7 June 2010. Train times valid
from 13 June to 11 December 2010.
UK to Norway without flying...
R I P... The DFDS cruise-ferry to Norway
was sadly withdrawn for good in September 2008, ending
over 120 years of direct ferry links between the UK
and Norway... Photo courtesy of DFDS
Although the last ferry between the UK & Norway (DFDS
Newcastle to Bergen) was sadly withdrawn in September 2008,
there's still no need to fly to Norway.
It's easy to travel from London to Norway by train, using a
lunchtime Eurostar
to Brussels, a connecting high-speed train to Cologne, the
excellent City
Night Line sleeper overnight to Copenhagen and connecting
trains to
Oslo arriving in the evening the day after leaving
London. Or spend the day in Copenhagen then sail
overnight by cruise ferry to Oslo. Departures are daily.
On this page...
You'll find a
step-by-step guide to planning, booking & making a journey
from the UK to Norway by train, with train times, approximate fares, and the best way to buy
tickets.
This is the fastest way to travel from London to Oslo
without flying. It's also comfortable and affordable.
Departures are daily.
Train times London ► Oslo
Travel
from London to Brussels by
Eurostar.
On Mondays-Thursdays & Saturdays, leave London St Pancras at 12:57 arriving
Brussels Midi at 16:03.
On Fridays & Sundays leave London St
Pancras at
14:34 arriving in
Brussels at 17:33.
Travel from Brussels to
Cologne by high-speed train. On Mondays to
Thursdays & Saturdays, leave
Brussels Midi at
16:28 by Thalys
train arriving in Cologne at 18:15. On
Fridays & Sundays leave
Brussels Midi by ICE
train at 18:25, arriving Cologne at 20:15.
You've
time for a meal in Cologne.
Travel from Cologne to
Copenhagen on the City Night Line sleeper train
'Borealis', leaving Cologne at 22:28 and arriving in
Copenhagen main station at 10:06 next morning. This train has
seats, couchettes (6-berth & 4-berth) and a modern
sleeping-car with 1, 2 & 3-bed compartments, either
standard sleepers with washbasin or deluxe sleepers with
shower & toilet.
More pictures & information about this train.
Option
1, Copenhagen-Oslo by train: Travel from Copenhagen to Oslo
by train,
leaving Copenhagen main station at 12:23 daily
on an
Öresund Link Train, changing trains at
Gothenburg, and
arriving Oslo at 20:45 on Saturdays or 21:45 on
Mondays-Fridays & Sundays. You can confirm train times for
your date of travel at
www.bahn.de. Soon after leaving Copenhagen,
the Öresund Link train train to Gothenburg crosses the
Öresund Fixed Link,
opened in 1999 to connect Denmark with
Sweden. It's part tunnel, part double-decker road/rail
bridge, and on the long bridge section your train
seems to 'fly' across the sea to Sweden... It can
help to know that Gothenburg is 'Göteborg' in Swedish.
Option 2, Copenhagen-Oslo by overnight cruise ferry:
Alternatively, spend a day in Copenhagen (left luggage
is available at the station,
details here) and sail overnight
from Copenhagen to Oslo by cruise ferry with
DFDS Seaways. The ship (either the 'Crown of
Scandinavia' or 'Pearl of Scandinavia') sails daily from
Copenhagen's International Ferry Terminal
in Dampfærgevej at 17:00, arriving in Oslo at
09:30 next day. All passengers travel in
comfortable cabins with private toilet & shower.
To travel in luxury, treat yourself to one of DFDS's
famous Commodore Class cabins, some with private
balconies with sea view. The
ship has bars & restaurants for dinner & breakfast on
board, you can pre-book dinner & breakfast with your
ticket. The ferry terminal is about 3km (2 miles)
from Copenhagen main station in the city centre, taxis
& free DFDS shuttle buses are available. See
www.dfds.co.uk.
Train times Oslo ► London
Option 1,
Oslo-Copenhagen by train: Travel from Oslo to Copenhagen
by train. On Mondays-Fridays, leave Oslo 07:00, change at
Gothenburg, arriving
Copenhagen main station
at 15:02. On Saturdays, leave Oslo 09:00,
change at Gothenburg, arriving Copenhagen 17:01. No connection on Sundays.
You can check train times for
your own date of travel at
www.bahn.de. It can help to know that
Gothenburg is 'Göteborg' and Copenhagen is 'Köpenhamn'
in Swedish.
Option 2, Oslo-Copenhagen by overnight cruise ferry:
Alternatively, sail from Oslo to Copenhagen daily by direct
overnight cruise ferry with
DFDS Seaways. The ship sails from Oslo's
Vippetangen ferry terminal at 17:00, arriving in
Oslo at 09:30 next morning. You can now spend the
day in Copenhagen. The ship has comfortable
cabins, bars & restaurants for dinner & breakfast on
board. You can walk from central Oslo to the ferry
terminal in15-20 minutes, or take a taxi. See
www.dfds.co.uk.
Travel from Copenhagen to
Cologne by City Night Line sleeper train 'Borealis', leaving
Copenhagen main station at 18:42 and arriving Cologne at 06:14 next
morning. This train has couchettes (4-berth & 6-berth) and a
modern sleeping-car
(1, 2 & 3-bed rooms, standard with washbasin or
deluxe with private shower & toilet).
Travel from Cologne to
Brussels by high-speed
Thalys
train, leaving Cologne daily at 07:45, arriving
Brussels Midi at
09:32.
A
Eurostar leaves Brussels daily at 11:29 and arrives
London St Pancras at 12:33.
Take Eurostar to Brussels, then a Thalys high-speed train
to Cologne...
1st class (Confort 1) seats on Thalys....
2nd class (Confort 2) seats on Thalys
A Thalys
about to leave Brussels...
Introducing the City Night Line sleeper
train from Cologne to Copenhagen...
The
Cologne-Copenhagen overnight train 'Borealis' is one of the German
Railway's excellent City Night Line sleeper trains. It
has a modern sleeping-car (1, 2 & 3-berth deluxe rooms with
private shower and toilet, 1, 2 & 3-berth standard rooms
with washbasin, there's a shower at the end of the corridor
and all rooms have power-points for laptop computers), modern
air-conditioned couchettes (choose between a berth in a 4
or 6-berth compartment), and ordinary seats (not
recommended for an overnight journey). Inclusive fares are charged covering travel
plus sleeping accommodation. More pictures
& information about this train.
1, 2 or 3 bed sleeper:
The most comfortable & civilised option, standard with
washbasin or deluxe with shower & toilet.
4-berth couchettes:
Ideal for families, much more space per person than
6-berth couchettes.
6-berth couchettes:
A very economical option, far better than a seat for
just a few euros more...
Above: One of the new
'Comfortline' sleeping-cars used on the Cologne-Copenhagen City Night Line sleeper train.
...and travel onwards by train or ferry to Oslo & Norway.
Option 1: Take
an Öresund Train
(Öresundtåg,
pictured above) from Copenhagen to Gothenburg & an
onward train to Oslo. The train crosses from
Denmark to Sweden on the 1999-built Öresund Link tunnel
& road/rail bridge...
Option 2:
Spend the day exploring Copenhagen, then cruise to Oslo
on the daily overnight DFDS ferry. This is the m/v
'Crown of Scandinavia'.
How much
does it cost?
1. London to
Cologne
by Eurostar
+ Thalys:
London to
Cologne by Eurostar+ Thalys or ICE starts at £79
return.
Book in advance to get the cheapest fares, as the
fare rises as cheaper seats are sold. One-way
fares will probably be more than a return, so check
return fares and throw away the return half if
necessary.
2. Cologne
to Copenhagen:
by sleeper
train (per person):
In a
seat
In
a couchette
In the
sleeping-car
6-berth
4-berth
3-berth
2-berth
1-berth
2-berth
+ shower
1-berth
+ shower
Savings fare, one-way from:
€49
(£42)
€59
(£51)
€69
(£60)
€79
(£68)
€89
(£77)
€139
(£120)
€129
(£112)
€169
(£146)
Savings fare, return from:
€98
(£84)
€119
(£102)
€138
(£120)
€158
(£136)
€178
(£154)
€278
(£240)
€258
(£224)
€338
(£292)
Normal
fare, one-way:
€145
(£126)
€162
(£140)
€172
(£149)
€182
(£158)
€201
(£174)
€241
(£209)
€282
(£245)
€322
(£280)
Normal
fare, return:
€290
(£252)
€324
(£280)
€344
(£298)
€364
(£316)
€402
(£348)
€482
(£418)
€564
(£490)
€644
(£560)
Child
under 14 with own berth:
Savings fares for children are slightly lower than
the adult Savings fares, the child full fare is
50-60% of adult normal fare
Child under 6 without own berth:
Child under 6 sharing a berth travels free...
Savings fare =
cheap fare, price varies, limited availability,
no refunds or changes to travel plans.
Normal fare =
fully flexible, refundable, buy any time.
3. Copenhagen
to Oslo:
By
train, booked with
www.sj.se,
price varies from £40 to £83 one-way, £80 to £166 return.
The easiest way to book train tickets from London to
Oslo is at
www.raileurope.co.uk,
because all the trains can be booked as a single
transaction on one UK-based website. If you live
outside the UK, or want to book 4-berth couchettes (which
for some reason raileurope.co.uk currently won't do) then
use
www.eurostar.com &
www.bahn.de
instead (see the next section). In any case, it's a good idea to
compare prices for the Cologne-Copenhagen train between
www.raileurope.co.uk
&
www.bahn.de
as they can differ. Remember that booking opens 90
days before departure, you can't book before then.
Step 1, go to
www.raileurope.co.uk,
but resist the temptation to enter 'London' & 'Oslo'
all in one go as this won't find the cheapest fares, even if
it works.
First, enter 'Cologne' &
'Copenhagen' and book the overnight train from Cologne to
Copenhagen & back. Obviously, in the search results simply
look for the direct train with no changes. For some
reason it won't book 4-berth couchettes, and may struggle
with 2-berth sleepers with shower, but if you have any
difficulties like this simply book using
www.bahn.de
instead, as described in the next section. Add this
ticket to your basket and click 'continue shopping'.
Step 2, still at
www.raileurope.co.uk,
now book the train from Brussels to Cologne & back, using
the train times above as your guide. Add this ticket
to your basket and click 'continue shopping'.
Step 3, still at
www.raileurope.co.uk,
now book the Eurostar from London to Brussels & back, using
the train times above as a guide. By all means take an
earlier Eurostar outwards, or a later one back, if it has
cheaper seats available or if you'd like to stop off in
Brussels. Add this to your basket.
Step 4,
book your Copenhagen-Oslo ticket. To go by
overnight cruise ferry, book this online at
www.dfds.co.uk.
You can even pre-book dinner & breakfast. To go by train,
there are two ways to buy tickets. The easy but more
expensive way is to stay with
www.raileurope.co.uk,
click 'continue shopping' and book a ticket from
Copenhagen to Oslo and back online. Rail Europe
charges a standard fixed price for Copenhagen-Oslo
trains for all dates and departures, this is the
international tariff made available to other European
railway operators by the Swedish Railways. The
second and much cheaper way is to book the Copenhagen-Oslo train
using the Swedish Railways website
www.sj.se
(no booking fee,
see my advice on how to use it).
If you can't get SJ to work for any reason, try
www.bokatag.se instead (though they charge a small fee
on top) or simply call SJ
telesales on +46 771 75 75 75 (touch tone 6 for English).
The price you pay using
www.sj.se or SJ telesales is the actual Swedish Railways
price, which varies like budget airline fares. If you
book several months in advance you can find really cheap
fares available, much cheaper than with Rail Europe,
rising to pretty much the same level as Rail Europe closer
to departure. You simply print out your own ticket
or collect them
from the Swedish Railways (SJ) ticket machines installed
at Copenhagen main station.
www.raileurope.co.uk
can send tickets to any UK address and they normally arrive
within a couple of days. Only UK credit cards are
accepted.
This method involves two or three websites, so do a dry run on both
sites to check prices and availability before booking for
real.
Step 1, book
the Cologne-Copenhagen sleeper train: Go to the German
Railways website
www.bahn.de, select 'English' top right.
Book a sleeper or couchette ticket from Cologne (Köln Hbf)
to Copenhagen (Koebenhvn H) and
back, looking for the cheap 'Savings' fares. You pay
online and print out your own ticket in .PDF format on your
own PC printer. Easy! I recommend
registering when it asks you before completing the purchase,
so you can easily retrieve any bookings.
Step 2, book
your London-Cologne ticket: Now go to
www.raileurope.co.uk
and book a London-Cologne Eurostar+Thalys
ticket, using the train times on this page as a guide. On the
Rail Europe home page,
you simply select 'London' and 'Cologne' from the drop-down
lists and enter your dates of travel. Book early to see
the cheapest fares, bookings open 90 days in advance.
Make sure you allow plenty of time for the connection in
Cologne, preferably at least an hour when connecting with a sleeper train.
It's obvious, but remember that your return departure date from Cologne will
be the day after your departure date from Copenhagen!
Top tip: If you don't see any sensibly-priced
London-Cologne through fares, go to
www.raileurope.co.uk
and try booking in two stages, first London-Brussels & back,
then Brussels-Cologne & back, using the train times above as
your guide. This can be cheaper!
Step 3,
book your Copenhagen-Oslo ticket: To go by
overnight cruise ferry, book this online at
www.dfds.co.uk
- you can even pre-book dinner & breakfast. To go by train,
there are two ways to book tickets. The easy way is to stay with
www.raileurope.co.uk,
click 'continue shopping' and book a ticket from
Copenhagen to Oslo and back online. Rail Europe
charges a standard fixed price for Copenhagen-Oslo
trains for all dates and departures, this is the
international tariff made available to other European
railway operators by the Swedish Railways. The
second and much cheaper way is to book the Copenhagen-Oslo train
using either the Swedish Railways website
www.sj.se
(no booking fee) or
www.bokatag.se (small booking fee, English button bottom right).
If you can't get your credit card to work, call SJ
telesales on +46 771 75 75 75 (touch tone 6 for English).
The price you pay using
www.sj.se,
www.bokatag.se or SJ telesales is the actual Swedish Railways
price, which varies like budget airline fares. If you
book several months in advance you can find really cheap
fares available, much cheaper than with Rail Europe,
rising to pretty much the same level as Rail Europe closer
to departure. You collect your tickets
from the Swedish Railways (SJ) ticket machines installed at Copenhagen main station. Note that
although
www.raileurope.co.uk sells tickets for the 12:23
departure from Copenhagen easily enough,
www.bokatag.se for
some reason won't sell tickets for this particular
service, but see what it offers you. SJ telesales
can sell all trains on this route.
How to buy
tickets by phone...
You
can book through a number of UK agencies, but for this trip
the best is probably Deutsche
Bahn's UK office on 08718 80 80 66
(lines open 09:00-20:00 Monday-Friday, 09:00-13:00 Saturday
& Sunday, no booking fee, 2% credit card charge but no
charge for debit cards)
or www.europeanrail.com
on 020 7619 1083 (lines open 08:30-17:30 Mon-Fri,
09:00-13:00 sat, £35 booking fee).
Click
here
for a list of agencies and more info on how to buy European
train tickets.
If you prefer
cruise ferries to sleeper trains, you can travel from London
to Copenhagen using a train to Harwich, the excellent 3-or-4
times-a-week DFDS Seaways cruise ferry to Esbjerg, then an
InterCity train to Copenhagen. Then you can take
onward trains or the overnight ferry to Oslo as above.
See the London to Denmark page for
details of the Harwich-Esbjerg ferry option between London &
Copenhagen. You can book the overnight Copenhagen-Oslo
ferry at
www.dfds.co.uk
along with the Harwich-Esbjerg ferry as one transaction.
Note that you arrive in Copenhagen too late to connect with
that evening's ferry to Oslo, so plan on one night in a
hotel in Copenhagen before continuing to Oslo by train or
cruise ferry the next day. Via Harwich-Esbjerg, the
whole London-Oslo journey will therefore take 2 nights using
the train from Copenhagen to Oslo, or 3 nights using the
Copenhagen-Oslo cruise ferry.
Train
connections from Oslo to Bergen, Stavanger, Trondheim &
other Norwegian cities...
Modern
air-conditioned trains link Oslo with Bergen,
one of Europe's most
scenic train routes, a journey worth doing for its own
sake! Similar trains link Oslo with Stavanger,
Kristiansand, Trondheim and other Norwegian cities. To check train
times within in Norway, see www.nsb.no
or
www.bahn.de.
Oslo-Bergen
costs between 199 Kr & 399 Kr (£17-£34) one-way with a
limited-availability minipris fare or 728 Kr (£63) each
way full fare. Return fares are twice the one-way.
Oslo-Stavanger also costs between 199 Kr & 399 Kr (£17-£34) each
way with a limited-availability minipris fare or 846 Kr
(£73) one-way full fare, return fares are twice this.
Anyone over 67 (or married couples where one partner is
over 67) get a 50% discount. Children under 4 free,
children 4-15 (inclusive) half price.
How to buy
Norwegian train tickets at
www.nsb.no...
You can buy
Norwegian tickets online at www.nsb.no.
In fact, it pays to pre-book your tickets this way,
because cheap advance-purchase 'minipris' fares are often
available, saving a lot of money over the regular fare
that you will be charged on the day of travel.
Minipris tickets are non-refundable and non-changeable.
The 'English'
button is top right.
When you reach
the fares page, use the drop-down list of fare types to
see if you can change 'ordinaer' (full fare) to 'minipris'
(cheap advance purchase fare, only appears if there is a
minipris available, either 199Kr, 299Kr or 399Kr depending
on availability).
'Okonomi' means standard class,
any fare including the word 'Komfort' means first class
with larger seats, more space, laptop power points and
complimentary tea and coffee.
Acceptance
of UK (and other non-Norwegian) credit
cards: It's reported that www.nsb.no struggles
with some UK-issued credit cards. Some UK-issued
cards certainly work, but other travellers report that
their UK-issued card didn't work (and were even told by NSB
telesales that the site only accepts Norwegian cards).
So try using www.nsb.no
as your card may well work OK,
but if it doesn't simply call their
telesales by phone on +47 23 15 15 15 and buy
tickets that way. NSB will definitely accept UK cards by phone, and
you may well find the price three times cheaper than buying
from a UK agency!
Feedback
from booking this way and using these trains would be very
welcome!
The scenic
Flåm Railway...
A scenic
tourist line worth mentioning is the famous Flåm
Railway ('Flåmsbana')
from Myrdal (on the Oslo-Bergen line) 900m above sea level
to Flåm on the
Fjord below. Train run daily all year round, 4
departures a day in winter, 10 or so in summer. It can be done as a day trip
from Oslo, as the Myrdal-Flåm
journey itself only takes 40-50 minutes each way. See
www.flaamsbana.no, then see www.nsb.no
for connections from Oslo or Bergen to Myrdal.
The Thomas Cook European Timetable
The
Thomas Cook European timetable
has train & ferry times for every country in Europe plus currency
& climate
information. Published since 1873, it costs £13.99.
It's essential for any serious traveller
and an inspiration for armchair travellers. Still
not convinced you need one? More information
on what the Thomas Cook Timetable contains. You can
buy the latest monthly edition online at
www.thomascooktimetables.com with worldwide delivery or
buy it in person from any UK branch of Thomas Cook (ask at the
bureau de change), or from W H Smiths in Victoria or Kings
Cross stations in London.
Or
buy the twice-yearly independent traveller's edition with
laminated cover from Amazon.co.uk:
Summer 2010 edition (June to December 2010)
The Thomas Cook Rail Map of
Europe is the best and most comprehensive
map of train routes right across Europe, from Portugal in the
west to Istanbul, Moscow & Ukraine in the east, from Finland
in the north to Sicily & Crete in the south. High speed
&
scenic routes are highlighted. Highly recommended!
Buy online
at
www.amazon.co.uk
(worldwide delivery).
See an extract from
the map.
Make
sure you take a good guidebook.
For independent travel, I think this means either the Lonely Planet or the Rough Guide.
Both guidebooks provide the same excellent
level of practical information and cultural and historical background.
You won't regret buying one!
It's
easy to book hotels online to go with your train tickets, but
there are almost too many hotel booking websites to choose
from. The answer is to use
www.hotelscombined.com (or use the search box below).
This is not a hotel booking website, but a free search tool
which searches all the main hotel booking sites for you
(Expedia, Travelocity, LateRooms, Opodo, Venere and many
others) to find the cheapest hotel rates on the net. Set
up in 2005, it's an amazing system and probably the best place
to start for booking any hotel online in any country,
worldwide.
Try
www.laterooms.com, which will list a huge number of hotels in
any given town or city on a single page showing price and
availability for your specific dates.
www.laterooms.com gets significant discounts over normal rates
for many hotels, and these discounted prices are shown in orange.
As its name suggests,
www.laterooms.com gets discounts for hotel rooms booked within
3 months of travel, making it ideal for anyone booking train
travel within the normal 90 days booking horizon.
www.tripadvisor.com
is a huge resource, and the best place to browse for
independent travellers' reviews of all the main hotels.
Budget backpacker hostels...
If you're on a tight budget,
don't forget the hostels. For a dorm bed or an
ultra-cheap private room in backpacker hostels in most
European cities use
www.hostelbookers.com.
Travel insurance & health card
Get travel insurance..
Never travel without insurance from a
reliable travel insurer, with at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover. It should also cover loss of
cash (up to a limit) and belongings, and cancellation. An annual
multi-trip policy is usually cheaper than several single-trip
policies even for just 2 or 3 trips
a year (I have an annual policy myself). Here are some suggested insurers.
Seat61 gets a small commission if you buy through these
links.
If you live in the UK, get quotes from
Columbus Direct or
Go Travel Insurance, or go to
Confused.com to run a price comparison on a whole range of
travel insurance providers for your dates of travel, seeing
their policy's features at a glance.
Don't expect travel insurance to bail you out of every missed
connection, but European international rail conditions of
carriage (known as the 'CIV') contain consumer protection
provisions that entitle you to travel forward by the next
available train if you miss a connection because of a delay to
the first train, irrespective of who operates which train, and
even if your ticket is in theory train-specific and
non-changeable.
Feedback from using
insurance for rail & ferry travel is always welcome.
If you're a
UK citizen travelling in Europe, you should apply for a free
European Health Insurance Card, which entitles you to free or
reduced rate health care if you become ill or get injured in
many European countries, under a reciprocal arrangement with
the NHS. This replaced the old E111 forms
as from January 2006. The EHIC card is available from
www.ehic.org.uk. It doesn't remove the need for
travel insurance, though.
Get a pre-paid euro currency MasterCard from Caxton FX...
You can save money on ATM charges and exchange rates using a
Caxton FX euro currency MasterCard, or indeed the
multi-currency 'Global Traveller' MasterCard.
Find out about these cards & sign up here.
Get an international SIM card...
Mobile phones can cost a fortune to use abroad, and if you're
not careful you can return home to find some huge bills
waiting for you. I've known people run up over £1,000 in
data charges just by leaving their iPhone connected during a
simple trip to Europe. However, if you
buy a global SIM card for your mobile phone from a company
such as
www.Go-Sim.com you can slash the cost by up to 85% and
limit any damage to the amount you have pre-paid. Go-Sim
cuts call costs in 175 countries worldwide,
and you can receive incoming calls and texts for free in 75 countries. It's pay-as-you-go, so no nasty bills
when you get home. It also allows cheap data access for laptops
& PDAs. A Go-Sim account and any credit on it doesn't
expire if it's not used between trips, unlike some
others, so a Go-Sim phone number becomes your 'global phone
number' for life.
You won't regret buying one!
If you live in the UK, get quotes from
If you live in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland or the
EU, see
If you live in the USA or Canada, see
