Leaving Your Trip in MULHOUSE

This page offers help (concrete or informational) on leaving your trip. Topics include...

1. Where you leave your trip (see immediately below).
2. The closest airports.
3. Our “Access Packages,” designed to help you with your ongoing travel.
4. Suggestions on how to time your ongoing travel, whether you are having us arrange it, or doing it yourself.
5. Service information regarding train travel from your trip end location.
6. Suggested post-trip visits, especially when these are not geographically obvious, but are rendered economical and convenient by direct rail connections.
7. Hopefully helpful hints for those setting up their own travel from the trip.

If you wish to arrange some or all of your travel through us, please tell us what by means of this response questionnaire, designed to collect all the information we need to be able to book your travel.



1. WHERE and WHEN Do You Leave Your Trip?

The trip disbands at the Mulhouse railway station, at noon on Saturday. Mulhouse is a large town in southern Alsace, and an important railway junction. The cycle trip to Mulhouse from Thann, our previous night’s stop, takes about 2 hours at an easy pace, so nothing prevents you from getting there earlier, if you wish, at the cost of an early start.

If you wish to arrange your own ongoing travel (in other words, you do not want to set up any ongoing travel arrangements through us), a couple of hints regarding ongoing travel are offered at the bottom of this page. Otherwise...



2. The CLOSEST AIRPORTS

Mulhouse shares an airport with the Swiss city of Basel (the airport is called “Bâle - Mulhouse,” and its code is BSL). The city’s air service is thus overdimensioned relative to its small size, but it still does not include any intercontinental flights: you must always change planes at a bigger European airport if you are flying intercontinentally.

If, as we do, you prefer direct flights, Zurich is the closest intercontinental airport. But any of Frankfurt, Paris, Geneva, Munich, Luxembourg, Milan or Brussels (in rough order of travel time) can be reached by train in a few hours.



3. Our ACCESS PACKAGES
as of February 1, 2008

Our “Access Package” is simply a train ticket, to Zurich (downtown or airport). Tickets to downtown or the airport in Paris, Frankfurt, Geneva, and other regional cities are available for a small additional cost. Other destinations are available on request.

Base (Starting) Access Package Price: 39 €.
If you are a North American traveller, the $ price (US or Canadian) on your price chart applies until 35 days prior to trip departure. Otherwise euro prices are transcribed to your invoice in its currency, converted at the exchange rate of the day on which the package is requested (rounded to the nearest whole dollar). Current “mid-market” rates can be consulted from the site we use for conversion. We use the mid-market rate on the day of conversion, and add 2% to cover currency broker exchange commissions (our conversion rates are thus as good as, or better than, any you could obtain, including via your credit card, unless you are a professional currency trader).

Availability is normally guaranteed until 35 days prior to trip start (payment received by us). Within 35 days, availability must be confirmed, and costs may be higher (we will confirm your acceptance of any additional cost before booking). Some extra-cost options also have higher prices if ordered within 35 days.


Included:

• Train tickets to Zurich (downtown or airport). Other destinations available at modest additional cost. Zurich tickets are “open,” valid on any departing train.
• A printed schedule / itinerary, highlighting any connections.
• Seat reservations aboard trains which require them (they are optionally available on trains which do not — see below).

Options Offered at an Extra Cost (subject to availability)
Prices are in addition to the “Base” Access Package Price. For a general discussion of train upgrades, see here. Topics include the relative comfort of first versus second class, and different types of accommodation available on overnight trains.

• Tickets to Paris, or to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport. +19€ on a direct train, 25€ if you must connect in Strasbourg. A seat reservation is included in the price.
  These tickets are train-specific, not refundable or exchangeable once ordered (extra cost flexible tickets are available, see below). Higher fare code tickets are available for an additional cost, allowing a local change in plan. See below.
• Tickets to Frankfurt, to Frankfurt Airport, Geneva, Geneva Airport, or to Luxemburg. +38 €.
  Tickets to Frankfurt or Luxemburg are train-specific, not refundable or exchangeable once ordered (extra cost flexible tickets are available, see below). Geneva tickets are “open,” valid on any departing train. Seat reservations are included in the price on trains which require them.
  
• Tickets to London. Add 89 € if you are also purchasing tickets from London at the start of your trip, 129 € if not, or if you prefer a changeable ticket (in 1st cl., add 125 € or 175 €; 1st class tickets include meal service).
• Tickets to Brussels, Milan or Munich (downtown): +56 €. To Amsterdam: +79 €.
  Tickets are train-specific, not refundable or exchangeable once ordered (extra cost flexible tickets are available, see below).
• Modifiable tickets to any point: +25€. Tickets can be changed or refunded until the eve of departure (10€ to change, 20€ to refund).
  Tickets allowing full change / refund priviliges, even in the event of a missed train, even on the date of travel, but still on a space-available basis, are available for 45€ additional.
• Seat reservations on trains / lines where they are not required (essentially Luxembourg): 10€.
• 1st class train tickets (in lieu of 2nd class): +15€ to Zurich or Luxembourg; +25 € to Frankfurt, Paris, Brussels, Geneva, Milan or Munich; +35€ to Amsterdam.
• Overnight sleeper trains to points further afield are available: Rome, Florence or Venice: +59 €. Prague, Vienna, Copenhagen, Berlin: +79 €. Barcelona: +89€.
  Prices include a couchette sleeper berth on board. Sleeping car upgrades are available if desired.
• Tickets on the Paris airport train, from anywhere in Paris to Charles de Gaulle or Orly. Follow this link for details.
  

4. TIMING Your Trip

If you are trying to catch a Saturday flight, the noon disaggregation will probably be too late for you, though late intercontinental flights are available to some destinations.

The best solution is to catch a Sunday flight, instead. The Saturday morning ride can then be a pleasant affair, and not a stressful dash. Mulhouse has a couple of points of interest (continental Europe’s best railway museum, for instance).

But it is also possible to depart from Thann (our Friday night stop), by train early on Saturday morning (instead of cycling into Mulhouse). Starting from Thann at 7a allows you to reach the Zurich Airport by 10a; airports in Geneva, Frankfurt or Paris by noon.



5. Service Information
Schedules are approximate – exact timetables can be consulted at http://www.raileurope.com/us/rail/fares_schedules/index.htm.
Best trains are mentioned. Others are slower or have multiple connections.

• To Zurich, downtown or airport. Travel time is 2 hours to downtown, an additional 30 minutes to the airport. Service is hourly.
• To Frankfurt, downtown or airport. Travel time is 3.5 hours to either downtown or the airport, and one connection is required. Service is hourly.
  
• To Luxembourg. Travel time is 3 hours. A good direct train runs at 2p.
• To Paris. Travel time is a bit over 3 hours by TGV. Irregular service, but with trains generally every 2 - 3 hours (hourly with a connection in Strasbourg). There is a well-timed 1:30p train that permits lunch in Mulhouse before you board, or an 11:30a if you are willing to set out promptly in the morning (lunch in the train’s café, in that case).
• To Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport. Requires a connection in Strasbourg. Only one useful schedule, departing Mulhouse at 10:45a, arriving the airport at 2:30p. Compatible with an early bike ride, or you can catch a train into Mulhouse at 9a.
  The first Sunday morning train from Strasbourg direct to the airport runs at 7a, reaching the airport at 9:30a. This is awfully early to start a Sunday morning.
• To Brussels, downtown or airport. Travel time is 6 hours. Direct train to downtown at 2p.
  An alternate TGV service exists via Paris, and is actually 45" faster. But it is much more expensive, and requires two connections plus a station change in Paris.
• To Geneva, downtown or airport. Travel time is 4 hours to downtown or to the airport. Service is hourly, with a connection in Basel.
• To Munich, travel time is 6 hours. Service is irregular, but the maximum service gap is generally 2 hours.
• To Milan. Travel time is 6 hours, with a connection in Basel required. Fast trains operate at noon and 4p.
  The first Saturday morning train from Thann arrives Milan at 1:30p.
• To Amsterdam, downtown or airport. Travel time is 8 hours to downtown or to the airport. Service is every two hours.
• To London. Add 3 hours to Paris times for station change, connection time, and the trip to London. Connections from all Paris trains. One service a day via Lille: trip time is the same, but avoids the station change. Departs Mulhouse at 10:45a, with a connection in Strasbourg.
  8a train from Thann arrives London at 2:30p.

6. Suggested POST-TRIP VISITS

You are in the geographical center of Donald Rumsfeld's “old Europe,” in all its glorious irrelevance. You can go anywhere you feel like going on 200 mph trains with the carbon footprint of a ferret.



7. Hints on TRAVELLING INDEPENDENTLY After the Trip
Guests subscribing to an “Access Package” need not read this section.

See also “Timing Your Trip” and “Service Information,” above, as either of these may additionally help.

We gladly provide travel consulting (schedule or routing information) concerning post-trip individual travel. In particular, we have invested a great deal to become railway experts. Our service fees are reasonable: a 20€ charge for all but the most complex projects – or the most simple (for instance, only a 10€ charge applies if the service is limited to the preparation of a routine rail ticket). You will generally find them well-justified by the time they will save you in research, standing on line, overpaying for your tickets, or all three. But it is always galling to pay for information. We are sympathetic to that, and certainly won’t hold it against you if you want to “wing it.” Indeed, this page should start you on your way!

Trains. Schedules for all routes can be consulted on this web site:
http://www.raileurope.com/us/rail/fares_schedules/index.htm

Mulhouse is at the crossroads of three main lines: an east-west line from Zurich to Paris, and two north-south lines: Brussels - Luxembourg - Basel - Italy, and Frankfurt - Lyon - Mediterranean.

Planes. There is a small airport in Mulhouse, officially known as “Basel - Mulhouse,” since it serves both cities. A shuttle bus goes there from the Mulhouse station (where the trip disbands), every half hour. Service is strictly domestic European. Bigger nearby airports are in Zurich and Geneva (or Paris, equally close in terms of travel time, though quite a bit farther away in terms of geography).

If you wish to arrange some or all of your travel through us, please tell us what by means of this response questionnaire, designed to collect all the information we need to be able to book your travel.