Meeting Your Trip in Strasbourg — 07


On this page, you will find information about meeting your trip. Topics include...

We suggest that you print these pages out, and bring a copy with you to your trip.


When and Where:
In the Strasbourg railway station, on the platform adjacent the station building (platform 1), at the north end of the station (the left end of the station building as you face the it from the tracks), between 11a and 3p. This is where the bumpers for the stub-end platforms numbered in the low 30’s are found.

These meeting times are designed to allow you to board a train out to the countryside at noon, 1p or 2p, so to do a pleasant bike ride in rural Alsace on your way to Wissembourg. If you are taking the 2p, keep lunch in mind: by the time you get off, at close to 3p, lunch options will be limited. So... if you are arriving in Strasbourg close to the back end of our meeting period, try to have eaten (or at least bought a sandwich to eat on the train out to the country) before you get in.

Alternate Meeting
If you are arriving late, or from another bike trip, you will meet us in Wissembourg. In this case, your tickets may have been written through to Wissembourg from the start.

What if You Miss Your Planned Meeting?
If you have told us you are joining us in Strasbourg, and find yourself delayed, you should continue to Strasbourg on the next available vehicle. Then travel onwards from there to Wissembourg whenever you get to Strasbourg.

Tickets for the train from Strasbourg to Wissembourg cost about 11 €, though there are weekend discounts for two or more people travelling together. Trains run frequently until early evening (last departure at 19:26 — 7:26p — in the 2007 timetable), but not later. Wissembourg is their destination, making it easy to find them on the departure boards, and also to figure out when to get off. Journey time is around an hour, a bit more if your train is a local.

If you miss the last train to Wissembourg, your only way to make the trip without taking taxi all the way (at monumental cost), is to catch a later train to Haguenau at 20h26, or even a railroad-operated bus at 21h55 (from the bus stop in front of the station building). You would then taxi from there to Wissembourg. This will still be a 40-Euro cab ride, but this is less than a hotel room in Strasbourg, and puts you where you need to be, albeit in a ferocious mood.

As a precaution (and so we don’t worry about you), you may wish to tell us where you are, if only so that we may send your bike to where you want it to be, and get the hotel to prepare a salami plate prepared for your midnight arrival in Wissembourg...

To do so, dial the cell phone that we will have in Strasbourg. From within France, the number is 06.07.47.96.04. If you are dialing from outside of France, but within Europe, the number is 0033.607.47.96.04. From the U.S., dial 011.33.607.47.96.04.


You will depart Strasbourg by bicycle....
You thus have the issue of changing into your cycle clothes. You may as well face this before you meet your trip... it will have you on the bike all the sooner. Hint: the bathroom on the train is probably cleaner than the one in the station :-(


If you are having us move your luggage , please have it ready for shipment when you arrive at the Strasbourg station meeting. It generally departs Strasbourg by train, only minutes after the last meeting time (though you will see it again tonight in Wissembourg if you have one of our luggage transfer services). In other words, the station forecourt at 3p is not the place to start unpacking and repacking!


Included in Your Access Package, if you subscribed to it:
A train ticket to Strasbourg, a seat reservation on any train which requires it, and a detailed timetable of the train for which you are reserved.

Travel Documents will be supplied by our Paris office (opening hours), unless you are arriving via a different route, in which case they will be sent to you at home, prior to your departure. You will receive either a train ticket, or a railpass with accompanying explanation regarding its use, and a schedule for the train that you have reserved.


Getting to the Trip
The following routings are described. You may follow the link to jump directly to yours, or just scroll down.


From Paris, or Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport
Trains on this route require reservations, and you have probably requested an appropriate train from us. Before boarding your train, be sure to “validate” (date stamp) your tickets and reservations (not necessary for a railpass), in the little yellow machine at the track gate. All trains offer café cars, for your morning croissant and coffee.

If you wish to do the first day’s “warm-up” ride, you will need to depart Paris by about 10a, though catching the 8a will give you more time for it.


From Frankfurt Airport
This involves a series of trains, 2 or 3 depending on your arrival time at Frankfurt airport. The first will take you from the Airport’s Fernbahnhof to one of Mannheim, Karlsruhe, or Baden-Baden. From there, you continue either direct to Strasbourg, or to another connection in either Offenburg or Appenwier. Total journey time is between 2 and 3 hours, depending on your connections.


From Frankfurt Airport direct to Wissembourg
This involves a series of 3 trains, the whole series running every hour.

  • From Frankfurt Flughafen (airport), take the next departing express to Mannheim. The ones that connect on depart at 54” past the hour in the ‘07 timetable, from mail line (“Fern”) platform 5. 30 minutes will bring you there.
  • In Mannheim, catch the next departing train towards Neustadt (Weinstr) Hbf. These depart from platform 1 or 2. Careful: Neustadt will not be the final stop for the train. Journey time will be 18 minutes on an express (trains designated as “IC,” which stands for Inter-City), or 35 minutes on a local (trains designated “S 2”). Neustadt will be the first stop for the express, but the locals make no fewer than 9 intermediate stops, with Neustadt Hbf being the 10th. Be careful if the next departing train is a local: the previous stop, about 3 minutes before yours, is called Neustadt-Böbig, and this is NOT where you want to get off.
  • In Neustadt, take the hourly local to Wissembourg, departing at 36” past every hour from platform 5.

From Brussels or Luxembourg
These are the same trains. About 5 hours from Brussels, 2.5 from Luxembourg. Service is not frequent: be sure you have a schedule for a precise train.


From Zurich or Geneva
From either Zurich or Geneva, travel first to Basel via hourly train, and then on to Strasbourg, also via hourly train.



Practical Information

About Shipping Your Luggage

If you are having us transfer luggage for you, either through the trip, or just one-way to the end, please have it ready to go when you meet your coodinator. Though it probably does not need to be said, “ready to go” does not mean “I just have to get my bike clothes out, and change, and put my other clothes in, and do I really need this, and if not can I put it in my transfer bag, and....” Your luggage generally departs Strasbourg via train, only minutes after our final meeting time at 3p (though you will see it again tonight in Wissembourg if you have one of our baggage transfer services).