Germany FIP advise

[N Levers]

Hello All

I have need to travel to Essen in Germany and need advice on the best way of doing this with a FIP card / Coupons.

As I understand with a FIP card you can purchase a (limited amount of) discounted ticket on the Eurostar to Brussels and then use Coupons from there onwards into Germany.

However the Thaylis restrictions and the German blocked ICE trains are starting to confuse me.

Could anyone give me advice / itinerary. I would be travelling both ways on a week day.

Many Thanks

NL

 

[158801]

Hi,

There's no limit to the amount of FIP rate tickets you can buy. You may be limited by specific quotas of staff fares on the train you want - so the sooner you book the more choice you will have of services.

You are limited to the amount of Coupons you can have per year ( normally 2 for Belgium and 1 for Germany per annum)

To reach Essen you would need to have SNCB ( Belgium ) coupons and DB ( German ) coupons. If memory serves me correct the border station is Aachen ( assuming you are going via Cologne ?)

You can buy a Eurostar ticket to "any Belgium station" which is about £29 for a Std single. With this you get your Eurostar journey and a trip ( as the name implies ) to " any Belgium station". This would save the need for you to use a Belgium coupon.

I've never used Thalys but my understanding is that "Global Fares" apply. That is you don't get any free travel and the Global FIP fare could be dirt cheap or not much less than what Joe Public pays.

If you use Thalys there's no point ordering Belgium coupons and a " any Belgium station " isn't valid on Thalys either.

We used the ICE train from Brussels to Cologne earlier this year. We had an " any " any Belgium station" ticket which took us to Aachen and the DB coupons onwards.

Reservations are compulsory on the Thalys but not on the ICE. Reservations sure available if you wish on the ICE train and Cody about 4 Euros each.

Be careful around Essen as not all trains are operated by DB and your coupons and FIP would not be valid.

Hope this helps

 

[burns20]

Agencies such as Rail Adventures Travel and others offer a booking service to take away the confusion and book all your tickets and reservations on your behalf.

Feel free to private message me for more advice.