train travel

You can get train schedules for all over Europe at the German Rail website, http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en. Note, there are dircect and 1 change ICE connections in 7 hrs from Basel to Amsterdam and the City Night Line night train from Zürich to Amsterdam comes through Basel shortly after 10 PM and gets into Amsterdam the next morning at 8:55. There are advance purchase discount tickets available online from the Bahn, but you won't find them for Basel SBB to Amsterdam, because both those station are outside Germany. However, there is a German Rail "border" station, Basel Bad Bhf, in Basel, Switzerland, just over the border. It's a few minutes by streetcar or train from the SBB Bahnhof. You can get discount tickets from Basel Bad Bhf to Amsterdam. My only concern with the discount tickets is that they are train specific and non-refundable. If you booked them for too close to the boat's ETA, and the boat is seriously late, you could lose the tickets.

You can purchase discount and standard City Nightline tickets via the DB website from Basel SBB (or Zurich) to Amsterdam; I've done it twice. I highly recommend the night train to Amsterdam. If it's in your budget splurge for the Deluxe private sleeper. The cabin includes toilet/shower/sink, table with two chairs and of course the beds. The windows are aligned so you can watch the scenery go by while lying in bed. You also get breakfast and a snack. This route uses double decker rail cars, the deluxe cabins are on the second level so you get a fairly smooth ride.