Köln / Cologne / Koeln to Amsterdam by train

How to take the rail journey from Cologne/Köln to Amsterdam

Taking the train from Cologne/Köln to Amsterdam is usually blissfully simple, as the city's are usually liked every other hour by swish ICE trains.
Though what's a tad odd about this route is that the ICEs are high speed trains, but they only have the opportunity to travel at more than 270 kmh south of Köln/Cologne.
On this route to The Netherlands there are no high speed lines for them to whizz along.

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Routes

From Köln/Cologne Hbf to Amsterdam Centraal / Amsterdam CS

Travel Information

Final Destination: Amsterdam Centraal/CS

All trains also call at: Dusseldorf; Arnhem and Utrecht

Mon - Fri = 8 x trains per day
Sat = 6 x trains
Sun = 7 x trains
The usual first departure of the day on Mon-Fri does not operate at weekends.
AND the usual final departure of the day does not operate on Saturdays.

Tickets

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings usually open: 6 months ahead of the travel date

When making an online booking, check that you’re looking at booking info for the direct trains.

On the DB  booking site look for journeys that have:

  • 0 in the Chg. column
  • ICE in the Products column.

Trains departing at different times can be cheaper than others leaving on the same day, so you may need to look through the day's departures to find the cheapest tickets.
Use the earlier/later buttons to search for the cheapest fares.

Reservations:

Book 1st class ticket journey tickets and your seat reservation is included, but they're optional when booking 2nd class tickets, or if you will be travelling with a 1st or 2nd class rail pass.

Where to book
Ticket Provider Approximate Cost
DB from €19.90

DB Guide

DB is the national railway operator in Germany, so its website can be used for booking journeys by German express trains; the ICE and IC trains and it doesn't charge booking fees.
It also sells tickets for journeys by direct trains on all international routes from Germany regardless of whether DB is operating the train service.

It also sells an extensive range of end-to-end journeys which involve making connections both within Germany and in neighboring countries, but journeys between Germany and Britain cannot be booked on DB.

A key feature of DB website worth keeping mind is that it offers 1st class ticket purchasers complimentary seat reservations on journeys both within and to/from Germany.

Seat reservations for daytime in both 1st and 2nd class can also be booked separately from tickets.

NS International from €20

NS International Guide

NS is the Dutch national rail operator and it operates a bespoke website for the booking of international rail journeys from and to The Netherlands.
Therefore it offers tickets for journeys by:

  • Thalys trains to Bruxelles and Paris
  • IC trains to Berlin via Hannover and Bruxelles via Antwerpen
  • Eurostar to London
  • ICE trains to Basel and Frankfurt (Main) via Koln
  • the Nightjet trains to Austria and Germany

NS International also sells tickets to a range of destinations in Austria, Czechia, Denmark, Italy and Switzerland, which involve a change of train in Germany, along with the destinations in France, which can be accessed by making a connection in Bruxelles.

Happyrail from €19.90

Happyrail Guide

Happy Rail is a Netherlands rail ticket agency which sells tickets for both national and international journeys within a range of countries including Belgium France, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland.

HappyRail doesn't charge booking fees in the conventional sense, but if you're not Dutch you can expect to pay additional transaction fees, which will be added to the total cost.
That's because the most common form of online payment used in The Netherlands is 'iDEAL' and HappyRail doesn't charge a transaction fee for 'iDEAL' payments, but only Dutch residents can sign up to 'iDEAL'.
Other forms of payment include Visa debit cards will incur a fee.

SaveATrain from €19.90

SaveATrain Guide

Trainline from €19.90

Trainline Guide

On this journey

Journey Features

Scenic - NoNot High Speed

There is no high speed line between Koln and Amsterdam, the rather sleek ICE 3 trains are used on this route because they will have travelled on Germany's fastest high speed line on their way TO Koln.
The trains won't in fact won't travel exceptionally fast on this route.

It's perhaps not a huge surprise to discover that this isn't a particularly scenic journey, the train will travel through a string of industrial cities and towns in Germany, before heading for the border.

Between Utrecht and the suburbs of Amsterdam, there will be a canal on the right hand side of the train, which will give the final part of the journey a Dutch aura.

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