Night or day train from Munich to Amsterdam?

The website of the German railways http://www.bahn.de/p/view/buchung/fahrplanundbuchung.shtml gives you all the information you need about connections and prices. (Pay attention: advance booking gives you considerable discount! For a tentative price comparison try a day in April.)
The landscape is more agreeable than impressive, but the train is still a more comfortable and relaxing way of travelling than flying. You might consider to have a break half-way in Germany. One of the connections has a stop in interesting Fulda.

I would say neither unless you have serious phobia or environmentalist principle reasons not to fly. It's seven and a half hours by daytime train, which is well over the normal tipping point for air being quicker.

By the time you get to Munich, you'll have had enough of rail travel. I suggest you look into flying to Amsterdam.

I'm okay on trains up to 3 hours, but airplanes are preferred for longer trips. And I have no certainly have no desire to take an overnight train anywhere.

Hi,

The first time I did that route, actually from Vienna to Amsterdam via Passau, was at night. If it makes no difference to you and you've never seen that route, take the day train. I 'm interested in seeing German countryside regardless if it's hilly, flatland, forest, etc. If you want a direct connection between Amsterdam and Munich, take the night train. That's one advantage. I've taken part of that exact route Munich to Düsseldorf ICE direct by day, will be taking the night train this June.

If you go by day, you will need to change trains at least once. The fastest route is 7 1/2 hours with a train change in Duisburg. For a more scenic route in a bit over 9 hours, take a 2 change itinerary with changes in Mannheim and Cologne. You can see this by specifying a 0:00 stopover in Koblenz. That will be an ICE to Mannheim, EC to Cologne, then an ICE to Amsterdam. The first section has some nice scenery between Ulm and Mannheim. The EC train goes along the Rhine river between Mainz and Cologne, including the scenic Rhine Gorge.

In the last 50 or so years, I have spent 11 nights on night trains, the last night a few months ago. I've never had trouble sleeping. I sometimes wonder if the people who said the couldn't sleep on a night train came into the experience expecting that result and fulfilled their expectations.

Actually, a night train makes a lot of sense. Instead of paying for a hotel in the originating town, then spending most of their effective sightseeing time on transportation getting to the airport several hours ahead of flight time, standing in line to check in, going through security, waiting to board, sitting on the airplane after boarding, flying to your destination, deplaning, finding ground transportation, and getting to your destination town from the airport, you spend 12 hours, most of which would have been spent in your hotel room anyway, getting to you new location. You pay for one night on the train versus two night's hotels and a plane ticket.

There is a CNL night train leaving Amsterdam Centraal just after 7 PM and getting to Munich about 7 in the morning. With advance purchase, the fare, including accommodations, is 438€ for two, breakfast included.

I've spent countless hours on trains in Europe in the last 15 years, and I find train travel to be so much more relaxing than the stress of airports.

@ bonney...If you are really pressed for time, then fly but think of the time you'll be wasting at the airport, to and fro, waiting around. When do the flights depart? Are you willing to put up with an inconvenient departure time? I did this in 1980s flying three times from Hannover-Langenhagen to Berlin-Tegel and back. A lot of it was a waste of useful daylight time where the whole day is shot.

It's a matter of priorities. If you do have time to spare, have never seen any of the landscape of either route mentioned above, and want to see German scenery, then take the day train. I don't like transferring trains esp more than once. If you just want the direct shot, ie, don't want to be bothered with having to change trains, etc, then I'd say take the night train. It saves you the hotel price. True, it is a lot easier to sleep on the train than on a flight. Generally I have no problems falling asleep on either but falling asleep on a flight takes longer.

Neither. Fly.

I sometimes wonder if the people who said the couldn't sleep on a night train came into the experience expecting that result and fulfilled their expectations.

I came into the experience fully expecting a good night's sleep. After all, I had a bed! Result: Didn't get a minute of sleep, and I arrived at my next destination too tired to do anything but nap. It took me about two days to recover and my sight-seeing plan had to be considerably cut back. Night trains henceforth entered my "never again" category.

Tom, I'll be taking the Amsterdam-Munich night train in April. Just out of curiosity, what caused the restless night?

Here's an idea. Some night when you're trying to sleep, have someone shake the bed every few minutes. Get a bright light, and have it shine suddenly and without warning through your window at irregular intervals. Also, invite your family to walk back and forth outside your room all night, randomly opening and closing doors. If you can sleep through that, then you'll be fine on a night train.

Our experience with night trains (twice) mirrored Tom's. We thought we'd be gaining a day. Instead we wound up losing about 3 from the pure exhaustion of the experience.
Add two more to the Never Again category...