How Hot are German ICE Trains? So Hot.
Shinkansen. Ave. Thalys. These names seem so magical and yet they are just a few of the great high-speed trains of the world, a group joined by Germany's fleet of sleek ICE trains. ICE, which stands for Inter-City Express, are the cool-as-cucumber white, red and silver trains you'll spy parked on tracks alongside the clunkier regular Deutschebahn trains at Hauptbahnhofs (main train stations) around the country. And, like with any great train, riding an ICE is an experience in itself; you'll feel cool just boarding one.
We aren't exactly old hats at riding the ICE, but then we aren't newbies either. They are expensive tickets—we recently paid 75 Euro for a one-way, two-hour trip from Frankfurt to Dusseldorf—but then travel around Western Europe in something as chic and as speedy as this can't come cheap. At full speed, entering a tunnel sounds like a loud smack, and that is extraordinary.
Seeing how well these trains run around the German system and how simply nice they are, inside and out, makes us wrinkle our noses up at Amtrak when we're back in the States. The ICE will spoil a traveler, that's for sure, and we can't even speak for whatever's going on in First Class.
What we're trying to say here is, even if you're already jaded by the efficiency and speed of European train travel, do not skip a ride on a German ICE train. With almost 260 running around Germany, it'll be hard to avoid it anyway. Just do us a favor and really relish how quickly quaint German villages speed by the window.
[All photos: Jaunted]
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