How to train from Caen, Fr. to Amsterdam, NL with bike
04-01-22, 04:00 PM
#1
Junior Member
Thread Starter
How to train from Caen, Fr. to Amsterdam, NL with bike
Hi all. Need some help/suggestions on how to get from Caen, Fr. to Schiphol airport with our bikes. Assuming Covid and/or WWIII doesn't prevent it this summer we will be doing a self-supported tour, bringing our own bikes, beginning and ending at Schiphol airport and making a big clockwise circle around NL, Be & France. Due to time constraints it looks like we'll have to end the riding around Caen and then need to get ourselves and bikes back to Schiphol in two days. Would appreciate suggestions on how best to do that. Appears we will have to get to either Paris or Lille for the direct train to NL. Is one location more logical than the other? Paris is one of my absolute favorite places but I have spent time there while I've never seen Lille. However at this point ease of logistics is paramount.
Thalys seems to be the main carrier in Be & NL but they require the bike be broken down and boxed, something I'd prefer to do in Amsterdam as my bike is coupled and its suitcase will be staying in storage in Amsterdam during the trip. I presume there are bike shops in Caen and if need be I could box them in Caen and then discard mine once I get to Amsterdam and then repack it into its case, but again simplified logistics is preferred.
Thanks for all suggestions.
Thalys seems to be the main carrier in Be & NL but they require the bike be broken down and boxed, something I'd prefer to do in Amsterdam as my bike is coupled and its suitcase will be staying in storage in Amsterdam during the trip. I presume there are bike shops in Caen and if need be I could box them in Caen and then discard mine once I get to Amsterdam and then repack it into its case, but again simplified logistics is preferred.
Thanks for all suggestions.
04-01-22, 06:03 PM
#2
Member
I think it's possible but not simple. There are non-Thalys trains from Lille to Amsterdam. BTW, Lille is a nice town and worth a visit. I think that the Belgian train site may be easier to use in your circumstances than the French SNCF website. On the Belgian site, you can specify "non-high speed trains", for example. You can also specify you have a bicycle with the Advanced Search option.
https://www.b-europe.com/EN/Trains/InterCity
The following explains bike rules on "conventional InterCity & Regional trains":
https://www.b-europe.com/EN/Question...ation#Bicycles
In France, it used to be easy to roll your bike onto virtually all TER trains. The last time I biked in France, 4 years ago, that wasn't always true anymore. You have to check the schedule for each train. On many TGVs, you can reserve a space for bikes for a fee, but space for bikes is limited. We had Bike Friday folders, so we had an alternative means of taking our bikes on any train.
8 years ago, my friend & I wanted to travel from Normandy to Grenoble. Our ticket had us on 2 trains, a TER train from Normandy to Paris Gare-St-Lazare, and a TGV from Paris Gare de Lyon to Grenoble. I think we had about 75 minutes for the connection in Paris. I know Paris well so I guided my friend from Gare St. Lazare to Gare de Lyon on our bikes. The train from Normandy had hooks for bikes, so that leg was easy. We stopped en route to pick up something to eat for lunch, then continued on to the Gare de Lyon. Although our TGV could take bikes in theory, I was told we'd have to drop them off at the baggage counter much earlier than would have been possible for us to do. So keep that in mind if you have to change stations in Paris. In our situation, we folded our bikes and put them in huge trash bags we had brought for this situation.
I'm thinking you should be able to take slower regional trains to get from Paris to Lille but I didn't check that on the SNCF website.
https://www.b-europe.com/EN/Trains/InterCity
The following explains bike rules on "conventional InterCity & Regional trains":
https://www.b-europe.com/EN/Question...ation#Bicycles
In France, it used to be easy to roll your bike onto virtually all TER trains. The last time I biked in France, 4 years ago, that wasn't always true anymore. You have to check the schedule for each train. On many TGVs, you can reserve a space for bikes for a fee, but space for bikes is limited. We had Bike Friday folders, so we had an alternative means of taking our bikes on any train.
8 years ago, my friend & I wanted to travel from Normandy to Grenoble. Our ticket had us on 2 trains, a TER train from Normandy to Paris Gare-St-Lazare, and a TGV from Paris Gare de Lyon to Grenoble. I think we had about 75 minutes for the connection in Paris. I know Paris well so I guided my friend from Gare St. Lazare to Gare de Lyon on our bikes. The train from Normandy had hooks for bikes, so that leg was easy. We stopped en route to pick up something to eat for lunch, then continued on to the Gare de Lyon. Although our TGV could take bikes in theory, I was told we'd have to drop them off at the baggage counter much earlier than would have been possible for us to do. So keep that in mind if you have to change stations in Paris. In our situation, we folded our bikes and put them in huge trash bags we had brought for this situation.
I'm thinking you should be able to take slower regional trains to get from Paris to Lille but I didn't check that on the SNCF website.
04-06-22, 09:34 PM
#3
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Being self supported, you might consider modifying your route to make it an actual loop. My wife and I have ended three tours at Schiphol Airport, all were open jaw routes terminating there. It would be easy to plan a loop that could include Germany or maybe Belgium. It looks like you are planning to ride about 380 miles before taking the train back. There is a lot to see just in NL.
Our tours were in the 2-3 month range so we always planned on arriving in the Netherlands with a 2-3 day cushion before our flight. We were always early. It was a great opportunity to do day rides, or some short multi-day exploring. With a total of seven months touring through ten European countries, we have spent just over a month in the NL. We have been talking about going back and just concentrate on the NL.
The Netherlands -- My wife and daughter heading toward Schiphol.
Our tours were in the 2-3 month range so we always planned on arriving in the Netherlands with a 2-3 day cushion before our flight. We were always early. It was a great opportunity to do day rides, or some short multi-day exploring. With a total of seven months touring through ten European countries, we have spent just over a month in the NL. We have been talking about going back and just concentrate on the NL.
The Netherlands -- My wife and daughter heading toward Schiphol.
Last edited by Doug64; 04-06-22 at 11:03 PM.
