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Travel from Amsterdam to Zurich - coming in from a cruise

Posted by (Phoenix, Arizona) on

We are taking a Royal Caribbean Cruise from Amsterdam. At the end of the cruise we arrive at 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning in July. Our flight back to the states leaves from Zurich on Monday mid-day. (Trust me the price of the flight into and out of Zurich made this worthwhile.)

For some reason I keep delaying arranging our transport from Amsterdam to Zurich. I had been focused on flying. Of course now that time is drawing nearer the price of flights have gone up considerably, especially considering we will need to pay for some checked bags.

Another post on this site got me thinking about taking the train. We like to travel by train and would enjoy seeing some more of the countryside in the area. We don't see an 8 hour train ride as vastly different from travelling to the airport and dealing with the security, etc. that would be involved for a flight. I see one train itinerary leaving from Amsterdam that changes in Basel before arriving in Zurich. The catch is it leaves at 8:05 a.m. I found some that leave later and go through Paris, but the changes were VERY confusing to me. I was having some trouble trying to figure out which website to use to look for itineraries (tried Rome2Rio). Trainline.eu seems the best.

So my questions are:
1. Is there a better/different website I should use?
2. Has anyone taken the train from Amsterdam to Zurich?
3. Does anyone have cruise experience and can comment on the feasibility of making that 8 a.m. train?
4. Any better ideas? :-)

Thanks in advance!

Posted by
5429 posts

It's only a 10 minute taxi ride to A'dam Centraal from the Passenger terminal. Problem is, just because you dock at 6:00 doesn't mean they'll be ready to disembark that early. It would likely require you to self disembark (carry all your luggage off with you, without assistance), and be in line well in advance of actually docking. I'd go to CruiseCritic.com and ask that question on the RCI forum. You should quickly get answers from cruisers who have disembarked there.

Posted by
8163 posts
  1. Is there a better/different website I should use?

You could use the Netherlands national rail site in English
https://www.nsinternational.nl/en

or trainline.eu.
Book a train with only one connection. I looked at Sunday July 23 and saw
there was a train at 11 am if you want to give yourself more time after the cruise is due.

  1. Has anyone taken the train from Amsterdam to Zurich?

No. That is too long of a ride for my taste and not necessarily scenic. I have done a part of it Frankfurt to Cologne to Amsterdam.

Posted by
219 posts

Thank you for all the information and suggestions so far. I did put a post on Cruise Critic. I did not think of Seat 61! I will check that out and the Netherlands rail line. I greatly appreciate the expertise on this forum :-)

Posted by
8965 posts

Noting what CJean said, you may also have to go through immigration and customs. I haven't been on a European cruise, but on all the Caribbean ones I've done, disembarkation was a long drawn out process, due to security and immigration, and you were in assigned groups waiting for up to a couple of hours to get off. There's a lot of people in a hurry to get off.

Posted by
5429 posts

Stan may be right. IIRC, the itineraries out of A'dam are either Baltic or British Isles. If Baltic, there shouldn't be immigration checks, but if it's the British Isles cruise, there will be.

Posted by
21140 posts

www.bahn.com will show your options. Right now, I see you can leave Amsterdam Central as late as 2:40 pm and be at Zurich airport by 11:19 pm, in time to check into an airport hotel for the night for an 8 am flight.

This is a fast route, by-passing the scenic Middle Rhine Valley on a a high-speed rail line. The scenic route takes longer, involves more changes, and an earlier start, 12:40 at the latest. See it by specifying a stop over in Koblenz (0 time).

Posted by
219 posts

Thank you for the additional information. It is a Baltic cruise. I will continue to explore the options mentioned. I did read about going through Koblenz to see the scenic Rhine Valley. That is appealing.

Posted by
8889 posts

mrp,
1) Use the Netherlands national website, or the German one (DB): https://www.bahn.com/en/view/index.shtml Rome2Rio is good for spotting options you hadn't thought of, less good for fixing the detail of times and prices.
2) Yes, but in bits (I live in Basel)

I would avoid the Paris options as they involve crossing Paris from one station to another via métro.

4) I looked up times for Sunday 15th July on DB and found your 08:05, but also a 10:40:

Amsterdam Centraal 08:05 1 change (Basel), Zürich HB 16:04, €89.90
Amsterdam Centraal 10:40 2 changes (Frankfurt and Basel), Zürich HB 19:04, €119.90

Admittedly the first train is cheaper, because 08:05 on a Sunday is not a popular time.
This is a long and in parts tedious train journey, you could also investigate flying, which would be quicker.

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