To Dijon from Amsterdam but not from Paris
 

Part of this was posted on the rail europe newsgroup and some good replies were received, but I'd appreciate any additional comments here. By way of introduction, my wife and I prefer not to travel twice over the same rail journey during our European travel; we really want to continue our "open jaws" approach to travel where possible.

Several swift trains run between Paris and Dijon so getting to Dijon from Paris would not be a problem; however, my wife and I would like to reach Dijon by rail from Amsterdam since that is expected to be our air arrival city, but we hope to then travel north to Paris after a few days exploring Burgundies in Dijon (After two or three days in Paris we'd travel by rail through the Channel Tunnel to London for a few
days and home from Heathrow to Seattle).

We're looking for the fewest stops trip from Amsterdam to Dijon (we're a bit older and would like to limit any single-day travel to 10 hours), but we'd be amenable to an overnight stay in Brussels or Luxembourg City. Metz, which seems to be a station on the route is a very secondary choice, unless there are some real merits to an overnight in that city.

Suggestions for trip and accomodation city itineraries are greatly appreciated.

Going up the Rhine might be an alternative (Strasbourg?, Basel?).

Here's a followup to my post, above. With another closer look at maps I've broken down the Amsterdam-Dijon itinerary into small chunks for De Bahn schedules. It will be Amsterdam to Brussels (3 hours), Brussels to Metz (5 hours), Metz to Nancy (1 hour), and Nancy to Dijon (3 hours). Although I've rounded up each worst case travel time for each increment, I recognize that the entire Amsterdam-Dijon trip is unlikely to involve connections that will get us to Dijon within the nominal twelve hours indicated by the schedules; therefore, it's a two-day journey with the logical break to be in Metz.

Will Metz be a reasonably pleasant place to stay overnight (lodgings, food)? Are there lodgings, restaurants and local sights forum members would recommend in Metz?

From my reading of the DB timetables, you could get from Amsterdam to Dijon in just under 11 hours. Leave Amsterdam at 09:54, change trains in Bruuxelles and Metz, and arrive in Dijon at 20:36. I found this by entering Amsterdam as the departure point, Dijon as the arrival point, and routing myself via Metz.

The fastest way is to take the fast train to Paris and then another fast train to Dijon. You will arrive at the Gare du Nord. The Dijon trains leave from Gare de Lyon. With all your luggage, the easiest way to do the train switch would be a taxi. The Metro in Paris has lots of stairs and almost no elevators. Unless you are really traveling light, take a taxi.

If I were you, I would spend a night or so in Brussels to recover before making the trek to Dijon. Then go to Paris on the way back.

Trying to do an end run around the switch in Paris will take you more time than going through Paris (even accounting for the change of train stations).

Well, beggars can't be choosers. You want to avoid Paris, the obvious fast connector, you want to go the long way around, you pay the price.

Take the night train, it does not go via Paris but departs at 20:31 from Amsterdam Centraal and goes all the way to Basel SBB (the Swiss side of the border station) where it arrives at 06:54. It has sleepers and couchettes (bunks).
At 7:03 you leave on the train for Neuchâtel where you arrive at 8:35. Switch to the TGV leaving at 9:02 and you get to Dijon Ville at 11:22.

Or take the 8:04 from Amsterdam Centraal to Karlsruhe Hbf, arr. 12:51, switch to the TGV lvg at 13:31 arriving in Strasbourg-Ville at 14:13. At 14:37 you leave on the train for Nancy-Ville where you arrive at 16:02. You leave at 16:30 for Dijon-Ville where you arrive at 18:47.

Obviously you can interrupt this journey anywhere and pick up the next day.

Another such connection that does not go via Paris:
Lvg A. Centraal 10:34, Frankfurt/M airport arr. 14:14 lvg 14:54, Mannheim Hbf arr. 15:24 lvg 15:36, Offenburg arr. 16:27 lvg 16:34, Strasbourg-Ville arr. 17:04 lvg 17:16, Besançon-Viotte arr. 19:56 lvg 20:01, Dijon-Ville arr. 21:02.

And so it goes - simply use the train websites and figure it out:
www.rail.ch
www.bahn.de
http://plannerint.b-rail.be/bin/query.exe/en?L=profi&

Hi mo,

Have you considered flying AMS to Geneva and taking the train from there to Dijon?

Aren't you making this a little hard on yourself, just to avoid changing trains in Paris?

Also, are you planning to visit Amsterdam, or just flying into AMS before setting off for France?

((I))

Ah - if you were to decide that flying is an option, then you should fly to Lyon, it has the most cheap flights from Amsterdam, and the shortest train ride from there to Dijon-Ville, 2 hours give or take a few minutes.

If that doesn't suit you, by all means take easyJet to GVA as suggested, usually three flights a day, and the quickest train from there takes 3:11 hrs, most take longer.

As an alternative, take easyJet to BSL, take the airport bus into town, stay the night (Basel is a cool city!), and the train the next morning, takes about 4 hours.

Mohun,

(This is off the current topic)

I didn't want to single you out for special thanks and thereby offend others, but I do wish to thank you very much
for doing the search on "Moderate London Hotels" for me.

You're terrific!

BB
Gerry Kingdom