My wife and I will be traveling by train from Amsterdam (Schipol) to Valkenburg, NL. Does anyone know if there is a particular train which offers onboard dining? We'd enjoy something nicer than the minibar service.

<BR>I am afraid that none of the domestic trains of the Netherlands carry dining cars, and I think there are no buffet cars either. You probably know that you will be changing at Duivendrecht and Maastricht. A typical connection is Schipol 0810, Duivendrecht 0824 to 0841, Maastricht 1104 to 1108, Valkenburg 1121.<BR><BR>You can include the pleasures of a restaurant car if you use one between Amsterdam and Cologne. An example is Schipol 0931, Amsterdam Central to 0950 to 0955, Cologne 1250 to 1314, Aachen 1401 to 1458, Heerlen about 1528 to 1553, Valkenburg 1604. But that's a long way round.<BR><BR>Sorry.<BR><BR>Ben Haines, London<BR>

Please oh wiser Fodor travellers! Your knowledge about dining cars in the Netherlands I cannot do without

Ben,<BR><BR>you have saved me much time in fruitless searching. Thank you! If you have any recommendations for web links that help plan a train trip in the Netherlands, I'd be overjoyed to receive them.<BR><BR>Gratefully Yours,<BR><BR>William

I'm glad to have saved time.<BR><BR>There's a map of the Dutch rail system on http://mercurio.iet.unipi.it/ns/gif/network.jpg/. A related note reads: Dutch Rail established a regular interval service in 1970 with a half-hourly weekday service over almost all parts of the network. On many lines there are four or more trains per hour. Services are carefully co-ordinated, with 3min connections common, and cross-platform interchange wherever possible. The large towns also have good metro, tram, trolleybus and/or bus service which are well integrated with rail. A national zonal ticketing system called 'Strippenkaart' allows transfer between all modes (including rail around the large towns) without a monetary penalty. <BR>I doubt any website covers all there is to see. Lonely Planet's site is very short indeed: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinat...e/netherlands/ <BR>The Tourist Board's http://www.nbt.nl/ might be better, but really you need a guide book.<BR><BR>Please write again if I can help further.<BR><BR>Ben Haines<BR><BR>

The Netherlands' railways web site (with schedules in English) is at www.ns.nl<BR>There are indeed *no* dining cars in the Netherlands. Distances are just too short. By the way, the name of Amsterdam's airport is Schiphol.