (arrival 07:28 + delay), breakfast there and in Günzburg at around midday

Günzburg - Paris - London - Southampton is easily doable in a day.

As said use DB Navigator app for planning, it's pretty reliable.

I
  • itsmartin
  • Author
  • Rail rookie
  • 1 reply
  • May 16, 2024

Thank you all for your kind help and suggestions.

In the end - we had to re-think our plans. We flew to Munich and went to Gunzburg Legoland - complete with Factory Outlet. That made the boy very happy indeed.
We stayed in a Munich hotel as out base of operations, and went for Day trips out in the rented car.
I Think that the cars nowadays must be a lot bigger than in yesteryear - cos I had trouble getting in and out of places with ramps and barriers (unless that was just the right hand drive?). I am a pretty accomplished driver - not afraid - it was just the widths of an unfamiliar vehicle and my Sat Nav was weird. It kept saying Keep right or Bear right - not Turn right - so we ha a few turn round and go back moments - Ha ha.

My Next trip - i think - will be a visit to Munich again via train for Weisen (Oktoberfest) If we manage to pull it off. I am trying to get the boy interested in a Camping trip via train in Munich - just like Mummy and I did when we were youngsters.
He has his D-of-E so he knows what Camping is like.

I Just need to get my head around How to organise it. We live near Southampton - so that is where we would like to start our “First Day Travel from”
Do we have to pay extra for the Chunnel - or is that included in the eurostar part of the journey?
Do you reckon we would make it by nightfall? - or should we stop off somewhere for the night?

Just a general chit chat with someone would be nice. I Cant be the only one doing some lunacy like this - Surely ( LOL )

 

T
Full steam ahead
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  • thibcabe
  • Full steam ahead
  • 4891 replies
  • May 16, 2024

There are reservation fees on Eurostar trains: 30€ per person to Paris. It wouldn't be fun without a passholder quota in addition, isn't it? Book well in advance at popular times.

However as soon as you've gone through the Channel obstacle things will be much easier. :)

Looking at timetables for a random September day it's not too bad! For example:

- Southampton - London Waterloo 07:30 - 08:48

- cross the city

- Eurostar London St. Pancras - Paris-Nord 10:24 - 13:58 30€ (1h later could work)

- 10 min walk and little break

- TGV Paris-Est - München Hbf 15:55 - 21:36 18€

Feel free to ask anything.

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