The more I read about train passes the more confused I am. We are four adults who will be travelling together throughout the Netherlands (and perhaps Belgium) this summer. We will be using trains, and perhaps occasional auto rental, for six consecutive days. Can we purchase passes at a better rate here in the US before our trip or should we wait to purchase at the Schiphol train station? What kind of pass would be most economical for us? Any help will be most appreciated. Thanks!

Don,<BR><BR>The trains are not very expensive at all and to be honest you are as well just buying tickets as you go. You can get a discount card "korting card" which is about 100euros and then gets you discounted entrance to the key museums and 40% of all rail travel. A train ticket to most places is no more than Euro10 return within Holland so unless you are definately going to spend a lot of time on trains you will be cheaper buying tickets.<BR><BR>Another good tip is that most train stations have a bike rental shop and if you buy a ticket to a town you can also include bike hire in the train ticket.<BR><BR>Please think very carefully before hiring a car, I moved to Holland a year ago and most weekends do more kilometres on my bicycle than in my car.<BR><BR>Be dutch and go places and hire a bike, it is easier, quicker, cheaper, and more fun. Parking anywhere in Holland is a nightmare.<BR><BR>If you have any more questions let me know.

Thank you for your helpful advice. That sounds easier than my plan anyway! The only time we are going to rent a car is in Maastricht to visit some nearby WWII cemetaries, etc. We hope to take advantage of the bike paths as much as possible. Do you think we need to make reservations for the Amsterdam-Maastricht train route to assure we will have seats?

You can't make reservations for domestic trains in the Netherlands. You shouldn't have a problem finding a seat after rush hour. (between 9 AM and 4 PM and after 7 PM) And even during rush hour you'll probably get a seat if you are early to board your train.

You don't need to make a reservation - in fact, for most trains, you can't. If you want to be absolutely sure you have seats together, travel first class. The discount card David mentioned also gives you that 40% discount on first class; however, you wouldn't each need to get that card because each cardholder can take 'travelling companions' (I think 3) who get the same discount. Keep in mind that this discount card might not be worth it for only 6 days. There is also a ticket called the 'Zomertour', or Summer Tour, for 59 Euros for 2 people, on which you can travel 3 days out of 10. With 2 of these tickets, two people could travel all you want (within the Netherlands) for 6 days. The ticket is valid in July and August. For 72.50 Euro the ticket called 'Zomertoer Plus' also includes bus, tram, and metro. More information at www.ns.nl<BR>You can rent bikes for an hour, a half-day, a day or more at nearly any train station. Have a great time!<BR>

I don't know if I am confused about your question. But from what I gathered you were talking about long distant trains...Correct? Not local...You dont' need to make reservations for those.<BR><BR>But going across country on long distance trains I would suggest bying a flexi saver pass. You can find them online at RailEurope.com...I bought tickets in Europe to go between Paris and Amsterdam roundtrip and payed $180. Point to Point tickets are more expensive in the longrun...So if you are going to be traveling long distances on the train I suggest buying the saverpass. I am going to Spain and Portugal this month and have already bought my pass...FOr $200 I got the Iberic pass which is good for Spain and Portugal...They have passes to suit your needs. I can travel 3 days on the pass thats 36 hours of travel...Its well worth it compared to point to point purchasing.

This is great information and very helpful. To be more clear, we are going to be making one cross-country roundtrip, from Amst. to Maastricht, then several shorter trips around Amsterdam....

Don, to be fair I must admit I've never heard of anybody doing what I suggest, buying two Zomertour tickets for use over 6 days instead of one ticket for three days, but I can't imagine that it's not allowed. You validate the ticket for each day of travel and you can use it all day, that day. If you want me to check this for you, let me know. You can find out the round-trip fare for Amsterdam - Maastricht yourself at www.ns.nl. I don't think that a regular ticket will permit you to get off halfway if you want to check out, say, Den Bosch (Hertogenbosch) for lunch, but the Zomertour ticket would.

There is no problem getting off the train somewhere on the route to your final destination and reboarding another train later that day when you travel on a normal ticket. So if you buy a Amsterdam to Rotterdam ticket you could see Leiden, The Hague and Delft for the same price.