jayne1973

OK, I've really tried to research this on my own but it's time to check with the seasoned European travelers.

We are leaving at the end of September for a three-week trip. We will need rail tickets for a day (round) trip from Amersterdam to Den Hague, then Amsterdam to Paris, Paris to Koln, and Berchesgaden to Munich.

I've read on this board that RailEurope is often overpriced and we are considering just buying our tickets point-to-point as we go. Trying to sort it all out beforehand is just kind of overwhelming.

Does anyone have any suggestions or comments? Our main concerns are price and speed of travel.

hopscotch

Buy them all in Amsterdam.

PalQ

I'd suggest you do some research on buying the Thalys tickets (Amsterdam-Paris and Paris-Koln) because you could pay a lot more by just walking up on these trains - not on others such as Dutch locals or Munich-Bertchesgaden (in which case you should investigate the Bayern Pass sold locally at stations)
But Thalys has a whole pallet of fares - some much cheaper than others and demands of advance purchase as cheaper tickets are sold in allotments - sometimes the Smilys fare, only sold in round trips, is actually cheaper than the normal one way fare - you throw or give away the return ticket. But these must be reserved as early as possible. I'd suggest you go to www.thalys.com or www.sncf-voyages.com to see if cheap tickets remain - you could save literally hundreds of dollars.
And you could check, yes, RailEurope as they at times also have specials - like the $16 Paris-Amsterdam v.v fare they offered thru the end of August - probably impossible to book but was offered. Actually for any RailEurope product in this country i'd call BETS (800-441-2387) as they are much more client oriented than Raileurope - they have the same prices as RE as they work thru them but infinitely better service in my experience. But generally prices in the U.S. are significantly more than in Europe but you should check as there are exceptions - compare here and there but book early on Thalys trains for best prices.

PalQ

If you were going by train from Koln to munich then with all the other trips you're doing in Benelux I'd look at the Germany-Benelux flexipass, sold thru RailEurope - call BETS for details. But with your present trips mentioned no railpass is warranted.

jayne1973

Thanks so much for your replies. The Smilys rate looks great but apparently you can't order them sent to the U.S. Is that correct?

ira

HI J,

When you buy your ticket you will get a confirmation number, bring that and the same CC you used to buy the ticket to the train station and get the ticket there.

You can have your ticket mailed to you c/o your Amsterdam hotel.

You can print your SMILYS ticket at home.

jayne1973

OK, I see, thanks! Wow, those Smilys tickets are great prices, but the times are not good. We'd miss a pretty much a whole day in Paris to save the money because we couldn't leave Amsterdam until about noon.
Oh well. I am going to keep exploring the options.

Thanks again for the help and please let me know if there are other suggestions!

PalQ

Amsterdam-Paris thru thalys trains Smilys fares can be harder to get because they are the only trains that go direct between the two cities.
But another angle - check on Brussels to Paris Smilys fares and then take the IC train from Amsterdam to Brussels (this ticket buy locally in Amsterdam i think no advantage to buy earlier) - you could get a Smilys fare Brussels to Paris that would cut the Amsterdam-Paris cost greatly and then use the cheaper hourly IC trains to get to Brussels.