Well trains aren't cheap in Germany. Flights are cheap if you choose the right airline and book at the right time.
Taking the expensive fast trains of course is expensive.
A cheaper way of traveling is using buses.
I just checked and I can get from Hamburg to Paris for example (3x the distance) for 80 Euro for 2 people (by plane)

>>1076022
You definitely did something wrong, stupid burgerclap. I've done that exact route several times when my then-gf was doing an internship in Brussels (hurr durr cuckjokes go here). It always took 3.5 hours, and though I don't recall exact prices now several years later, I know never paid more than 80-90€ or so one way, and that's for peak hours. I can clearly recall paying in the 40-60€ range a few times.

You booked at the last minute, and chose a shitty connection.

>>1076032
I literally go to bahn.de, query tickets a month out, and go for the cheapest thing they have, which is usually 1.5x longer than the more expensive routes. Let me know if there's a better way to do it.

I did the same to go from Wiesbaden to Strasbourg (210 km) and back. It cost me 50 euros, and would have cost me 30 more but I got a "discount" by opting to depart at something like 5 in the goddamn morning.

Well, Deutsche Bahn is expensive and trains aren't actually that well connected internationally. But it's still possible to do FFM-BXL for cheaper than what you said.

When traveling with Deutsche Bahn, it's always very expensive to just go their website and book a random. There are several options to get discounts
>book early
>get a discount card for 25% or 50% if you're going to travel a lot
>use sites such as ltur.com for special offers

I found connections from FFM to BXL in 4h36 for 70€ p/p on ltur or in 2h51 for 80€ p/p.
Besides that: I also used to work in Brussels, and I know that DB has a connection from Düsseldorf to Brussels and back with the IC bus. It's either 19€ or 29€ per person, not sure anymore. So if you're able to figure out a cheap way to get to Düsseldorf you might as well do that.

Lol, I'm >>1076043 and I must admit I got pretty worked up there about your post.

I mean yeah, you're right, international transport by train is poorly managed in Europe, it's laughable that there's no cheap and easy connection between the seat of the ECB and the capital of the EU.

Actually when I worked in Brussels I came in contact with European traffic policy, which is basically non-existant. There's a bridge between Germany and France that has been destroyed in WW2 and wasn't rebuilt since, causing major traffic distractions. I also once attended a informal meeting between German and Dutch bureacrats, who where discussing making their train systems more compatible. When they were smalltalking at the end of the meeting they discussed how to get to their hometowns on the weekend, and the consensus was that going by car or bus was the best option. I guess other than me nobody actually noticed the irony of that.

>>1076048
How difficult would it be to get to Vienna from Copenhagen?

>>1076456
difficult, I'd take a plane.