Paris to Rotterdam

[KirkNC]

What is the best way to do this with out spending a ton of money...train, bus or rental car?

 

Thanks in advance

 

Kirk

[HeinBloed]

What is the best way to do this with out spending a ton of money...train, bus or rental car?

 

Thanks in advance

 

Kirk

 

Car Rental: if you are lucky and you get a Dutch car which need to be transfered back. Then you can get a high discount...

 

Train: if you book in advance and get a good bargain: http://www.thalys.com/fr/en/holiday-travel-and-special-offers/temporary-offers/flash-august-2010 (Short notice for 43.00 EUR)

 

Bus: same http://www.eurolines.fr/ENG/?lang=ENG - starts at 26.00 EUR

 

Regards

HeinBloed

[Hlitner]

We agree with Heinrich and are often surprised at how many folks resist renting a car in Europe. Trains are fine, but they are no longer cheap and moving through train stations and trains with luggage (assuming you have lots of luggage) is no fun. Driving in western Europe is similar to driving in the USA (same side, similar rules) although we certainly do not recommend doing a lot of driving in Paris. One nice reason to drive between Paris and Rotterdam would be if you had a few extra days to enjoy some of what is along that route. All that being said, there are frequent train connections from Paris's Gare Nord station to Rotterdam, most of the trains do the trip in under 2 1/2 hours and the cost is pretty reasonble if you book an economy 2nd class.

 

Hank

[KirkNC]

Thanks! A follow up question. Is it possible to buy tickets in advance for the train if you live in the US. Seems like I read somewhere you can't do that. Given the significant savings, if we go that route I would like to buy early.

 

The problem I think I would encounter with a car is that our plan is to fly into Paris, spend a few days, than go to Rotterdam for a cruise and than come back to Paris for a few days and our return to the US. Based on my limited research flying into or ou of Rotterdam appears to be an expensive challenge. Thoughts?

 

Kirk

[HeinBloed]

Thanks! A follow up question. Is it possible to buy tickets in advance for the train if you live in the US. Seems like I read somewhere you can't do that. Given the significant savings, if we go that route I would like to buy early.

 

The problem I think I would encounter with a car is that our plan is to fly into Paris, spend a few days, than go to Rotterdam for a cruise and than come back to Paris for a few days and our return to the US. Based on my limited research flying into or ou of Rotterdam appears to be an expensive challenge. Thoughts?

 

Kirk

 

It should be possible to purchase the discounted tickets out of the US on internet.

 

You can also check http://www.tgv-europe.com - BUT DO NOT SELECT US AS YOU WILL REDIRECTED TO RAILEUROPE.

 

You can fly to Amsterdam or Brussels. Amsterdam is less than 1 hour and Brussels less than 2 hours away from Rotterdam.

 

Rotterdam does not offer too many flights.

 

Regards

HeinBloed

[Hlitner]

The problem for us folks in the USA is that the European railroads quietly run a little conspiracy that tries to force us to buy any advance tickets from the Raileurope.com web site. Although Raileuripe is a good site, they charge higher prices (sometimes quite a bit higher) then if you buy the same tickets while you are in Europe. In some cases you can get around the booking restrictions, but its almost not worth the trouble. With very few exceptions, it is relatively easy to get tickets for most trains once you get to Europe (one exception would be certain sleeping berths on overnight trains). For going between places like Paris and Rotterdam where there are very frequent trains (nearly every hour) there is no need to have advance reservations far in advance. In fact, it is almost always easy to simply buy a ticket the day of your journey. Personally, when we need train reservations, we simply wait until we arrive in Europe (it does not matter where in Europe) and just stop at the nearest train station to do our business.

 

Hank

[Petert102]

Thanks! A follow up question. Is it possible to buy tickets in advance for the train if you live in the US. Seems like I read somewhere you can't do that. Given the significant savings, if we go that route I would like to buy early.

 

The problem I think I would encounter with a car is that our plan is to fly into Paris, spend a few days, than go to Rotterdam for a cruise and than come back to Paris for a few days and our return to the US. Based on my limited research flying into or ou of Rotterdam appears to be an expensive challenge. Thoughts?

 

Kirk

Hlitner is right, buy your ticket for the Thalys from Paris Gare du Nord to Rotterdam when you arrive in Paris. If you take the Train/Metro from CDG to Paris, there is an SNCF Booking Office right in the Airport. This is where we usually buy our tickets.

 

If you have not yet booked your airtickets, have you thought of purchasing an Open Jaw ticket. This is an example of what we have done in the past. JFK to Amsterdam out Paris-Amsterdam-JFK return on KLM or JFK-Paris CDG out Berlin-Paris-JFK Return on Air France These split Arrival and Return destination Tickets are usually the same cost as the single destination tickets and save you the cost or returning to your point of origin in Europe. They work best using European Airlines as they offer point to point flights within Europe. In your case your trip would go USA-Paris CDG Air France then at the end of the trip Amsterdam Schipol - USA KLM ( Air France owns KLM so the flights are within the same company )

 

Hope this helps

 

Peter

[HeinBloed]

The problem for us folks in the USA is that the European railroads quietly run a little conspiracy that tries to force us to buy any advance tickets from the Raileurope.com web site. Although Raileuripe is a good site, they charge higher prices (sometimes quite a bit higher) then if you buy the same tickets while you are in Europe. In some cases you can get around the booking restrictions, but its almost not worth the trouble. With very few exceptions, it is relatively easy to get tickets for most trains once you get to Europe (one exception would be certain sleeping berths on overnight trains). For going between places like Paris and Rotterdam where there are very frequent trains (nearly every hour) there is no need to have advance reservations far in advance. In fact, it is almost always easy to simply buy a ticket the day of your journey. Personally, when we need train reservations, we simply wait until we arrive in Europe (it does not matter where in Europe) and just stop at the nearest train station to do our business.

 

Hank

 

Thalys trains which are run between Paris and Amsterdam are reservation mandantory.

 

And if you give other travellers the advise to buy in a ticket office once they arrive in Europe you do not give them access to following offers:

 

• Name of fare: Flash;
  
• Sales period from 25/08/2010 to 03/09/2010;
  
• Travel period from 29/09/2010 to 14/11/2010;
  
• Price one-way;
  

 

 

• Subject to availability and limited to certain trains;
  
• No exchange, no refund;
  
• Only available in Comfort 2;
  
• Only available on Internet.
  

 

 

which means buying short-notice at ticket office means buying full fare like

 

108.00 EUR

 

instead of 35.00 EUR

 

if you book 30 days in advance

 

http://www.thalys.com/fr/en/new-fares/Paris/Rotterdam

 

Regards

HeinBloed

[KirkNC]

Thanks for all the responses! It was the fare difference that I was concerned about. Based on what I am seeing and what HeinBloed confirmed is that there is a pretty big difference if you order 30 days out versus a few days ahead of time.

 

Kirk

[Eightydays]

When we traveled from Paris to Brussels and then on to Amsterdam several years ago I actually purchased our tickets by telephone. You should check whether that option is still available. The Thalys ticketing agent spoke English and I got a confirmation number and possibly also an e-mail (don't remember). We picked up the tickets at the train station.

 

Happy travels.

[KirkNC]

Thanks again for the responses. In checking around the Thalys site they offer a ticketless option. Should this work if I am buy from the US?

 

Kirk

[KirkNC]

I may have answered my own question. I went ahead and registered and it will let you use a US address so it would appear that I can buy paperless tickets :D. It will be several months before I will make the purchase but I will update this thread when I do.

 

Kirk