Amsterdam to Rotterdam. By train

Posted by mboggs1 on 03/03/26 04:34 PM

We are 2 senior ladies who will be staying in Amsterdam early May and will need to take the t rain from Amsterdam Central to Rotterdam train station before boarding a cruise. We will probably take local tram from Rotterdam station to the stop near cruise ship and the. Walk to cruise ship

We are able to manage our luggage by ourselves and have done so on trains throughout Europe.

My question is, do we need to book our train from Amsterdam Central to Rotterdam ahead of time? Or do we just check out schedule and show up and tap in and out ? Or can we just buy our tickets a couple of days earlier?

Also are there different trains going to Rotterdam from Amsterdam. Looking at the train website , it seemed a bit confusing. Are they all direct or do we have to change trains at the airport to get to Rotterdam. We would prefer a direct train.

Thank you

Posted by acraven

Washington DC

03/03/26 06:30 PM

30278 posts

If you use the ns.nl website, you can tell by the way the trains are depicted in the left panel whether there will be a transfer (you'll see two different train icons). If you click on a particular departure, more details will appear in the right panel (if you're using a PC).

As long as you stay off the $$$ Eurostar, you don't need to make a reservation; tapping in and out is fine.

If you're willing to commit to departure timing by buying your ticket a few days ahead of time, check the schedule and look for departures labeled "PriceTime deal". I'm seeing some opportunities to save about 5 euros on Thursday. There are larger discounts for trains departing 2 or 3 weeks from now. (The regular fare is about 20 euros.) Those discounts are triggered by slow ticket sales, I think, so you won't see them now for May departures. Click through on one of the trains flagged as offering a PriceTime deal and the next screen will show you the validity period for the ticket, which may be several hours long.

Posted by Philip

London, England

03/03/26 06:45 PM

339 posts

Don't know which place you were using but the best website to look up is www.ns.nl.

Almost all domestic trains in the Netherlands can be paid for by tapping in and out with a credit card, if the card is generally accepted for contactless in Europe. A few journeys listed as "Intercity Direct" require a supplement (pay online or tap in at a specific terminal) but they don't seem to be the continuous ones from Amsterdam Centraal to Rotterdam. You can tell if a train is continuous or if you need to change quickly on the website by looking at the number of little train icons beneath each journey on the result list. The site also shows in green for each journey if you can potentially get a discount by booking in advance rather than using contactless.

Posted by marytravels01

03/03/26 09:13 PM

9 posts

Thanks for the extra information. I was looking at the correct website but didn't know to look for 1-2 little trains. I had noticed that there was a reference to a supplemental fee on some of the intercity trains - but was worried about how and where to pay that and thought that might involve changing trains (which we prefer not to do).

I was using a table originally but will look at the website on the PC and look for the additional details. Appreciate the assistance
Mary