Train travel in Europe

Rail Europe is not the best place to buy point-to-point tickets (overpriced when compared to buying tickets at a station). If you have a railpass, it is also more expensive to buy seat reservations on trains that require them from Rail Europe than to buy them when you get to Europe.

Both Inter City trains and Thalys trains do the Amsterdam-Brussels route. No reservations are possible on IC trains and the fare is cheaper than the standard fare on Thalys trains. However, if you book well in advance (up to 90 days allowed) at www.thalys.com, you can get cheap discount fares that are your very best deal.

IC trains and Thalys trains going from Brussels to Amsterdam stop at Schiphol airport before going on to Amsterdam.

If you book well ahead of time on the Thalys site, you can get discount fares for Brussels-Paris.

The best timetable site is www.bahn.de. It will show you all the trains for any route (for example, IC, Thalys, TGV, regional). After you enter a departure point and an arrival point and get summary timetables, click on "Details for all" to see the connecting points, if any. For even more detail, click on "Show intermediate stops" for the routes and times of your choice.

Karen,

Train travel in Europe is not really that confusing once you become familiar with it. Millions of Europeans use the trains every day with few problems. Unfortunately for most of us on this side of the atlantic, train travel is not something we're used to anymore.

You may find it helpful to read the "Rail Skills" chapter in Europe Through The Back Door or the equivalent section here on the website.

If you're just going to be taking those few rail trips, just buy P-P tickets when you arrive in Europe; the tickets will include reservations, where required.

I've never made the trip from Brussels to the Amsterdam airport, but I suspect that the best route would be from Brussels to Amsterdam Central and from there I believe there's a direct train to Schiipol.

Happy travels!

Both the Thalys high speed trains and regular intercity trains stop at Schipol airport. I'm not certain about the intercity route, but Thalys from Brussels stops directly at Schipol before reaching Amsterdam city.

The same is true for IC trains. (See my post above.)

Click on the "Travel Tips" tab at the top of the page you're reading now. Then click on the "Riding the Rails in Europe" link under the "Transportation" heading.

Rail travel in Europe runs like clockwork. The station for Schipol is right within the airport and well signposted. Unless you need a sleeping car or some other special service, I would suggest you just buy your ticket at teh station and get on the train. It really is that simple. We travelled for 5 weeks by train in Europe in 2005 and for 10 days in 2006 and never had a problem getting on teh first train of our choice.

Karen
Like Iain says, European train travel, especially Western Europe, is a piece of cake . Just buy your tickets and go. Depending upon your itinerary, a Railpass may save you some money; take some time and do the math. Oh, three things to remember: pack light, pack light and pack light. Happy travels.