London to Amsterdam

by train & ferry,

from £55 + £35 cabin

London to Amsterdam via the Stena Line ferry

Low-cost high-comfort way from London to Amsterdam with private cabin with shower, toilet & satellite TV - saves a hotel bill!

      small bullet point  See times, fares & info

      small bullet point  What's it like?

      small bullet point  Buy tickets starting in Amsterdam

Buy train tickets from London to Amsterdam via ferry


London to Amsterdam by Eurostar from £40 one-way

London to Amsterdam by Eurostar

London to Amsterdam by direct Eurostar in 4 hours.

      small bullet point See timetable & fares

      small bullet point What's it like?

Buy tickets from London to Amsterdam via Eurostar

London to Amsterdam in comfort

Fed up with flying?  This page explains how to travel from London or anywhere in the UK to Amsterdam or anywhere in the Netherlands by train or ferry, avoiding airport hassle and reducing your impact on the environment.  Upgrade from a stressful flight to the civilised comfort of Rail & Sail or Eurostar.

Times, fares & tickets

small bullet point  Which option to choose?

small bullet point  London to Amsterdam by Eurostar

small bullet point  London to Amsterdam by Stena Line train & ferry

small bullet point  Hull to Rotterdam & Amsterdam by ferry

small bullet point  Newcastle to Amsterdam by ferry

small bullet point  London to all other destinations in the Netherlands

International trains to/from Amsterdam

small bullet point  Trains from other European cities to Amsterdam

small bullet point  Trains from Amsterdam to other European cities

small bullet point  Amsterdam to Berlin by InterCity train

small bullet point  Amsterdam to Brussels & Paris by Eurostar (formerly Thalys) train

small bullet point  Amsterdam to Bruges by train

Other useful information

small bullet point  Amsterdam Centraal station guide

small bullet point  Hotels in Amsterdam - suggested places to stay

small bullet point  Map of Amsterdam

small bullet point  Useful country information: currency, dial code...

small bullet point  Short breaks in Amsterdam by Eurostar

small bullet point  General information for train travel in Europe

small bullet point  Luggage arrangements

small bullet point  Left luggage lockers in Brussels & Amsterdam

small bullet point  Taking a bike    Taking a dog

small bullet point  Travel insurance, mobile data, VPN & other tips

Interactive map

Click a route for times, fares & tickets.

Route map, London to Amstersam by train or ferry

Holland or the Netherlands?

What's the difference?

Holland is a region made up of 2 of the 12 provinces of the Netherlands, Noord Holland & Zuid Holland.  The other 10 provinces are not Holland.  Telling someone from Utrecht, Arnhem, Eindhoven, Groningen or Maastricht that they come from Holland is like telling a Glaswegian that he comes from England...  Check out this nifty video explanation.


Useful country information

Train operator:

NS (Nederlandse Spoorwegen), www.ns.nl for train times & fares in the Netherlands.  Eurostar times & fares.  All-Europe online train times.  Amsterdam bus & tram info: www.gvb.nl.

Ferry operators:

Harwich-Hoek van Holland:  www.stenaline.co.uk.

Train+ferry London-Amsterdam:  www.stenaline.co.uk/rail-and-sail/to-holland.

Newcastle-Amsterdam: www.dfds.com.  Hull-Rotterdam: www.poferries.com

Railpasses:

 

Beginner's guide to European railpasses    Buy a rail pass online

Time zone:

GMT+1 (GMT+2 from last Sunday in March to last Saturday in October).

Dialling code:

 

+31

Currency:

£1 = approx 1.15 euros  Check current exchange rates

Tourist information:

www.visitholland.com  Amsterdam map  Recommended guidebooks

Hotels, hostels & tours:

Find accommodation in Amsterdam & see recommended hotels

Page last updated:

15 January 2024


What are the options?

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London to other Dutch destinations

  Dutch double decker InterCity train

Above:  A Dutch double-deck InterCity train.

  Seats on top deck of double decker Dutch train

Above:  These are top deck seats on a Dutch double-deck InterCity train from Rotterdam to Amsterdam.

London to Rotterdam

Eurostar trains link London with Rotterdam several times a day in just 3h30, see the London to the Netherlands by Eurostar page.

You can also travel from London to Rotterdam overnight in a cosy en suite cabin using the excellent Stena Line train-ferry-train service, see the London to Amsterdam by train & ferry page.

London to Den Haag (The Hague)

Take a Eurostar from London St Pancras to Rotterdam Centraal in just 3h30, then take a frequent Dutch Intercity train from Rotterdam Centraal to Den Haag HS taking 18 or 19 minutes more.  These Intercity trains run roughly every 10 minutes.

Alternatively, Eurostar runs more frequently from London to Brussels Midi, from where there are hourly Intercity trains to Den Haag, a handful direct, most with 1 change.

Buy tickets from London to Den Haag as one transaction with no booking fee at www.nsinternational.nl.  You print your own ticket.

Alternatively, the excellent Stena Line Rail & Sail service via Harwich-Hoek van Holland also goes via Den Haag, see the London to Amsterdam by train & ferry page.

London to Maastricht

Maastricht, at the southern tip of the Netherlands, is most easy reached by Eurostar changing in Brussels.  There are hourly Belgian InterCity trains from Brussels to Maastricht with one easy and quick change in Liège, journey time 1h46.

You can buy a through ticket from London to Liège, simply go to www.eurostar.com and buy a ticket from London to a destination listed as Brussels Midi/Zuid + any Belgian station ticket from £51 one-way or £69 return.  This is valid on a specific Eurostar to Brussels, then onwards to any station in Belgium using any suitable connecting train (including Belgian InterCity trains but not international Eurostar (formerly Thalys) or ICE trains) within 24 hours of arrival in Brussels, and (on your return) within 24 hours of your Eurostar departure from Brussels.  This will take you all the way to Liege, you can easily buy an onward ticket from Liege to Maastricht online at www.thetrainline.com.

Note that at www.eurostar.com all you are reserving is your Eurostar seat, from Brussels to Liège a seat reservation is unnecessary you can just hop on any train you like. The Eurostar website won't give schedules for the onward trains, but you can use www.thetrainline.com to find train times between Brussels and Maastricht.

Alternatively, you can travel from London to Maastricht by comfortable overnight train+ferry if you like, using the special Stena Line Rail & Sail ticket from London to Hoek van Holland, see the London to Amsterdam by train & ferry page.

London to anywhere else in the Netherlands:  Utrecht, Apeldoorn, Groningen, Arnhem, Eindhoven, etc.

Other destinations in the Netherlands can also be reached just as easily as Amsterdam, using either train+ferry or Eurostar.  Decide which you want to use by reading the London-Amsterdam train & ferry and Eurostar information, then check connections to your chosen destination as follows:

By train+ferry via Harwich-Hoek van Holland

The Stena Line Rail & Sail service gets you from central London or any Greater Anglia station (including Cambridge, Norwich, Ipswich, Ely, Chelmsford, Colchester...) to Hoek van Holland.  There's a daytime service and an overnight 'sleeper' service with cosy private cabins with toilet, shower & satellite TV.  You can then travel from Hoek van Holland to anywhere in the Netherlands.  For full details, see the Stena Line Rail & Sail page.

To check train times from Hoek van Holland to anywhere else in the Netherlands, first check what time your chosen train+ferry service reaches Hoek van Holland using the London to Amsterdam train+ferry timetable here.

Then go to the Dutch Railways website www.ns.nl, enter Hoek van Holland Haven as origin and your Dutch destination as destination, enter your travel dates and time of departure from Hoek (allowing at least 20 minutes from the arrival of the ferry) and hit search.

You'll find some journeys involve taking the metro from Hoek to Schiedam Centrum and changing onto a mainline train (for example, to Den Haag) whilst others are better taking the metro from Hoek to Rotterdam Alexander and changing there for a mainline train (for example, to Utrecht or Groningen).

It will then sell you a ticket for the NS (Dutch Railways) part of the journey which you can print out or show in the NS app on your phone.  You then need to buy a metro ticket at the station from the ticket machines for a few euros.  Buy your Stena Line Rail & Sail ticket from London to Hoek van Holland at www.stenaline.co.uk/rail-and-sail/to-holland.

By Eurostar to any Dutch station from €60!

The popular ticket from London to Any Dutch Station by Eurostar and connecting InterCity train (not valid on high-speed Eurostar (formerly Thalys)), one-way from €60, return from €119.  But it has to be booked at the Dutch railways website www.nsinternational.nl, which can book these as a one-way or a round trip in either direction.  You print your own tickets.  In the search results you can compare prices with faster options via Eurostar (formerly Thalys) high-speed trains, and make a choice on speed versus price.

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Guidebooks

Paying for a guidebook in the age of the internet may seem unnecessary, but you will see a lot more, and know much more about what you're looking at, if you have a decent guidebook.  I think the Lonely Planets & Rough Guides are the best ones out there for the independent traveller.  You won't regret buying one!Amazon logo  My own book, an essential handbook for train or ferry travel to Europe based on this website called The Man in Seat 61, was published in 2010 so is a little long in the tooth now, but it's available from Amazon.co.uk with shipping worldwide.

Click the images to buy at Amazon.co.uk

Lonely Planet Netherlands guidebook   Lonely Planet Amsterdam guidebook   Western Europe on a Shoestring guidebook   Lonely Planet Western Europe guidebook

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European Rail Timetable & maps

Thomas Cook European Timetable -  click to buy onlineTraveller's Railway Map of Europe - buy onlineThe European Rail Timetable (formerly the Thomas Cook European Timetable) has train & ferry times for every country in Europe plus currency & climate information.  It is essential for regular European train travellers and an inspiration for armchair travellers.  Published since 1873, it had just celebrated 140 years of publication when Thomas Cook decided to pull the plug on their entire publishing department, but the dedicated ex-Thomas Cook team set up a private venture and resumed publication of the famous European Rail Timetable in March 2014.  You can buy it online at www.amazon.co.uk (UK addresses) or www.europeanrailtimetable.eu (shipping worldwide).  More information on what the European Rail Timetable contains.

Rail Map Europe is the map I recommend, covering all of Europe from Portugal in the west to Moscow & Istanbul in the east, Finland in the north to Sicily & Athens in the south.  Scenic routes & high-speed lines are highlighted.  See an extract from the map.  Buy online at www.europeanrailtimetable.eu (shipping worldwide) or at www.amazon.co.uk (UK addresses).

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Hotels in Amsterdam

Hotels in Rotterdam

Find hotels at Booking.comMy favourite hotel search: www.booking.com

Booking.com is my favourite hotel booking site and I generally use it to book all my hotels in one place.  I've come to trust booking.com's review scores, you won't be disappointed with any hotel that scores 8.0 or more.  Crucially, booking.com usually lets you book with free cancellation, which means you can confirm accommodation risk-free before train booking opens and/or you can hold accommodation while you finalise your itinerary and alter your plans as they evolve - a feature I use all the time when planning a trip.  I never book hotels non-refundably!

AirBnB:  www.airbnb.com

www.airbnb.com began in 2008 when two designers who had space to share hosted three travellers looking for a place to stay.  AirBnB is a platform which connects hosts with guests, so you can now book a room in people's homes, or an apartment, flat or house which people want to rent out.  It can be nicer than a hostel, cheaper than many hotels.

Hostelworld logoBackpacker hostels: www.hostelworld.com

www.hostelworld.com:  If you're on a tight budget, don't forget about backpacker hostels.  Hostelworld offers online booking of cheap private rooms or dorm beds in backpacker hostels in Paris and most other European cities at rock-bottom prices.

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City breaks in Amsterdam

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Travel insurance & other tips

 

Staysure travel insurance

 

Columbus Direct logo

Always take out travel insurance

You should take out travel insurance with at least £1m or preferably £5m medical cover from a reliable insurer.  It should cover trip cancellation and loss of cash & belongings up to a reasonable limit.  These days, check you're covered for covid-19-related issues, and use an insurer whose cover isn't invalidated by well-meant but excessive Foreign Office travel advice against non-essential travel. An annual policy is usually cheapest even for just 2 or 3 trips a year, I have an annual policy with Staysure.co.uk myself.  Don't expect travel insurance to bail you out of every missed connection, see the advice on missed connections here.  Here are some suggested insurers, I get a little commission if you buy through these links, feedback always welcome.

UK flag  www.staysure.co.uk offers enhanced Covid-19 protection and gets 4.7 out of 5 on Trustpilot.

UK flag  www.columbusdirect.com is also a well-know brand.

US flag  If you live in the USA try Travel Guard USA.

 

Maya.net logo

Get an eSIM with mobile data package

Don't rely on WiFi, download an eSIM with a European mobile data package and stay connected.  Most newer mobile phones can download a virtual SIM including iPhone 11 & later, see device compatibility list.  There's no need to buy a physical SIM card!  Maya.net is a reliable eSIM data retailer with a 4.5 out of 5 Trustpilot rating and a range of packages including unlimited data.

 

Curve card

Curve card

Get a Curve card for foreign travel

Most banks give you a poor exchange rate then add a foreign transaction fee on top.  A Curve MasterCard means no foreign transaction fees and gives you the mid-market exchange rate, at least up to a certain limit, £500 per month as I write this.  The money you spend on your Curve card goes straight onto one of your existing debit or credit cards.  And you can get a Curve card for free.

How it works:  1. Download the Curve app for iPhone or Android.  2. Enter your details & they'll send you a Curve MasterCard - they send to the UK and most European addresses.  3. Link your existing credit & debit cards to the app, you can link up to two cards with the free version of Curve, I link my normal debit card and my normal credit card.  4. Now use the Curve MasterCard to buy things online or in person or take cash from ATMs, exactly like a normal MasterCard. Curve does the currency conversion and puts the balance in your own currency onto whichever debit or credit card is currently selected in the Curve app.  You can even change your mind about which card it goes onto, within 14 days of the transaction.

I have a Curve Blue card myself, it means I can buy a coffee on a foreign station on a card without being stung by fees and lousy exchange rates, just by tapping the Curve card on their card reader.  The money goes through Curve to my normal debit card and is taken directly from my account (in fact I have the Curve card set up as payment card on Apple Pay on my iPhone, so can double-click my phone, let it do Face ID then tap the reader with the phone - even easier than getting a card out).  I get a little commission if you sign up to Curve, but I recommend it here because I think it's great.  See details, download the app and get a Curve card, they'll give you £5 cashback through that link.

 

Express VPN

Get a VPN for safe browsing.  Why you need a VPN

When travelling you may use free public WiFi which is often insecure.  A VPN encrypts your connection so it's always secure, even on unsecured WiFi.  It also means you can select the geographic location of the IP address you browse with, to get around geoblocking which a surprising number of websites apply.  See VPNs & why you need one explainedExpressVPN is a best buy with a 4.7 out of 5 Trustpilot ranking which I use myself - I've signed up as an ExpressVPN affiliate, and if you go with expressvpn.com using this link you should see a special deal, 3 months free with an annual subscription.  I also get some commission to help support this site.

 

Anker Powerrbank

Carry an Anker powerbank

Tickets, reservations, hotel bookings and Interrail or Eurail passes are often now held on your mobile phone.  You daren't let it run out of power, and you can't always rely on the phone's internal battery or on being near a power outlet.  I always carry an Anker powerbank which can recharge my phone several times over.  Buy from Amazon.co.uk or Buy from Amazon.com.

Touring cities?  Use hill walking shoes!

One of the best things I've done is swap my normal shoes for hill-walking shoes, in my case from Scarpa.  They're intended for hiking across the Pennines not wandering around Florence, but the support and cushioning for hiking works equally well when you're on your feet all day exploring foreign cities.  My feet used to give out first and limit my day, now the rest of me gives up before they do!

 


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