Cycling UK Forum

Cycled from Basel to Amsterdam a few weeks ago following the Rhine route. Flew to Basel with bikes packed in cardboard boxes that we got from our local bike shop. We then bought cardboard bike boxes from the airport at Amsterdam. Pretty much hassle free.

Hi
Thanks very much everyone for your suggestions. Much appreciated. In answer to earlier question I'm starting from Norwich. I worked part way up the Rhine last time but I really want to go source to sea ultimately. For that I will have to investigate bike box and airline. For now though I'm looking at option of just cycling. From Rotterdam to Venlo then Cologne and back via Rhine. As you said faffing around with trains eats into cycling time and you are left wondering whether you are simply going on a journey across Europe by train with bike.
Going to look up that London Spezial ticket.

I just looked and getting from the Hook to Basel doesn't seem too bad, catching trains from the Hague changing at Utrecht, Arnhem, Duisberg and Heidelberg or Stuttgart. If you can bag your bike, you can do it quicker changing at Utrecht onto an ICE and changing only once more (you can't get to Utrecht early enough from the ferry for the daily direct ICE) but that doesn't really help because the source of the Rhine - or as close as roads go - is still 4 hours train away so an overnight stop is needed.

mjr wrote:I just looked and getting from the Hook to Basel doesn't seem too bad, catching trains from the Hague changing at Utrecht, Arnhem, Duisberg and Heidelberg or Stuttgart. If you can bag your bike, you can do it quicker changing at Utrecht onto an ICE and changing only once more (you can't get to Utrecht early enough from the ferry for the daily direct ICE) but that doesn't really help because the source of the Rhine - or as close as roads go - is still 4 hours train away so an overnight stop is needed.

From Hoek it makes more sense going to Rotterdam than distant Utrecht to get onward connections.

foxyrider wrote:

mjr wrote:I just looked and getting from the Hook to Basel doesn't seem too bad, catching trains from the Hague changing at Utrecht, Arnhem, Duisberg and Heidelberg or Stuttgart. If you can bag your bike, you can do it quicker changing at Utrecht onto an ICE and changing only once more (you can't get to Utrecht early enough from the ferry for the daily direct ICE) but that doesn't really help because the source of the Rhine - or as close as roads go - is still 4 hours train away so an overnight stop is needed.

From Hoek it makes more sense going to Rotterdam than distant Utrecht to get onward connections.

Why? Rotterdam is another 6 miles further than the Hague and then Utrecht is a bigger hub. If you're going to Basel from Rotterdam, the planners suggest a route through Brussels, Luxembourg, somewhere and Strasbourg, which means at least one more bike ticket for Belgium and maybe more for Luxembourg and/or Switzerland (as you arrive into the SBB station not the DB one). Looked easier to me to go the German route.

Hi
The problem I found is that Bahn.de and NS International don't communicate with each other so you could buy a ticket for the whole journey from one company for the other ones trains but they wouldn't apply the bike carriage rules. So you could buy a journey across the border with the originating country's company but any onward journey would have to be with the next company etc. That's how I came unstuck going home last time from Germany to the Netherlands. Bahn sold me a Netherlands rail ticket for a time I couldn't take the train. Hence the 2.5 hr wait. So travelling up the Rhine seems ok but you have to be travelling off peak by the time you get to the border. So that would be before 4pm or after 6.30pm I think. So the fewer changes the better. The London -Brussels route is sounding good to me.

Do any of you know if I can get one of these bike buses to the start of the Rhine, south of Zurich

Do any of you know if I can get one of these bike buses to the start of the Rhine, south of Zurich

Do you mean Bike Express? If so, not direct, you'd have to catch a train too.

ok, thanks, I have been in touch with them now and they don't go to Switzerland and nowhere near in August. So Its either fly or train.

If you don't already know - this website is always a good start re trains https://www.seat61.com/Switzerland.htm
Good luck!
BTW I'm hoping to do Basel to Andernach at some point so do share your discoveries