Amsterdam to København by train

My first loooong train ride was from Amsterdam, the Netherlands to København, Denmark and I absolutely loved it! Here you’ll find several of the best routes to take by train from the Netherlands to København. For all of them, you need to book tickets in advance. The first train (IC Berlin) has assigned seating, but for the other German trains it’s recommended to reserve a seat as well. This only costs a few euros extra. The overall price varies depending on the time of year and is typically lower when you book several months in advance. Of course, the route works the other way around as well.

Option 1 – 10.34 hours, 2 changes

Amsterdam > Osnabrück > Hamburg > København

This is the fastest route, which usually runs twice a day. There’s a 40 minute break in Hamburg to get some food and stretch your legs. If you want a longer break, Hamburg is a good place to stop for a few hours. As you can see on the photos below, the Hamburg Hauptbahnhof is an interesting sight in and of itself. There are also plenty of food options in and around the station. For booking your trains, I’d recommend using Trainline, as this avoids having to book separate tickets with multiple railway operators.

Option 2 – 10.53 hours, 3 changes

Amsterdam > Osnabrück > Hamburg > Fredericia > Københaven

This option allows for stretching your legs an extra time in Denmark. The other stops are still the same in terms of timings. I took this route once and I preferred the number of stops/changes over the slightly faster option. As an alternatively to Fredericia, you can also decide to change trains in Kolding.

Travelling from elsewhere in the Netherlands

When I went to Sweden for a cycling trip, I travelled from Den Haag. This means I couldn’t take the IC Berlin to Osnabrück and changed in Enschede and Münster instead. Other routes you can take to cross the border between the Netherlands and Germany by train are via Maastricht-Aachen, Venlo-Düsseldorf and Arnhem-Duisburg. To get to Denmark, you’ll always have to go via Hamburg. In any case, Denmark is too close to the Netherlands to justify flying there, and I really enjoyed travelling to København by train. So grab a book, some snacks, and hop on that train!