First time on the train. UK,Holland, and Poland
 

I’m a solo travel and my first time in Europe. I was looking at lonely Planet and other websites but I’m having trouble understanding the train system. So I was wondering if anyone could help make some sense out of it.

I was thinking about going to London, Amsterdam, Poland, and Czech Republic. I was trying to figure out if I could fly into London and then take a ferry to Amsterdam. Or do I have to take a ferry to a neighboring country and then take a train to Amsterdam? I know about the tunnel but would like to take a boat. If these questions are confusing or stupid I am sorry. I’m just really frustrated.

Next can I take a train from Amsterdam to Poland? Is there a direct route or do I have to make a stop off at Berlin and then get on another train to Poland?

My next question is how I would get back to Amsterdam from the Czech Republic. Again is there a direct route or would I have to go back to Poland and then take the same train back to Amsterdam.

Go to the rail europe site - www.raileurope.com. Click on point to point tickets and then put in departure and arrival cities. This will give you an idea of routes, lengths of the trips, and prices. Do not buy your tickets from them, they are quite a bit more expensive, but the site it very useful to see where you can go. They do not have all possible routes though, so if you can't find something it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Rick Steves site also has a useful train section. Another useful site is: http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en
From Amsterdam to Poland or Prague you will almost definitly need to change trains at least once.

If you primary goal is to get from one location to another, flying may be more economical and easier, depending on the distance. The site: whichbudget.com will tell you what intra-European airline flys to where. For example, going from Amsterdam to Poland or Prague will almost certainly be cheaper and faster by air than by train. Both London and Amsterdam have very good flight connections.

You say you are thinking of flying into London. I assume you are coming from the US. If that's the case, and you haven't bought your overseas tickets yet, consider an open jaw ticket - fly into London and then back home from Poland or Prague. It will save the time and money of backtracking.

Isabel has given you good pointers. My question is - do you want to take a ferry to Holland because of some perceived "romance" of a sea voyage? That won't be a cruise - it will be a ferry - large ferry by a ferry nonetheless. It makes much more sense both time and money-wise to fly.

And taking the train from London would involve the Eurostar to Brussels and then another train to Amsterdam. This will be a pretty expensive propostion.

The budget airlines have made it MUCH more economical to fly - and you'll save 1/2 to one full day.

The closest there is to a regular scheduled ship from London to Amsterdam is the ferry from Harwich to Hook of Holland: both ferry ports are 90 minutes' by train from their respective capitals (making the London-Amsterdam trip that way about 10 hours min, though it's faster taking the train the whole way) There are trains that more or less connect with sailings at each end. stenaline.co.uk or seat61.com for a wealth of information about everything to do with complex European railway journeys starting from London.

Apart from the fastish train from London to Brussels and Paris (which can offer very good prices as well as being very convenient), the train/ship combination is almost always a great deal costlier and more inconvenient a route from Britain to the nearby Continental capitals than planes. It's also generally rather unpleasant: the scenery is usually dull, you're forever getting off trains and trudging across docks to ferries, and your fellow-passengers on the ferry are mostly busloads of binge-drinking adolescents.

Travelling by train across the Continent, however, is a great deal more enjoyable. The mysterious Countesses all zap round Europe by Learjet these days, but it's still more fun than hanging round the barns several hundred miles from the nearest city the low-cost airlines use as airports.

I have caught the train from London to Amsterdam (I realy really like trains).

You get the Eurostard to Brussels and then a domestic train to Hamster-jam.

If you don't actively like being on trains (I am aware that some people are so afflicted) this is a bit of a chore as the standard ticket doesn't include the Thalys (ie high-speed) network and it's a long old train journey through holland in pretty spartan surroundings.

Re train schedules:

IMO a better option for looking up schedules than the RailEurope site and because it is more complete would be the GermanRail site..here is the URL; I suggest you bookmark it:

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

Re the rail connections A-dam to Poland: I assume you would be traveling to Warsaw and the "best" connection (least number of changes) would take about 15 hours and yes, the connections are all through Berlin.

I agree with the others re your desire to take a boat trip across from England to The Netherlands...if you are traveling relatively light you might at least consider one of the budget flights, such as those on EasyJet over to A-dam...obviously much faster although not as "romantic."

Hi gaw,

It's about 14 hr from Amsterdam to Warsaw, with a change in Berlin or Duisburg (night train).

Prague to Amsterdam takes 11 - 13 hours, with a change in Berlin or Frankfurt.

The best place for train schedules is http://plannerint.b-rail.be/bin/quer...n?L=profi&

How long will you be gone?

((I))

The boat trip isn't reall "romantic". It's a freight route, so you will be sharing the ferry with truckers.

thank you for your help

I’m thinking about going to London, Amsterdam, Poland (Warsaw, Krakow), and Czech Republic (Prague). I think I want to stay for about 2 and a half weeks, or (16 days). I want to stay in each city for about 2-3 days. Do you think I will have enough time? Money is also a big concern to me. Not including air and train tickets, I will have about $2,000
After considering our options I’m going to take the train to Amsterdam. My question is how do I get from Brussels to Amsterdam. Can I just order a ticket when I get there.
Can some one explain what and how to order a open jaw ticket.
My last question is do a lot of employees at the train stations and airports speak English. Is it hard to order a ticket when that language barrier is there?

If your starting point for Hamster-jam is London, buy a through ticket from Eurostar. Change at Brussels (really easy).

If your starting point is Brussels, you simply got to Brussels station and buy a ticket. There are two services, standard and Thalys. The Standard train is the one I described earlier – an ordinary domestic train service that goes through various stops before getting to Amsterdam. The Thalys system is a central Europe equivalent of the TGVs. Much nice, much faster, a fair bit more expensive and you have to book. They have separate booking windows at the station and the timetables are all over the station.

Most Western Europeans can speak enough English to get you through buying a train ticket. However it is worth your while (if you speak none of the language) to write out the name of the station you want to go to in the language of the country (I.e. Koln for Cologne, Brugge for Bruges etc) and the time of train you want. After that it’s pointing and shouting time.

If you really can’t face this automatic ticket sellers (you need a credit or debit card) have English language menus.

Hi G,

>London, Amsterdam, Poland (Warsaw, Krakow), and Czech Republic (Prague). I think I want to stay for about 2 and a half weeks, or (16 days). <

At first I was going to say, "I fear that you are planning an expedition, not a visit".

However, you can do this withour killing yourself.

Do keep in mind that you lose at least 1/2 day each time you transfer.

London-Amsterdam is a lost day (5:30 hr on train + time to get to train and time to get to hotel).

There is a night train between Amsterdam and Prague, but you won't get to sleep until after midnight.

Prague to Warsaw by night train - you won't get to sleep until after 01:00.
It's easier to go Prague to Krakow on the night train.

From Krakow, you can train to Warsaw in 3 hr.

You can fly from various cities in Poland to Brussels cheaply. See www.whichbudget.com.

From Brussels, you can train to Amsterdam.

See http://plannerint.b-rail.be/bin/quer...n?L=profi&
for train schedules.

>Can some one explain what and how to order a open jaw ticket.<

An open-jaw ticket is one in which you fly A/B-C/A.

See www.kayak.com and click "multi city".

Open-jaw is usually about the same price as a RT.

For example, in March, 2006, Kayak is showing JFK/LHR-WAW/JFK for about $500, while RT JFK/WAW is $550.

>Not including air and train tickets, I will have about $2,000 <

That's about $125/day. If you can't find hostels and B&Bs for about $60/nite, you can do it.

Have a nice expedition, and let us know how it turned out.

((I))

OOOPS,

>If you CAN find hostels and B&Bs for about $60/nite, you can do it.