Bahn.de pricing Amsterdam to Basel

Right now, you can buy out as far as May 25, 2018.
Thursday is often the lowest price in a given week, but paging through a couple of weeks, there is a lot of variation, from 39.90 to 119.90. Departure times vary from 7:02, 7:32, 8:02. Also, see if taking the change in Cologne, adding about a half hour on the journey time saves. And check prices to Basel Badischer BF, sometimes it saves 10 EUR, especially if the price to Basel SBB is coming in high. If the price is on the low end, it is the same price.

So it looks like 180 days out is the range. Also, in July, you will be on the other side of the June semi-annual schedule change. Don't know how soon DB gets these in place.

Thanks, Sam. I could see that €39,90 price for the 8:02 with a change in Cologne almost every day. But we prefer to pay a bit more to avoid the 8-minute change and arrive in Basel 45 minutes earlier.

I did not see Sparangebote prices for Feb. 22 and did not look beyond that, figuring it was too far out. But if you are seeing them n May, they must be posted 6 months out? I will just keep checking, starting in February then. Our dates are firm, so I do not mind booking well in advance. Maybe I should check SBB too, although I find DB easier to work with.

I would not expect SBB to book equally far in advance. It's DB's policy to do so since the start of this year, and of course they operate the ICE trains.

The days of operation currently shown for the direct service at 8:02 include Thursdays 7/5 and 7/12, but the following Thursdays will do something different, which I have not yet stumbled upon.

Just a note on the stations in Basel, in case you didn't know. There are two "Basel Badischer Bahnhof" (abbreviated "Basel Bad. Bf") and "Basel SBB". Trains to (most) other parts of Switzerland run from Basel SBB. Intercity trains from Germany (including from Cologne) stop at both, and often continue to other places in Switzerland.
If you are changing trains to get to somewhere in Switzerland, you need to stay on until Basel SBB. If you are going somewhere in Basel, pick whichever is more convenient to your destination (assuming no price difference).

A ticket from either station to anywhere in Basel by tram or bus will cost CHF 3.80. Once you check in to your hotel you will be given a free transport pass for the duration of your stay.

Train ticket prices never go down, only up as it gets nearer the date, so book as soon as the tickets become available. Midweek is always cheaper, except when it is a public holiday.

Thank you both, Laura and Chris. We will overnight in Basel to break up the journey before continuing to our first destination in Switzerland. So we will use Basel SBB for both disembarking and for our train the next day, and I am looking at hotels near the station. I assume the SBB station is the one on Centralbahnstrasse and Centralbahnplatz, south of the river?

I will plan on buying the tickets as soon as they become available.

I assume the SBB station is the one on Centralbahnstrasse and Centralbahnplatz, south of the river?

Yes, Basel SBB is south of the river (and serves all rail lines south of the river). Badischer Bahnhof is north of the river and serves all rail lines north of the river, which, like the station, are all owned by DB.
There are some hotels immediately in front of Basel SBB:

• Hotel Euler (5-star): http://www.hoteleuler.ch/en/home/
• Schwiezerhof: https://www.schweizerhof-basel.ch/en/home/
• Hotel Victoria: http://www.hotel-victoria-basel.ch/content/victoria/en.html
• Hotel Gaia (former St Gotthard): http://www.gaiahotel.ch/en

For a full list of hotels in Basel, go to the official city website: https://www.basel.com/en

Thank you, Chris. I have booked Hotel Gaia but took notice of your advice on my other thread that it could be noisy due to the tram. Changing to Hotel Euler ( which reviews indicate is quieter) will save us 56 CHF. So we will be able to afford dinner that night!

Lola, CHF 56 will get you dinner for ONE in Basel, maybe not that. It is that expensive, Cheapest is a Pizza at about CHF 15-17 in a sit-down restaurant.

I was joking about dinner. We normally spend around €100 for dinner for two when in Europe (Slovenia in September was lower than that).

We have not spent time in Switzerland since 2007, and both the prices and the exchange rate have changed since then, so Swiss dinners will be more expensive than our usual---so that extra 56 CHF will be useful in Basel. Fortunately we have rented apartments for the rest of our time there, and will self-cater rather than going to restaurants ( not a good idea with two 6-year-old grandchildren).