I am planning on taking the train from Stuttgart to Cologne Germany during the morning hours on wednesday February 27th
and from Cologne Germany to Amsterdam Netherlands on friday morning february 29th 2008.

My question is will I have a difficult time purchasing the 2 tickets that I need for both travel days on the day of travel?
If so if I purchase the tickets online can I print them or do I have to have them sent to a specific address? Can that be in the USA or can they only be sent to an address in Europe?

The easiest way is to purchase a ticket online via www.bahn.de and print it (www.bahn.de sends you a pdf ticket and you can print it on your printer).

One ticket for Stuttgart ot Amsterdam will be okay. If you want reservations , order one ticket Stuttgart-Köln and another ticket Köln-Amsterdam (prices will be the same).

If you do not want to book an online ticket (it is possible until a few minutes before departure), you can

- buy a ticket at the counter in the train station (be prepared for waiting in line),
- buy a ticket at a vending machine in the train station (a matter of a few minutes),
- buy a ticket in the train (they charge a small additional fee like 3 Euros or so).

My advice to you is to get to know the German Rail query website (http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en) soon.

Yes you can purchase tickets online, and they will probably cost less if you are willing to commit now to a specific train, non-refundable, ticket. At least the Stuttgart-Köln route can be self-printed. Those prices can be as low as €29, but for the 27th, the cheapest tickets seem to be sold out. I can only see €39 at some times and €49 at others.

Köln to Amsterdam is also possible online (currently €19, also non-refundable, self-printable). If you self-print you will need to show them the credit card used to buy the ticket when they check it on the train.

Hi all,

Thank you so much for your quick replies
Kappy

Hi everyone,
FYI
I just purchased all my train tickets online for my trip to Germany and The Netherlands and it worked great.
I am off to Germany on Friday.
That is definitely the best way to go and they had great specials.

Thanks again
Kappy