stockholm to glasgow on the surface 🚆 🗺

The surface route from Stockholm to Glasgow has a personal interest for me. I have been on quite a few flights on that route but would like to move to surface travel future wise. Sadly the ferry from Gothenburg to Newcastle has been out of business for quite some time now being out performed by the low price flight airliners. So all reasonable routes at this time involves passing through Denmark, Germany and either the Netherlands or Belgium. It can not be done in 24 hours even. One major hassle that one may hope will be removed is the Hamburg - Brussels part where at least one change of trains is necessary most likely in Köln (Cologne). Here I will record the current possiblities of going there and back. (Trying out markdown tables in the process.)

The mighty Hauptbahnhof in Hamburg.

The double night train option

There are night trains along the route. Until recently there were no night trains south out of Stockholm but it changed with first the Stockholm - Malmö one and now there is one going all the way to Berlin over Hamburg. This one makes it possible to hit the Caledonian Sleeper the next night making the trip into two nights and one day on trains.

16:20-1	Stockholm C	05:31	Hamburg Hbf	-> Night train
06:46	Hamburg Hbf	10:50	Köln Hbf
11:43	Köln Hbf	13:35	Bruxelles Midi
15:06	Bruxelles Midi	16:03	London St. Pancras
23:20	London Euston	07:22+1	Glasgow Central	-> Night train

Going in this direction it is indeed possible to arrive in Glasgow in the evening. There is a 17:08 out of Euston that leaves you in Glasgow by 22:04. Going back as shown below does not give that opportunity. This is due both to the timezone jump but also the lack of services north from Hamburg.

23:15-1	Glasgow Central	07:07	London Euston	-> Night train
09:01	London St. Pancras	12:05	Bruxelles Midi
12:25	Bruxelles Midi	14:15	Köln Hbf
15:09	Köln Hbf	19:14	Hamburg Hbf
23:26	Hamburg Hbf	14:20+1	Stockholm C	-> Night train

Day train option with a nice bed in Köln or Hamburg

There are no night trains in the middle really (a København - Brussels one would be nice!) so the option if you want to start in the morning in Stockholm is to do one night in Köln. This will be two intense days on trains!

05:25	Stockholm C	09:54	Malmö C
10:33	Malmö C	11:09	København H
11:26	København H	16:02	Hamburg Hbf
16:46	Hamburg Hbf	20:50	Köln Hbf
07:42+1	Köln Hbf	09:35+1	Bruxelles Midi
10:52+1	Bruxelles Midi	11:57+1	London St. Pancras
13:10+1	London Euston	17:59+1	Glasgow Central

Quite doable except for that fakir train out of Stockholm. And going back like this is also possible with the night stop in Hamburg instead.

05:32	Glasgow Central	10:11	London Euston
11:04	London St. Pancras	14:04	Bruxelles Midi
14:25	Bruxelles Midi	16:15	Köln Hbf
17:09	Köln Hbf	21:14	Hamburg Hbf
08:53+1	Hamburg Hbf	13:33+1	København H
13:47+1	København H	14:26+1	Malmö C
16:04+1	Malmö C	20:34+1	Stockholm C

As you can see when comparing these with the above it is possible to get on the night train at 23:26 in Hamburg as well. It will save you some 6 hours but a tougher night perhaps on the train.

Other options partly with boat

The idea of sleeping and travelling at the same time is nice. And comfort wise an over night ferry is preferred over a train. For this itinerary there are a few possible boat options. For the Stockholm - Hamburg leg (yes there is no way to not pass by Hamburg….) there is the option of night boat from Gothenburg to Kiel. I have tried it and it is quite nice. The train station in Kiel is just a brief walk from the ferry terminal. The times are 18:45 to 09:15 in both directions. From Kiel to Hamburg there are two trains each hour taking 1:15 or so. It is possible to make it from Kiel to London in one day if one wants to combine with the Caledonian sleeper.

Another option, if you - like me - is not that fond of the near flight experience of the tunnel train, is taking a boat from Rotterdam or Zeebrugge to Hull. I tried it once and the drawback is that there is a significant bus ride to get to and from the bus terminal in both Hull and Rotterdam. If you are interested in seeing some of the huge Europort outside of Rotterdam it is an obvious choice.

written by fredrik at 2021-04-29