Eurovelo 14 Waters of Central Europe

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
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MrsHJ
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Eurovelo 14 Waters of Central Europe

Post by MrsHJ »

This one has been in my radar for a while but with the logistics and cost of getting from south Devon up to Zell am See in Austria and back from central Hungary it might remain there firmly on the “one day list” - we will see. I spent some time contemplating the logistics this weekend and it’s a day and a half minimum to the start for me (flying or ferry as there are limited flights from the uk to Austria in the summer- you’ll be on a train anyhow for some of the time) and on the way back it’s at least 2 days unless you fly. Ryanair have a flight from Budapest to Bristol which is a possible.

Anyhow the latest Eurovelo newsletter came out today and has provided details of an extension - the route originally finished in Budapest and now it heads out to Debrecen which is close to the Romanian border and 2-3 hours by train from the capital. It’s now over 1000 km so depending on your mileage has made it a slightly fuller trip (a long 2 weeks for me probably). I think it now goes through 4 of Hungary’s national parks. Eurovelo make a point that there are lots of train options if the weather/legs aren’t so good and I checked this for a couple of days with a reasonable amount of climbing- looks fine to get a train- and I think this takes some pressure off a casual cycle tourist (or you can just miss the boring bits).

Details from eurovelo. https://en.eurovelo.com/ev14

My rough outline of the extension (using the cycle.travel info for Zell am See to Budapest as the starting map). https://cycle.travel/map/journey/407830

I know not everyone likes a structured route but I find it’s quite a good introduction to cycling somewhere new- at least the bones of the trip have already been established by someone.
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st599_uk
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Re: Eurovelo 14 Waters of Central Europe

Post by st599_uk »

What are the connections like from Prague to the start and end? As of next summer, there's meant to be a Brussels to Prague sleeper.

Or from Munich which has a huge airport with loads of flights to the UK.
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MrsHJ
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Re: Eurovelo 14 Waters of Central Europe

Post by MrsHJ »

Deutsch bahn seems to like transfers with bike from any German or Swiss city (and Austrian ones) to Zell am see. If I flew it would probably be to Geneva as that’s an easy destination from Bristol and the train links from the airport are very good. I don’t know about Prague.

The sleeper (maybe with bike- nightjet) is already available I think from Zurich maybe to Amsterdam but Amsterdam isn’t very convenient for me- potentially good for those in the south east, east anglia though.
st599_uk
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Re: Eurovelo 14 Waters of Central Europe

Post by st599_uk »

This is the new sleeper: https://www.europeansleeper.eu/en
A novice learning...
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glucas
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Re: Eurovelo 14 Waters of Central Europe

Post by glucas »

With this new sleeper and with the existing Night Jet, is there a guaranteed bike space in accordance with your booking, or is there contention?
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MrsHJ
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Re: Eurovelo 14 Waters of Central Europe

Post by MrsHJ »

I think that is the plan ie 6 guaranteed bike spaces bookable in advance with a couchette but when I looked for the supposedly available bike spaces from Zurich to Amsterdam there weren’t any. I think this is due to some delay in bringing the right trains onto the service rather than them actually being booked up.
Jdsk
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Re: Eurovelo 14 Waters of Central Europe

Post by Jdsk »

Lots of information about sleepers:
viewtopic.php?t=153006

Jonathan
glucas
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Re: Eurovelo 14 Waters of Central Europe

Post by glucas »

Thanks. I am going to Poland (baltic coast) and have just looked at the sleeper from Amsterdam to Berlin, but it does not go every night - certainly not on the 17th June (Saturday). I will take a look nearer the date to see if there is any reverse availability for when I come back.
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MrsHJ
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Re: Eurovelo 14 Waters of Central Europe

Post by MrsHJ »

One thing I have noticed about Hungary is the cost of travelling once there looks very reasonable for Europe. So that might balance out some of the logistics of getting there.
pal
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Re: Eurovelo 14 Waters of Central Europe

Post by pal »

MrsHJ wrote: 28 Mar 2023, 11:20am I think that is the plan ie 6 guaranteed bike spaces bookable in advance with a couchette but when I looked for the supposedly available bike spaces from Zurich to Amsterdam there weren’t any. I think this is due to some delay in bringing the right trains onto the service rather than them actually being booked up.
Zurich-Amsterdam is (at the moment) a slightly odd arrangement, in that half of the train is a NightJet (bookable through OEBB) and half the train is an InterCity (bookable through SBB, DB or NS). The bike storage is in the InterCity part of the train, so bike spaces have to be booked through SBB/DB/NS. So that makes the booking process more of a faff than for other NightJets (esp. because sleeper tickets are released 6 months ahead of time, and bike bookings 3 months...); the plus side is that there are loads more bike places available than there are on the other NightJets. Anyway: I'm planning to try this out this summer -- we'll see if it works!
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MrsHJ
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Re: Eurovelo 14 Waters of Central Europe

Post by MrsHJ »

Thank you @pal. That could be of interest for many of us.

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MrsHJ
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Re: Eurovelo 14 Waters of Central Europe

Post by MrsHJ »

I think the answer to the train conundrum is:

Way out:
Overnight ferry 9pm to 8am Roscoff
Taxi (gah) for 9:42 TGV from Morlaix to Paris 1:16 (everything tends to hinge on which TGVs take bikes for the day of travel - it varies quite a lot but this would also work for a day when the 11:42 takes bikes).
4:42 Paris to Mulhouse 9:30pm TER
10:16 Mulhouse to Basel 10:38 TER and stay overnight
7:33 Basel to Zurich 8:26 IC direction Chur
8:40 Zurich to Zell am see. 14:14 IC direction Graz Maybe cycle a half day that afternoon.

Way home:
Train Debrecen to Budapest- they run every half hour or so and take around 2.5 hours. Do that either in the morning or the previous evening.
Then morning train to Prague or Berlin. The Buda to Prague route runs every couple of hours and takes around 6.5 hours.
From Prague (18:04) or Berlin sleeper (22:56)) to Brussels-(gets in around 9:30am. It’s the same train and it takes bikes.
From Brussels Eurostar to London 12:52 (or 14:52) is supposed to take intact bikes.* Arrives around 2pm.
Cycle to Paddington for the hourly train home which takes around 3 hours. Must be booked. Should be home for tea.

*book the Eurostar incredibly early when the tickets are released given I know getting your bike space is circular. Any suggestions about where is best to book tickets would be helpful eg which app/apps. I know about the Eurostar booking and I’ve found the sleeper but not sure where to book Budapest to Prague.

The sleeper is here. https://www.europeansleeper.eu/en
That looks easy- the bike is booked in the website, you can choose a sleeper or couchette. The price is reasonable for train plus sleep and you can book for eg next June from Prague now. It’s all so easy that I’m tempted to get on and do it. Please note it’s only some nights if the week so I’ll probably organise my trip time wise to get to Prague on a Sunday, Tuesday or Thursday.

ps @pal any luck with the Zurich to Amsterdam sleeper?
Last edited by MrsHJ on 23 Oct 2023, 9:53pm, edited 8 times in total.
wheelyhappy99
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Re: Eurovelo 14 Waters of Central Europe

Post by wheelyhappy99 »

Hungarian trains are pretty good and well priced, though on some trains/stations getting a bike into the carriage is a long vertical lift. Debrecen to Budapest is about £12. If you are looking to box up your bike in Budapest I can recommend trying Mester Bikes, Mester Utca. V helpful people, and do good coffee.
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MrsHJ
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Re: Eurovelo 14 Waters of Central Europe

Post by MrsHJ »

wheelyhappy99 wrote: 23 Oct 2023, 6:19pm Hungarian trains are pretty good and well priced, though on some trains/stations getting a bike into the carriage is a long vertical lift. Debrecen to Budapest is about £12. If you are looking to box up your bike in Budapest I can recommend trying Mester Bikes, Mester Utca. V helpful people, and do good coffee.
Thank you.

Did you come across an online booking site? I haven’t looked in detail yet so hoping there is one. Plan A is not to box the bike and I do have some vertical train plus bike climbing experiences.

Ok booking for Budapest to Prague is here. Bike reservations compulsory but haven’t found how to book the bike yet- edit, now have. https://www.cd.cz/en/default.htm#. Bike booking link here: https://www.cd.cz/en/dalsi-sluzby/psi-k ... la/-27973/
Last edited by MrsHJ on 23 Oct 2023, 10:19pm, edited 3 times in total.
wheelyhappy99
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Re: Eurovelo 14 Waters of Central Europe

Post by wheelyhappy99 »

It looks as if Hungarian railways are updating their online stuff. Here's the current offering:
https://jegy.mav.hu/

There are different symbols to indicate whether trains take bikes, or only bagged bikes, or those where reservation is required. I booked tickets for self and bike a few days ahead, at a station, when I was there.
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