Travelanytime

I will be visiting Amsterdam in a couple of weeks for a few days and going to stay in Frankfurt for a few day as well. I am planning on taking the train from Amsterdam to Frankfurt instead of flying. I am having some difficulties getting consistent and correct fare information and which train to take. Can anyone have expereince travelling this area and route help? Thanks.

TimS

The simplest way to book a ticket is to do it at www.bahn.de because the site is viewable in English and you should be able to print your own ticket. There are a variety of fares.

The cheapest way would be to book at www.ns.nl. The cheapest advance fare is 39€. However, while the site is viewable in English, when you proceed to the booking process, the site changes to Dutch. You can probably figure out what to enter in each field, especially if you use an online translator like Babelfish.

Travelanytime

Thanks TimS. I did go into the bahn.de site as well as the ns.nl site. Yes, the latter site did change to Dutch. I couldn't see the 39Euro fare. Would that be a special fare?

Are these two different railways and train services?
Another question is it is possible to buy the ticket on the day of my travel or a day or two before from the central Station instead of online in advance.? WOuld it cost more?

Apreciate the help. It will be my first time there and any help would be great.

patriciaf

Hi Travelanytime,

I have been to Amsterdam a couple of times and am not an expert, but if you go to the Amsterdam Central railway station to the right of the entrance is a corridore with a ticket office. There you can purchase tickets for wherever you wish to travel. The ticketing officers speak English and are very helpful. Also whilst I was there I was having trouble with an automatic ticket machine and a security person walking by stopped and helped me so I don't think you will have any problems at all.

Enjoy Amsterdam, I love it.

P

hetismij

For every trip that Ns.nl (the Duth railway site) suggests it also saysthat a reservation in recommended. That can be made say the day before you want to travel though, assuming there is still room on the train.
You won't get it for €34 though as that is a special advanced booking price. The €39 may already be sold out for your day of travel anyway.
The page for buying online asks first do you want the ticket posted (per post)or will you collect it (afhalen). Then how you will pay -Visa or MAstercard (iDeal is not available for you).
Then your title - Mr (heer) or Mrs (mevrouw), First name (voornaam) surname (achternaam), email address and phone number.
I have no idea what the next page asks but if you have a problem let me know and I'll try to help.

Nautiker

Note that the 39 Euro offer will be for the direct highspeed ICE train which bypasses the scenic Midlle Rhine valley. Another option would be booking a 19 Euro special fare to either Duisburg / Düsseldorf / Cologne (spelled "Keulen" on the Dutch site) and a 29 Euro bahn.de-"Dauerspezial" from there to Frankfurt with Koblenz as a via to enforce a route along the Rhine. This will turn out slightly more expensive and you would have to change trains once, yet there might still be offers for these relations as they're slightly less travelled.

Travelanytime

Thanks for all the advises.
Hetismij: I went into the site and get to the information page. https://nl-internet.bene-system.com/...ice-nsi/seb.do.

It gave me option of Homeprint also. And option to pay by Visa. Am I read it correctly since it is not in English. It looks like the 39Euro still available.
Can you help me to translate? Thanks.

Travelanytime

Another thing is that if I purchase inadvance online but my schedule changed can I exchange for a later train when I am in Amsterdam?
That is one of the reason I am still trying to decide if I should get it 2 weeks inadvance when I am still in the US. But then there might not be seat or inexpensive seat left if I buy it the day before I am getting on the train. Any ideas?
thanks again

Cowboy1968

With my rather basic command of Dutch, I would say that the "low fixed special" (or "actie tarief&quot fare for €39 cannot be used on any other trains than the one reserved. No change of reservations allowed, no refunds for unused tickets.

Same should apply for the next cheap fare "low fixed discount 50".

The "mid flex discount 25" fare can be changed once for another train, if that fare is still available for the other connection, and for a fee of €5.

Travelanytime

hetismij:
You replied that you can help with translation. can you help me on this one please . I am in the ns.nl site trying to purcase the ticket. After printing and payment , it has this below. I assume it is agreement of some sort but could make out any of it.

Ja, ik ga akkoord met de bovengenoemde treintijden, prijzen en de algemene voorwaarden . Ik wil deze reis nu boeken.

Thanks

hopscotch

Yes, I am in agreement with the foregoing train times, prices, and general conditions. I want to book this reservation now.

Travelanytime

Thanks. Can't bit a 39 Euro train ticket.

Travelanytime

Urgent !!! I am trying to book the Euro train for 39 EURO in the site www.ns.nl. It was smooth until making payment. I select Homeprint and Visa. Fill in names and all the requried info. select agreement and continue. However, it saids they cannot process my request and refer me to contatc the online internet support.

Uw aanvraag kon niet worden voltooid vanwege onderstaande reden:

Als deze fout zich voor blijft doen neem dan contact op met onze Internet Support Desk 0900-9296, 0,35 euro pm. (what does it say?)

Can anyone please help. Did you encounter this before?

WillTravel

The support is going to cost 35 Euro cents per minute, in addition to the regular long-distance charge.

Do you have another credit card? I had problems with my MasterCards on the Belgian site, and I think it's the same secure payment provider that does the Netherlands site. I think that the Belgian site takes American Express, but the Netherlands site does not, not that that helps you now.

Can you purchase this ticket from bahn.de ? The only problem will be if they want to mail the ticket. Although they seem to be quite quick, it's cutting it close if you need it in less than two weeks.

WillTravel

As for an exact translation of the Dutch words, here is what Babelfish says:
Your application could not be completed because of reason mentioned below: If these remain themselves wrongly for do then contact takes with ours Internet support desk 0900-9296, 0.35 euro pm

Travelanytime

actually I used a VISA which the site said will accept. may be I will try another card and see. I might have to calll their support directly . Thanks.

WillTravel

I think the problem arises because we were using "foreign" Visa and MasterCard credit cards.

Travelanytime

Funy becasue those CC are accpted around the world. So any suggestions?

WillTravel

It's true that Visa and MasterCard are accepted around the world, but the secure online payment sites look at the billing address, and some European secure online payment sites don't like American or Canadian addresses.

You could try buying the same ticket from the Belgian site as "Homeprint" and using an AMEX.

You could try voyages-sncf.com which does not have a problem with non-European MasterCards in my experience - although I think the problem there is that for this particular ticket, you will either get an option to pick up the ticket from a machine in France, or to have the ticket mailed to you in France. Only use that one if you can get self-print.

Travelanytime

You are right. I did call the NS last night and spopke with the Internet support service. She told me that they cannot accept my "foreign issue " Credit card online and cannot mail ticket outside of Holland.
Does anyone know of a way around it or other ways that we can purchase the ICE ticket online.
My last resort is to wait until I arrive at Amsterdam to buy it that the station. But most likely the special 39 Euro tickets and seats are not available any more.

Any bright ideas???
Thanks.