Hi, I'm an American studying at the University of Amsterdam for about four months and I'm looking to travel as much around Europe as I can while I'm here. The problem is I really don't know how to get around (this is my first time in Europe). When I search for flights online there are usually very limited choices for where I can fly to, and when I search for trains online it usually says that a train line doesn't go directly between my locations. I'm in the process of trying to plan a trip from Eastern Germany to Prague to Vienna then back to Amsterdam. Any advice? Any good websites? Any suggestions as to where I should go and how I should get there?

I'm not sure of flights out of Amsterdam - but I can;t imagine that they don;t have flights to anywhere you would want to go. The cost is something else again. Do you mean the trains don;t go where you want - or that you will have to change trains? The latter is very common unless you are going being two major cities relatively close together.

As one example - the trains from Berlin (is that what you mean by eastern Germany? or do you have another city in mind?) to Prague are very frequent and convenient.

I would do a search above on train travel to get the web for german railroad and use that to plot a trip - keeping in mind that you might have to change in Franfurt or Koln to get to Berlin.

You may want to start here:

http://www.internets.com/srail.htm

Why not go to the travel office at Centraal station and explain what you want to do. I'm sure that they can help you. Also have a look at the Netherlands Rail site at www.ns.nl.

In 1988 I was on a night train that left Amsterdam for Rome. The train left at 10:35PM and got into Rome around 2PM the next day.

Never made it to Rome, ended up getting off the train in Lucerne Switzerland for breakfast and never got back on the train.

I took a similar train another time from Amsterdam to Belgium. Short ride. Left around 7:30AM, got off that train sometime around 9AM.

The advice to check the info office at the train station is excellent advice. From Amsterdam, you can go anywhere in Europe in a relatively short period of time.

Hi-

One budget airline that I know of is Basiq Air. They have flights between Amsterdam (Rotterdam) and Berlin(Schoenefeld). I have never flown them so I can't say whether it is a good company or not.

This way, it *may* cut your travel time.
Train: 6hrs
Plane: 1hr 15mins, but then add travel time from between city centers and airports, plus 1hr check-in... But it does give you option to buy 1-way ticket.

Get an ISIC card and you will get 1/2 price on airfares with KLM. There's info on the KLM website about it here:
http://www.klm.com/nl_en/

Click onthe icon that says "Student fares at KLM students". It will show you fares,and then click through a few screens and you'll see more info about how to get an ISIC card and other discounts.

Have you checked out www.applefares.com? It will give you all the info on budget airlines in Europe. These airlines are often cheaper than the train.

jfun333,
Turn off your computer and go out to a travel agency or the international ticket office in Centraal Station. If you want to see Europe take the train. Buy a Thomas Cook European Timetable for schedules to nearly everywhere. But don't skip over some of the closest cities in Holland and Belgium. They are among the best in Europe.

I agree with hopscotch....I'm kinda surprised that some of the oh so very adventurous travelers who post here didn't recommend renting a car!!!!