We are flying into Amsterdam and several days later taking the train to Ghent. I've explored several places to buy the tickets for my husband,my son, and i . My husband and I are seniors and our son who is 46 has Downs syndrome. I have the DB AP and have used it to buy tickets many times in Germany but it says it can't sell me tickets from Amsterdam to Ghent. Are rail Europe or Train line good sites to buy these tickets? We are buying the tickets for May 26. Anyone have experience with these sites?
Posted by
The Netherlands
1587 posts
Deutsche Bahn (DB) is the national railway company of Germany. Amsterdam is in the Netherlands and Ghent is in Belgium.
This means that you should either buy your tickets from the Dutch national railway company or the Belgian national railway company.
The website for international train travel of the Dutch national railway company is https://www.nsinternational.com/en
The website for international train travel of the Belgian national railway company is https://www.b-europe.com/EN
The other websites you mentioned are 3rd party train ticket resellers. There is no need to involve a middle man in this. Just buy your tickets from the companies that will actually be operating your train.
Posted by
OP
Georgia
90 posts
Thanks so much! Just ordered the tickets using the site you gave.
Posted by
Portland, OR (PDX)
321 posts
I would also note those rail companies have phone apps, and like airlines, you can log in and use your booking codes to pull up tickets and boarding passes. You can also use the phone apps to purchase tickets, etc. It's all very 21st century.
While in Italy last summer I used both the Italo and Trenitalia apps extensively. We used the Dutch, German, and Belgian train apps back in 2018.
Posted by
Wengen
2493 posts
Also be aware that trains in the Netherlands and Belgium are mass transit. Basically these are commuter railways. There are no reservations, and tickets for normal trains are flexible, ie if you bought a ticket Amsterdam to Gent that involves the IC from Amsterdam to Antwerpen you are free to take earlier or later train on the day. And tickets are on sale on the day of travel itself as well.
Posted by
OP
Georgia
90 posts
Wow! I really appreciate all of you responding. It has bee n so helpful.
Posted by
Wyckoff, NJ, USA
7884 posts
Note that "commuter trains" involves several concepts, starting with no reserved seats. Also, some cars are double-decker, which have especially small over-the-seat luggage racks, which don't even fit airline carry-ons. These trains normally have no end-of-car luggage racks for big bags. On some Belgian commuter trains, I've stayed in the entry vestibule (which can be huge, and be aimed at bicycle owners, for example), and sat on my bag. These trains tend to be crowded at rush hour and school hours.
We're just taking about Antwerp-Ghent or Brussels-Ghent. Not trying to scare you off, the trains are so frequent and easy to take that it's only a big deal with luggage. Their frequency is part of the reason you don't need to change hotels to visit nearby cities in this part of Belgium.