Northpoint Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Hi All, I have posted this here as I'm not sure where else to put it! My wife and I have a proposed trip to the Netherlands later this year. Previous trips to Germany have involved rail travel using the excellent value "Lander" tickets. Does anybody have any advice on the best value tickets to use whilst travelling by train in the Netherlands? My research so far has found NS day tickets at around 49 Euros, Inter Rail at £110. Is it possibly cheapest just to pay for individual journeys? Also, anybody have any suggestions for good train watching locations, preferably away from the main stations (Amsterdam Centraal, Utrecht, etc)? Thanks in advance. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonhall Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 A quote from the man in seat 61 http://www.seat61.com/international-trains/trains-from-Amsterdam.htm#.UsfjaoFFAiQ 'Be warned that NS's self-service machines are officially The Most Useless Ticket Machines in Europe, accepting neither credit cards nor bank notes, just coins and obscure Dutch bank cards' I used an adult interrail when I went last Easter, but from observation most Dutch users now seem to have an 'Oyster' style card, with the same card being used for NS and private operators, however changing between operators seems to require a check-out of one operator then check-in to the other at two machines sat a few feet apart. I didn't investigate how one would buy, or top up such a card. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastwestdivide Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 The Oyster-style thing - that'll be the OV-chipkaart/chipcard: https://www.ov-chipkaart.nl/?taal=en (in English) which I'm still trying to get my head around. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northpoint Posted January 5, 2014 Author Share Posted January 5, 2014 Thanks for the info, especially the insider info from Dutch Master. So it seems the best way to book tickets is on-line via a German website, presumably the German version of the NS website. Once booked, they are available for collection at stations? Given we will be on holiday, it's unlikely we'll have acces to a printer, maybe in some instances, not even wi-fi! Again, I take it it is cheaper then to just book individual journeys as opposed to investing in one of the day tickets or Inter rail. Once again, thanks to Dutch Master for the info on train watching locations, also for the reference to the cultural aspects - after all, Mrs Northpoint will be accompanting me! Re the credit/debit card issue, I thought that Visa and Matercard were the international standards for these, no matter which bank and in which country they had been issued, so I don't quite understand whty the machines can't be programmed to accept them. I remember my days with BR many years ago when we would accept Visa and MC but not Amex or Diners Club or any other minority cards and it worked perfectly well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allegheny1600 Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 Hi Nick, I've been to Holland a few times now and have some good friends there. I only went by rail on my first trip but found the trains but be efficient, comfortable and easy to make sense of. A lot of Dutch people do speak excellent English but not everyone does so learning a few words is always good form. Try and take some small change with you or at least get hold of coinage immediately on arrival i.e. €5 & €10 notes and €1 & €2 coins - very useful! If flying by KLM, beware the automated luggage check-in at Schipol - they must have only just been introduced on our last visit (Sept 2013) and were a real pain and caused huge queues! Other than that - enjoy! I believe that Holland has a greater percentage of railway enthusiasts per population that even Germany (let alone the UK!) so you shouldn't be seen as 'odd' for trainspotting! Cheers, John E. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
M Graff Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Hmmm. The KLM auto check-in at Schiphol worked very well in the summer. It was both easier and quicker than the ordinary 45-60 minute wait for manual check-in. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northpoint Posted January 12, 2014 Author Share Posted January 12, 2014 Thanks for all the info. The trip is booked. A question for Dutch Master - presumably we can pick up the OVC at Schiphol station over the counter from somebody who speaks good English? (On my previous visit to the Netherlands many years ago, almost everybody does!). How do you know how much credit you have left and how do you top it up? I should come home with a load of photos and video which I will post on return. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northpoint Posted January 12, 2014 Author Share Posted January 12, 2014 Many thanks, Dutch Master - some really useful information there. We're not going until later in the year so there is still time to read up on OVC. From what I have read so far it seems OK. I would be a bit concerend though about how one would deal with arriving at an interchange point on, say, NS and then travelling on by, say, Arriva with only 5 minutes between trains. Would that be enough time to find an OVC point to check-out and check back in again? Thanks for the advice regarding trains and train lengths. Our first journey upon arrival is to Amersfoort so no doubt it will be via the route avoiding Amsterdam. I take it from your last comment that you are not too enamoured with your own trains?? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMJ Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 On my last trip had am interesting situation where at ones station I went to the counter to be told it is cheaper from the machine and the guy broke a€20 note into coins Form DM comments will use bits he suggested Hoorn good but expensive also have been to Applrdorn and Goes for steam fixes. Also just into Belgium there is a railway round a mill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Andy Hayter Posted January 19, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 19, 2014 Sorry Dutchmaster but I have to agree with the seat 61 comment. As someone who regularly travelled to Amsterdam (Schiphol) and had to get to Rotterdam and who lived inside the Euroland conglomerate, I can assure you that a machine hat does not take MasterCard (German or French), Maestro (same countries), Visa (German and UK) and would require me to feed 45€ in coins of which the maximum denomination is a 2€ piece, these machines are as much use as a chocolate coffee pot for anyone without a Dutch bank account. If I had planned ahead and made sure that I did have the 22 x 2€ coins plus 1 x 1€ plus the odd cents, I would have had to put them in my wheeled luggage and would probably have been overweight for the flight! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonhall Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 . I would be a bit concerend though about how one would deal with arriving at an interchange point on, say, NS and then travelling on by, say, Arriva with only 5 minutes between trains. Would that be enough time to find an OVC point to check-out and check back in again? I don't think its going to be a problem they are almost always next to each other from what I saw. At a few of the major stations trains share platforms, either with a crossover halfway down, or in lieu of a pair of bay platforms, it often means that your train is right down one end of a long platform, and the apparently cross-platform change is a hike to the far end of its neighbour. Jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roythebus Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Another tip, DON'T use the currency exchange places. I use the local cash machine and take out the max I need, that way you get the day's rate. I use my UK debit card, they usually charge less than 2.5% per transaction, sometimes less on a large transaction. Check with your card provider. If you're going by Eurostar to Brux then into Holland, E* do an add-on fare which allows unlimited travel in NL for a small amount. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastwestdivide Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 If you're going by Eurostar to Brux then into Holland, E* do an add-on fare which allows unlimited travel in NL for a small amount. Likewise the Dutch Flyer ticket offers any Greater Anglia station to Harwich-Hook and on to any Dutch station. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobby Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Makes me glad I've got boxes after reading that lot!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northpoint Posted April 12, 2014 Author Share Posted April 12, 2014 Well, we've been and come back - arrived home around 2.30 this afternoon. We had a very enjoyable time staying in Amersfoort which is a very pleasant town, especially the "old" parts, although it is a lot bigger than I thought it would be. We decided to go for the OVP Chipkaart which we bought on arrival at Schiphol and it gave us trouble free travelling across the network for 6 days. My experience of the Dutch rail network is that the trains are frequent, on-time and clean (except for the occassional graffitti). One criticism would be the lack of toilet facilites on local trains and even the IC (ICMs etc) seemed to only have one toilet per unit. All the people we met were very firendly and, of course, everybody spoke English! As my wife remarked, we felt at a bit of a disadvantage in that everybody could unsderstand what we said but we couldn't understand what they were saying! I even managed to find a couple of model shops and came back with a couple of things to enhance the detail on Boommeer. Some photos from the trip: For anybody that knows Amersfoort, this train was passing under Stationstraat to join the main line as we left the station to walk to our hotel on arrival. We didn't see another train on this line all the time we were there. A good place if you like Koplopers! A freight and Koploper having a race. Another freight with the Valleilijn train. Arriva Spurt at Arnhem to show we did get away from Amersfoort. A pair of Hondekops at Appeldoorn. IC to Berlin at Amsterdam CS. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baby Deltic Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 One of my favourite stations is Zaandam. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northpoint Posted April 12, 2014 Author Share Posted April 12, 2014 Lovely shots Glad you liked your stay, most welcome for a return visit sometime! That freight with car carriers is the PON-line, named after the importer of VW cars that has his distribution centre located on the line. It's the old HSM main line from Amsterdam to Germany: from Amersfoort it ran to Veenendaal, Rhenen, crossing the river there, on to Kesteren, turning east towards Nijmegen, Kranenburg and on to Kleve and Wesel. The latter 3 are located in Germany. Most of this route is now defunct and the track removed. Only a section to Rhenen has been re-laid, but with a new junction where the original line crossed the Utrecht-Arnhem main line. Kesteren still has a rail connection, from Tiel to Arnhem, the junction at the aptly name De Vork (the Fork) towards Nijmegen has been removed when the new Betuweroute was build. The Nijmegen-Kleve section has closed in the early 90's (IIRC!) whereas the line from Kleve to Wesel, crossing the Rhine again, sustained war damage which wasn't repaired after 1945. Note, Apeldoorn only has a single p, nothing to do with apples, whether the edible or computing variety The Valleilijn EMU's are the LHB Protos. LHB is now defunct, 6 sets where ordered and delivered, but because of the bankruptcy the fleet couldn't be extended, which it really should as demand is rising. After a lengthy legal dispute the TOC managed to get hold of the prototype Protos and had it refurbished. Halling made a H0 model some years back (and now sold out) but it's highly unlikely they'll ever appear again. To alleviate overcrowding the TOC leased 2 Plan V EMU's for a time, like the ones you pictured in Apeldoorn. These are not the Hondekop type, they've all been withdrawn in 1993. This is the later 1964 Plan V type, that's still struggling on as their replacements aren't exactly a resounding success Those replacements are the EMU's w/o toilets Thanks for the info re the freight line - very interesting. Apologies for the Apeldoorn spelling - in too much of a hurry to post! Also, a shame about the Valleilijn units as they were very comfortable to ride on and a decent model would have been good. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pendlerail Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 We have also just got back from the Netherlands, only had 2 days there tho would have liked longer, stayed near Schipol airport but arrived by Eurostar and TRAXX. We were a bit ashamed about the language thing too! Saw the disgraces Fyra sets at Amsterdam. Love the double decker stuff, travled on a 1700 from Zwolle to 'S Hertenbosh, would have gone through to Roosendaal but enginerring works stopped us :-( Do you know of a website or resource for easy working out the miles/kms travelled? Not looking forward to trying to work it out on Google Earth Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northpoint Posted April 12, 2014 Author Share Posted April 12, 2014 Here is some video: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northpoint Posted April 13, 2014 Author Share Posted April 13, 2014 More video, this time in Arnhem. http://youtu.be/HayX7RPnoXo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northpoint Posted April 13, 2014 Author Share Posted April 13, 2014 More video, this time in Arnhem. http://youtu.be/HayX7RPnoXo (No idea how this got posted twice!! ) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Piewalker Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 I went to the Netherlands with work a couple of years back. We flew into Schiphol on the Easyjet, then taxied what seemed to be an equivalent distance as the flight from Edinburgh to get to the terminal. We then hopped on the train to Arnhem and changed there for Zevenaar. It was a nice trip, strange experiencing 'different' trains. I learned a couple of things on that trip... Queueing at a ticket window seemed to be somewhat of an alien concept, it was more of a cone than a line. People who weren't brought up under an umbrella of rail enthusiasm aren't very good at identifying the appropriate train on which to embark... And those same people are even worse at rapidly identifying which train is theirs when making a connection (no, we didn't wait for the next one while they worked it out... ) On the way back I got a lift to Arnhem then, in spite of much research and practice, ordered my ticket in some sort of strange semi-German rather than the Dutch I was aiming for... :blush Then, as the airport closed around my I eventually got on what may have been the last plane that left before the ash cloud based shenanigans. Got to see lots of lovely rural and urban scenery, canals and stuff. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonhall Posted April 17, 2014 Share Posted April 17, 2014 Do Dutch buses use the same chipcard? and can I pay a bus fare in cash on the bus? I'm in Arnhem on Saturday/Sunday and might need to take the bus to get to the hotel. http://www.connexxion.nl/reisadvies?Van=Onderlangs%201%20-%2027%2C%20ARNHEM&Naar=Station%20ARNHEM&Datum=20042014&DateTime=04%2F20%2F2014%2000%3A00%3A00&Uren=09&Minuten=36&TijdType=E&VertrekStraat=Onderlangs&VertrekHuisnummer=1-27&VertrekPostcode=6812CE&VertrekPlaats=ARNHEM&AankomstStationID=AH&Reisduur=0&AantalOverstap=0&Tonen=False&ResourceURL=%2F Thanks, Jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonhall Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 I managed to buy a chipcard from a machine - using a visa card! Jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisH-UK Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 I went to the Netherlands with work a couple of years back. We flew into Schiphol on the Easyjet, then taxied what seemed to be an equivalent distance as the flight from Edinburgh to get to the terminal. Yeah, I've used Easyjet and had similar thoughts about the long taxi. In some cities the budget airlines land at a different airport further away than the main one, it looks like the Dutch answer is to connect this 2nd airport to the first Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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