European Railroad Discussion > Northern Germany train options?

I may be looking to travel between Kiel and Hamburg fairly soon. I rode this a couple years ago on a Regional train which used bilevel cars. The current options look about the same as then with regional, a combination of local and regional and ICE trains. For variety's sake or railfan fun, would taking an ICE or some other combination make sense?  There also appears to be an indirect option via Lübeck. I also would be taking the train between Hamburg and Copenhagen. For this I'd take the train that uses the Puttgarden-Rødby ferry as last time, I went the all land route.

The Hamburg-Copenhagen train that takes the ferry is an ICE service using Class 605 diesel-multiple-units, so you'll be getting an ICE trip regardless of your options for Hamburg-Kiel. For maximum variety, you should try something else. You could switch trains at Luebeck and take a single-level Class 648 DMU from there to Kiel.