Best way to get my bike from Stuttgart to London?

[Kosong]

Hi again all...Am looking at the myriad of options for getting my bike back to London from Stuttgart at the end of my tour in August, and am overwhelmed with info and want some stories/ideas/tips. The last day i'll have is fri 3rd of August, and i'll be back at work in London at 8am on sat 4th, so am looking at one of the late evening flights out of Stuttgart on fri eve. However, the flight without any baggage is already £65, and it seems like i should be able to take my bike in a bike bag, plus buy extra baggage for my pannier bags etc. It's looking pretty damn expensive, so i'm trying to find a cheaper route if possible.

I can get a series of trains from my partners house to London in about 9 hours, and currently its coming up at £90 which is way cheaper than the plane, but i have no idea if i can take my bike on the eurostar. taking it on the trains to brussels will be no problem. i've looked on their website and its very unhelpful as it contradicts itself on the same page - saying that bikes can travel from brussels to london (which is where the train will take me) but not from brussels midi, which is where the train leaves from? Has anyone got any experience of taking your bike on the eurostar...did you have to pack it down? If you did, did you need a box for it, and what about your panniers etc?

The other option is the coach, but ofc the flixbus is sold out that day for bike spaces, plus its 20+ hours which doesnt sound pleasant before a weekends work. I like the idea of flying but the crazy cost is putting me off - the train from my partners to the airport is €21, then you're talking £130 or so for me, the bike and my bag, then im stranded in Gatwick at 10pm and paying for that overpriced train to victoria and fighting drunk londoners for space on the tube home. I'd much much rather find a way to not have to take my bike apart, save some money (even if it takes way longer) and roll into london and cycle home...but can't find any solid advice on this.

Answers on a postcard please...As you can tell I've never taken a bike abroad by public transport, its always been in my van! So I'm new to all of this

 

[Kosong]

btw the flight options are easyjet to Gatwick, BA to Heathrow or germanwings to Heathrow. the easyjet one gives me the whole day to sort stuff out and the others are a bit earlier in the day. BA seem to have very expensive baggage prices, let alone wont let you see them before you book which makes me hesitant...

 

[Tim Hall]

I'll ask my chum who is organising our jaunt sur le continent about the reality of putting a bike on the Eurostar. I know we did it at Lille last year, which involved going to an office, going to the right office, tying labels on the bikes, watching a drunk man pee over the edge of a balcony onto the platform below, passing out bikes through the luggage scanner and handing them over to the nice people who put them on the train. At St Panras we collected them from an office in the bowels of the station.

If you do fly into Gatwick, my top tip is not to use the Gatwick Express but just tap in with your contactless card and get Oyster pricing on Southern or Thameslink. You can, of course, use an Oyster card if you have one.

 

[The Crofted Crest]

Could you rent a car in Stuttgart and leave it in London?

 

[Welsh wheels]

Train to france, ferry back to the UK?

 

[Brandane]

BA seem to have very expensive baggage prices

The difference with BA, unless things have changed recently, is that you can take your bike as part of your 23kg allowance - whereas EasyJet and other "low fare" airlines will charge you a fixed price for the bike whether or not you have any other baggage.

 

[Tim Hall]

OK, it seems we're (six of us) traveling on Eurostar from St Pancras to Brussels, cycling for a few days then going back the same way. Of the six, one bike remains whole, the others get partly dismantled (pedals off, wheels off, turn handlebars) and boxed up. Boxes and tools are provided. The Brussels station is Midi/Zuid.

 

[Kosong]

I'll ask my chum who is organising our jaunt sur le continent about the reality of putting a bike on the Eurostar. I know we did it at Lille last year, which involved going to an office, going to the right office, tying labels on the bikes, watching a drunk man pee over the edge of a balcony onto the platform below, passing out bikes through the luggage scanner and handing them over to the nice people who put them on the train. At St Panras we collected them from an office in the bowels of the station.

If you do fly into Gatwick, my top tip is not to use the Gatwick Express but just tap in with your contactless card and get Oyster pricing on Southern or Thameslink. You can, of course, use an Oyster card if you have one.

yea that's what i usually do. its still fairly expensive though compared to a coach. heathrow is the only london airport with good prices (because of tube connections) but you'll lose that money by flighing into there. I fly back and forth from uk to Germany once a month or so and try to avoid Gatwick just because its frigging expensive (and long) getting back from there, but needs must sometimes!

Re BA, its a budget ticket so no allowance. the flight is already 70 quid, plus id have to add extra baggage - my bike and gear weigh more than 23KG so i'd need two bags, which gets real expensive

Hiring a car would cost way too much, with fuel/ferry plus rental costs it just wouldnt be worth it. it would certainly be the most convenient way though, and it would be nice to drive something that isn't my (lovely but very slow) van on the German autobahn

It looks like Eurostar is the best option - I can get to Brussels for €40 by train in about 5 hours (including bike tickets!) then direct train to London - should even have time to cycle back through London too which will put a nice end to the tour. Will drop them an email now, thanks all again for your advice!

 

[mjr]

It looks like Eurostar is the best option - I can get to Brussels for €40 by train in about 5 hours (including bike tickets!) then direct train to London - should even have time to cycle back through London too which will put a nice end to the tour. Will drop them an email now, thanks all again for your advice!

Idea just occurred to me: can you book bikes onto a "Sparpreis London" ticket?

 

[Kosong]

Although saying that, i cant for the life of me find that nice cheap train ticket on the DB website anymore...hmm. now its €80 and saying it can't book me a cycle ticket online. I'm back in Germany in a few days so i might pop into a dbahn office and see what they can offer there.

I dont think there's sparpreis offers outside of Germany - ive only got them within the country border themselves...then again, i went by train to amsterdam last summer from bawu and it was only €40! now they are quoting €80 to brussels (a bit closer) and a few months further in advance too

 

[Kosong]

i think particularly going from where i'll be (very rural with no fast trains nearby) into brussels, i have to go via at least 2 cities, but more likely 3-4 changes. which i think adds €9 for a bike ticket each time (if im reading the site correctly! i'll get my bf to check it in german on the weekend, some of the English on the dbahn website is quite questionable hah). it seems the sparpreis finder can't get any discounts because id be going to wrong way to get them. damn where did i see that cheap ticket yesterday!

 

[Kosong]

there's a train from aalen to London (9 hours or so) on the dbahn website for €110 which is a bargain...however when i add 'carriage of bicycles' it says it can't do it. i think i'll ask them in germany this weekend, fingers crossed its possible as the timings and everything would be perfect as well! plus, the price looks great.

 

[Kosong]

my only other option is braving taking my bike on a ryanair flight from karlsruhe back to London - its a very early start to get there on time for the flight, but just had a look now and with the bike, extra baggage and myself it comes in at about €120. but id need to find a way to take the bike apart and box it up then trust it to not get lost

 

[Tim Hall]

A bit of feedback, just in case @Kosong you're still planning on using Eurostar. When my mate booked our trip, he was told five of the six bikes would need to be dismantled and boxed. We all met at St Pancras Eurodespatch where we were issued with hefty padded metal boxes and started taking the bikes apart. This was more of a task for those with mudguards as the boxes weren't long enough to take a bike with mudguards on. They have a selection of tools and, nice touch, a wash basin so you can clean up afterwards. However, part way through we were told to stop, as the particular train we were taking could take fully assembled bikes. Good news! It seems that they have "old" trains and "new" trains. Old trains are whole bike friendly, but which type of train you get is, I think, the luck of the draw.
Wise to this, on the return journey we rocked up at Brussels Midi, prepared to dismantle but with fingers crossed. The very helpful woman radioed someone and found that we were on a refurbished train, so bike friendly but nice new seating. All in all a positive experience.

 

[Crankarm]

You can take a Brompton with you on the Eurostar and TGVs no problem.