After my first review on Dooyoo has been about the Eurostar, this one is about the train which regularly takes me from Cologne to Brussels and back, and only makes it possible for me to travel on Eurostar. Up to now, I’ve used the Thalys nine times, with another journey coming next week.

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Thalys in general
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Thalys is a European high speed train, connecting Germany, Belgium, France and the Netherlands. From Cologne, there is a direct train to Paris, with stops in Aachen, Liège and Brussels Midi. Furthermore, the Thalys-network includes Antwerp, Oostende and Amsterdam, with the latter having a direct connection to Brussels and Paris. Also, the Thalys stops at Marne-La-Vallée-Chessy – the train station at Disneyland Paris.

Travel time from Brussels to Cologne is 2:20 hrs and from Cologne to Paris 3:55hrs. Every day, there are six possible journeys between these cities. From 2007, journey time will be cut down by approx. 50 minutes between Brussels and Cologne due to the new high speed track in Belgium, so the journey then will only take 1:30 hrs.
A reservation is compulsory, but is already included in the ticket price. All Thalys trains are completely non-smoking.
The website of Thalys is http://thalys.com/ - choose the country you want to travel from and English as language.

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Tariffs
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(As Thalys only operates on the continent, the prices are in Euros. However, if you book your ticket from England, the price might – unfortunately - be rounded up. 1 EUR equals 0.67 GBP at the moment).

The tariff system is simple, clear and – most of the times – logical. Here are the most impotant fares:

Youths between 12 and 25 get, just as seniors from 60, reduced ticket prices. The contingent is limited, so a booking should be done as early as possible to make use of it.
Children under 4 years of age travel for free if they sit on an adult’s lap, for 4 to 12 year olds there is a set price from 10 or 16 EUR.
All those tickets can be exchanged before departure – or completely refunded.

If you book a return ticket, you can make use of cheaper fares. These tickets should be booked as early as possible as well, as only a certain amount for each train is available. Furthermore, these tickets can’t be exchanged and a 100% refund isn’t possible either.
Be careful, if you travel with return tickets, on both ways you have to be able to show both tickets.

As a special offer there is a fare called “Kid & Co”, which allows up to two adults, travelling with a child, to get cheaper fares.

All the tickets are available for first or second class (Thalys calls that comfort 1 / 2). When you book your ticket – especially, if you can’t book it a long time in advance – you should make sure that you compare the prices between first and second class as well, as there are often offers for comfort 1 which might be cheaper than the regular ticket for comfort 2 – or only slighty more expensive. (Last time, I only would have paid 7 EUR more for a journey in comfort 1).

An early booking is, as already mentioned, advisable.
For example: An adult pays for the return journey between Brussels and Cologne 30 EUR if early booked. I paid 40 EUR just for the single journey between those cities as I only could book one week ahead. (40 EUR is the standard price between Brussels and Cologne). For youths this journey (single) costs 20 EUR, for seniors 28 EUR and for children 10 EUR.

See the joke? If you are under 25 or over 60 and want to book a return journey anyway, then you should check, whether the cheapest adult fare is still available – it’s cheaper than the return for youths or seniors. The booking systems won’t show you these fared if you put your age in.

In all prices, seat reservation is inclusive.

Tickets for international journeys from/to Aachen are also valid in the whole area, for Cologne such a rule unfortunately doesn’t apply.

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Where to buy your tickets
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There are different possibilities to buy your Thalys ticket, depending on where you are.

The most common one, if you want to buy your ticket when you are in the UK: The Raileurope website. You can either only buy the Thalys tickets or connectivity trains the same time. The tickets are sent to your home address quickly – I always got them within four days – and booking the journey is quick and simple. Also you can choose whether you want a windows/aisle-seat or even put in, if you want to sit next to a certain seat (e.g. if your friend has already booked a ticket and you want to sit next to them).

If you are in one of the countries Thalys serves (Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, France) you can book the ticket via the Thalys website. Some tickets you can print off immediately, others are sent to you via post – but only to addresses within the countries mentioned above. Here you also get Last-Minute-Tickets for half of the price, usually one week before departure and only for certain connections.

Also, the local train companies (in France TGV, in Germany DB (deutsche Bahn) etc.) sell Thalys tickets. And last but not least of course several travel agents.

Tickets can be booked three months in advance.


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Punctuality
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According to Thalys, in the year 2005 84.4% of all Thalys trains reached their destination with a delay of less than five minutes ( = on time).

I can confirm that, out of „my“ nine trains seven have been exactly on time, one was about six minutes late, when it arrived in Brussels, and one had a delay of 30 minutes, when it arrived in Cologne. But both weren’t Thalys’ fault – the six minutes resulted from track works in Belgium and the second time there was something wrong with the catenary in Germany, so that the Thalys couldn’t move for half an hour.

As soon as the train staff could foresee the delay it ways announced; also the reason for the delay was stated. If the train is slightly late in Aachen or Belgium don’t worry – during the journey it usually catches the time up again.

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On the train stations
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In Brussels the platform is well signposted; you find it in a slightly separate part of the train station. But due to a large amount of display panels and signs the correct platform is found easily. What I especially like about Brussels: Thalys offers a waiting room for its customers. Fair enough, it’s kept simple with a few chairs, but at least you don’t have to stand when you have to wait for a longer time. The waiting room is inside of the train station. Moreover, in Brussels Thalys has a service desk where they help you if you have enquiries or problems – or if you need a last minute ticket. The staff there is very friendly and helpful and they speak English as well.

Also in Cologne the platform for the Thalys is easy to find – due to several screens telling you where it goes from. You also can check on the internet– or just remember, that it goes from platform 8, if there is no change.
When you arrive, your first platform should be the one to the poster, telling you at what part of the platform your carriage will stop. The parts are labelled with the letters A to H and you identify the parts through the white-blue squares hanging from the roof.

When the train is arriving, you don’t have trouble to find your carriage – there are displays at the outside of the train, right next to the doors.


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On the train
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After boarding, you find storage room for your bigger luggage on the right. All suitcases, bags etc. you want to store there have to be labelled.
When you go from Cologne to Brussels you are the first ones to board anyway, so there always is enough room for your luggage.
However, when you travel from Brussels to Cologne most people are already on board, coming from Paris. Sometimes nearly all the room is packed then, especially in summer. If that is the case, place your suitcase in front of the storage room. They say you shouldn’t do that, but what else should you do with your suitcase? Anyway, I had to do that twice and nobody has complained, so as long as your suitcase doesn’t block the corridor it seems to be acceptable.

Once you’ve stored your luggage, you can go to your seat. The carriage number is displayed another time over the door leading to the carriage, so you can make sure again that you’re right. Before you enter the carriage pick up the latest Thalys board magazine “ThalyScope”, which is published every three months. It is written in English German, French and Dutch and usually contains some handy tips about the different Thalys destionations.

The seat numbers are located above the seats. Also above the seat you find more storage room for your smaller baggage like rucksacks, small trolleys etc.
The train is clean, at least when you are travelling from Cologne. If you board in Brussels and there was a little pig sitting on your seat beforehand you’re unlucky, the train is not cleaned there. (What, in my opinion can’t be expected anyway).

The design of the train is purely a matter of taste. Mainly warm, dark colours are used, with red dominating by far. I couldn’t say that I find it overly brilliant, but the design of a train surely isn’t the most important thing for me if I travel. And it’s not that terrible that I would have to close my eyes for the whole journey.
Most seats are the so-called “duo seats”, which simply means that there are two seats next to each other. For groups travelling together there are groups of four seats with a table in the middle. But mind those seats if you don’t need them – they are quite narrow.
Apart from that the seats are comfortable – far more comfortable than those of the Eurostar. Footrests are available and you’ve got enough room, as long as you’re not 1.90m tall. Then you should consider booking a seat at the aisle.

The journey on Thalys itself is pleasant. The train is going quietly, you hardly hear any noises, even not, when the maximum speed (of about 320 km/h = 199 mph) is reached. The train is air-conditioned.

The tickets are checked shortly after departure (make sure you always carry them with you when you move on the train) and the on-board staff was always very friendly and helpful. Furthermore, they are multi-lingual and speak at least French and English, most also speak German and/or Dutch. The announcements on the train are generally made in English, French, German and Dutch – the order depends on where you just are, but English usually comes last.
Before departure the train number, the final destination and the stops are announced, during the trip of course always the next stop. This happens early enough, so that you have time to get you luggage and get ready to disembark.

There are two toilets in every carriage, which I’ve always found to be clean. Twice they were without toilet paper, what I understandably weren’t too happy about – since the first time I’ve always taken some tissues with me, just in case.

On board there is a bar – the so-called “Thalys bar”. Prices are, like on all on-board restaurants, relatively high, with drinks being the most expensive. But I must admit, that I’ve seen worse prices, at least for food.
You can pay with Euros or your credit card.

Some examples: (1 EUR ~ 0,67 GBP)
Hot chocolate – 2.20 EUR
Bio Natural Yoghurt – 3.00 EUR
Hamburger or Hotdog – 4.00 EUR
Tuna salad/gouda cheese/ham and emmental cheese bagnat – 4.50 EUR
Salad bowl of the month – 6.00 EUR
Tomato sandwich with ham and cheese (warm dish) – 4.00 EUR
Pastabowl or bruschetta of the month – 6.30 EUR.


I can’t judge about the quality, because due to those prices I rather take some food with me than spending a fortune on some packed sandwiches. Also available in the bar: tickets for the Paris and Brussels Metro.

In comfort 1 a meal is inclusive, what you get depends on how far you travel and at what time. Between Brussels and Cologne you get one of the following meals:

breakfast: a choice of drinks, croissants and yoghurt
a light meal: a choice of drinks, mixed salad and bread
a snack: a choice of drinks, a sandwich or sweet or savoury snacks.

I can’t say more about that issue as, so far, I’ve always travelled comfort 2 and never had the chance to try it. In case I will ever choose to travel comfort 1, I will update this review.

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What I think
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My conclusion? Thalys – quite happily again and again and again and…. The train is comfortable and quick – you wouldn’t be quicker by plane, neither from Brussels to Cologne nor from Cologne to Paris (if you consider the check-in times and the fact, that the airports are far away from the centres). When the journey time is cut down further next year the train is nearly just as quick as a plane between Brussels and Germany.
The ticket prices are – providing you can book early enough – very fair and Thalys is reliable and punctual.

If you travel between Cologne and Brussels you can choose between the Intercity Express 3 (ICE) and Thalys – and I would always choose Thalys. I’ve travelled by ICE once and it was quite a disaster. Fair enough, the ICE trains look nicer (all wood inside, quite noble really), but that doesn’t help if the train is 40 minutes late. Apart from that, in Brussels there is Thalys staff you can ask for help, e.g. if your Eurostar was late and you’ve missed the connection train. Also, if that should happen, Thalys is running more frequently between Brussels and Cologne. And it is cheaper than the ICE!

Coming from London, you reach several Thalys’ trains per day for your journey to Cologne, where you can get connection trains to many other big cities in Germany – and if you travel the opposite way you have direct connections to the Eurostar to London. Same goes for trains to/from Amsterdam.
Here also applies, what I’ve mentioned above: You’re not much slower than by plane.
Next autumn, when both trains, Thalys and Eurostar, will have cut down their journey time, it will only take a good four hours from London to Cologne – from city centre to city centre. I’m certainly looking forward to that!

All in all, Thalys is an ideal way to travel, if you have or want to go to Cologne or Amsterdam or to the areas around those cities and don’t want to fly. If you want to go further – to northern or southern Germany for example - it’s not really an alternative to the plane as the travel time within the country would be too long.
Thalys offers good value for your money as well as a pleasant journey – and that’s why it gets full five stars from me.