How do I get from Amsterdam to Berlin, Germany? I went to www.thalys.com and saw a destination called Antwerpen-Central. I don't understand what that is. Is that the central train station in Germany where I will connect? Where is that located?
Thanks,
Kat
Kat, go to www.bahn.de (click the usa to change it to english). Enter Amsterdam centraal and Berlin hbf, these are the central station in Amsterdam and Berlin. If you buy your tickets 92 days in advance you could get a very good price.
Train will take around 6:15 depending which one you choose.
Thalys doesn´t run to Berlin. Antwerpen Centraal is the main train station in Antwerp, Belgium. Thalys stops here, as do a few lines on the German rail network.
To find out the best way to reach Berlin from Amsterdam, check either the Deutsche Bahn or Nederlands Spoorweg (German and Dutch rail, respectively) websites:
http://www.ns.nl/cs/Satellite/travellers
http://www.bahn.de/i/view/USA/en/index.shtml
I´m not familiar with the route personally, but I imagine you´ll need to change trains at least once. Paging Lee or Tim...
Use this link to the German Rail query page. This page is already in English and has all of the options. Using bahn.de will get you here eventually; might as well start here.
Use just the city names, "Amsterdam" as you start point, and "Berlin" as your destination. Sometimes the fastest connection might be to/from a different station than the main one, then the routing will show local transportation to the originating station. In the case of Amsterdam to Berlin, the direct trains leave from Amsterdam Zuid (South). If you know you are going to be domiciled near Amsterdam Centraal, go ahead and specify it and the Bahn will give you the routing from Centraal to catch the train to Berlin.
It appears that there are direct IC connections from Amsterdam to Berlin Hbf, but you can save a little time (10-15 min) by transferring to an ICE in Hannover. That ICE from Hannover to Berlin is a very popular train. You might find it harder to get the lowest Europa-Special fares if you include that ICE in your connection. Try both the IC/ICE connection and the direct IC connection to Berlin.
The routing for Thalys trains is shown on their website at www.thalys.com.
Kat,
I heartily suggest taking the ICE train from Hannover to Berlin Hbf. Avoid taking a Thalys train whenever you can.
An earlier post, since deleted, said that RailEurope was the "official site" for ICE. Turns out that was because that was what RailEurope was claiming on the header for their webpage. My posting below was in response to that misleading webpage.
NO WAY is RailEurope the official site for ICE trains. ICE trains are run by German Rail. German Rail's official site is at www.bahn.de. On that website is the schedule query page, from which you can get schedules for virtually any connection in Europe and fares for any train entirely within Germany (plus some with a terminus outside of Germany).
RailEurope does not show all the train connections available, only those for which RailEurope sells tickets online, and those are only the fastest trains and most expensive connections, plus they mark them up over the counter price in Europe.
Case in point, RailEurope shows train #145, leaving Amsterdam Zuid at 10:58 and getting into Berlin Hbf at Berlin Hbf at 5:12 PM. But that's not the only connection at that time. The German Rail schedule shows that you can take that 10:58 train to Hannover, arriving at 3:18. Get off of the IC. Thirteen minutes later an ICE comes along on the same track at 3:31. Get on and go to Berlin, arriving at 5:08. That's not much time difference, and I probably wouldn't bother, but RE doesn't give you the choice. The Bahn shows all the connections, RailEurope doesn't.
If you purchase a ticket for that IC from Amsterdam to Berlin from RailEurope, they charge $171. From German Rail it costs €105.30, with an online reservation ($140.18 at today's exch rate). That's over $30 less.
However, if you book in advance, you can get a Europa-Spezial fare on the same train for €41,50 (€39 + 2,50 reservation, if you want it. DB gives you a choice, RE doesn't). That's $55.25 for a ticket which costs $171 from RE!
German Rail allows you to print your ticket at home from a pdf file they email to you.
Thanks everyone for your replies. That was a big help.
