Bahn.de train schedules

You cannot assume that the schedules you are getting right now will be exactly the same in October. German Rail updates their schedule twice a year, in December and in June, but, for the most part there are not any major changes. Usually it is just fine tuning, a minute here or there. It's not like they are going to eliminate an entire connection, like Franfurt to Munich. Make preliminary plans now, then check back end of June to make final plans.

that's what Rick says.

Note also that passholder fares on Thalys are limited. I've heard tales of people having to wait for days in Brussels until more become available.

Yeesh, I've been toying with staying in Amsterdam and taking a day trip to Brussels via IC instead, and now I think we'll do just that! All I really want to do there is have a couple of beers :)

Lee is correct -- but I'll add one more thing.

Running test itineraries make sure you are using the same day of the week! If your trip in October has a ride on a Tuesday -- make sure that if you're looking at days in April so you can check pricing that you are using a date that is a Tuesday -- that goes triple for any travel you are looking at for Saturday and quadruple for Sunday....

(Schedules vary more between Weekday & weekend than they do from spring to fall.)

Thanks to both of you. That's pretty much what I've been doing: looking up actual dates for train times and same-day-of-the-week test dates for likely prices.

I'm mainly trying to avoid Thalys on our Amsterdam-Brussels trips because of the high-cost compulsory reservations (am I correct in thinking they charge at least EUR26 on top of Eurail pass??).