Hi -
I'm traveling from The Hague to Brussels, Brussels to Rotterdam, Rotterdam to Amsterdam in a couple of weeks. I was told that it's probably cheaper to purchase the tickets at the station but, looking at the ns.nl website it says the ticket machines only take coins, Maestro card and debit cards. Is there another alternative to purchase in which one can use a credit card? Or should I just purchase online in advance?
You can't buy on-line from the Dutch railway website...at least, not yet. For the Hague to Brussels and Brussels to Rotterdam, use the Belgian rail network site (http://www.b-rail.be/main/E) and click on "travelling in Europe" down the left side....you must register, but it's easy to do, and you can pay by credit card. You'll print off your ticket at your home computer. You can book those journeys up to 30 days in advance. Travel by the InterCity (IC) express trains....cheaper than Thalys and only a few minutes longer travel time. As for your other journeys, it's virtually impossible to use a credit card for local rail travel in the Netherlands...but fares are cheap....Rotterdam-Amsterdam is under 13 Euro, second class. Just get to an ATM before you buy (there are usually ATMs at the larger stations) and use the machine (with coins) or the ticket window to purchase. The country's rail system is more like a gigantic commuter rail service.
Norm If you purchase a ticket for a specific time and miss that train, can you use it for the next
train?
Is there an extra charge if you purchase tickets
at the window.
You can't make reservations for domestic trains in Holland. Thus, tickets are not time specific, and you will be able to use them on any departure. There is a small surcharge if you buy your tickets at the window instead of the machines. I find Dutch rail's machines very frustrating and don't bother with them, in addition they won't accept US credit/debit cards. Come to think of it, the windows don't accept US cards either.
We had no problems purchasing our tickets at the windows through out Europe during our 8 week trip. When we arrived in a city...we purchase tickets and seat reservation for our departure. Never had a problem. We found that 1st class was almost empty on all trains except the one from Zurich to
Salzburg. We were thankful we were in the habit of making seat reservations as the 1st class was full.
