www.db.de/en
 
There is a night train from Amsterdam to Berlin, but for some reason it leaves at 7 pm and arrives around 430 in the morning. There are a few other direct trains throughout the day, but the trip is around 6 and a half hours, so not sure you’d wanna do that.
 
Once youre in Berlin though, there’s a direct train to Prague many many times during the day, usually about 4 and a half hours.
 
If you’re only going to those 3 cities, I wouldn’t get a rail pass.

You should be able to just buy point to point tickets when you get to each of the cities.  When you arrive in each,buy tickets for your departure and a reservation if necessary.  I don’t remember any of those trains being very crowded.  It looks like trains leave Amsterdam for Berlin just about every two hours starting at 6 AM with the ride being 6-7 hours.  From Berlin to Prague trains leave every two hours starting at 5 AM with the ride being 4-5 hours.  Check http://www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml for train schedules and a pass probably isn’t necessary.

You could wait to get there, but you will probably get a cheaper price if you buy in advance, especially 3 months in advance if you can. The reason is that you can get a 29-Euro special between Amsterdam and Berlin in many cases. Check www.bahn.de .
 
For Berlin to Prague, I think it doesn’t make so much difference, but I can’t swear to it.
 
Note that you could also consider cheap flights – www.whichbudget.com .

With all due respect! []

While www.bahn.de is the place to look up schedules, they won’t sell you €29 special from Amsterdam to Berlin. To get this price you must buy from www.nshispeed.nl. (Don’t bother switching to English, it switches back to Dutch once you start booking.)

  Actually, you can buy this ticket from bahn.de  — they sell some tickets that either start or end in Germany.  The 29 euro fare is available (on some days) from Amsterdam to Berlin from the bahn.de site.

For me this fare shows up on bahn.de site only for that night train that arrives in the wee hours. Am I missing something?

  That’s true for the random dates I checked on Bahn.de.  You can buy a ticket on almost any train at the regular fare, but the 29 euro fare only shows up on the CNL that arrives at 4:22.  I see the 29 euro fare available for all the trains that show up on the Netherlands rail website.  

Goddamn… I don’t think I could handle arriving at 4:22 6AM is bad enough hehee

hello yojimbo!! myself and my friend are looking to do the same trip. have you been yet? we’ll be starting in amsterdam and going to berlin and then prague, probably within ten days. any tips for us- transport, discounts, places to stay etc? thanks a million.

PJ, for Berlin hostels stay at “The Circus”, it is where I am staying and it has very good reviews and everything else. Check their site.

There’s a website run by an English chap called The Man in seat 61. It’s well worth a look. He gives loads of info and links to other sites which may be of help to you. Good luck on your trip. Peter.angler

I think the best transport is bus, it’s faster than train and cheaper. I think www.eurolines.cz and www.studentagency.cz are the cheapest ones to get to Prague. And what about some Prague hotel to stay, I think it’s better to search not in the center, but somewhere in suburbs, but close to transport.

I was using studnetagency buses and agree that they are very good and cheap. As for staying in Prague I booked hotels Prague though must admit that there plenty of hostels in Prague city also. They offer very good prices for students

No. The trip fell apart because people dropped out for financial reasons. So I have no tips for ya. Did you make the trip?

so which is th bst way(chapest way) to go to berlin from amstrdam and back??? please help!

Since this trip is over 6 hours by train, I’d look for a flight. Use www.whichbudget.com to see which budget airlines fly this route. There are specials for train as low as 39 euros so check the German rail system http://reiseauskunft… for train schedules and prices. Also check the Dutch rail system www.ns.nl as they sometimes have specials that don’t show on the German system. Overnight trains may make sense on this route. Check buses at www.eurolines.com

Cheapest and best aren’t necessarily the same. Train is usually enough faster (city center to city center), more convenient (dozens of trains a day to choose from) and comfortable to make up for a small increase in cost.

There is Cruise Amsterdam that runs regular cruises between Berlin and Amsterdam if you want to try a refreshing scenic route, I did it a few years ago and really enjoyed it. Sadly the weather was quite foggy for most of the journey but nevertheless it was relaxing. And the prices were surprisingly cheap too, at least back when I did it was.

As far as Berlin-Praha is concerned you can get ticks for 19€ if you book well in advance and on certain dates over bahn.de.

Guys, do you know if there is any other place online I can get the 29EUR overnight train (CNL 457) from Amsterdam to Berlin?

The www.ns.nl site has some issue and when I get to the last confirmation screen the page doesn’t completely load (Ive tried in different PCs just in case and its always the same) and I cant get it. I also wanted to contact them about this but they have no email address to contact them and I cant call them.

And then Bahn.de site has the same train at 43EUR instead but they show it as full for my date which is June 10 (its like 3 months in advance!). The ns.nl site says there is availability for that date just fine.

Hope you can help

Take a proxy. from Germany. Bro

I tried this on German rail site and got the sold out. I went as far as the screen where you enter CC# on the Dutch site, but, of course, didn’t try to go beyond that. I also don’t find any e-mail contact information. I would call — buying this ticket at 29 euros is going to save you something like 130 euros. I think that’s worth a few dollars for a phone call and I don’t see any other way to work this out with the Dutch rail company. I would probably call the “book by phone” number and just try to buy it that way before I paid for “internet support” — but I really don’t know if that’s good advice or not.

It is possible that this fare is sold out. The special fares don’t go on sale until exactly 3 months in advance and the special fares on some trains sell out within minutes. However, it is odd that a Wednesday is sold out that far in advance. Is there something special, like a festival or concert, involved?

no idea if there’s a festival or something like that.

and yeah, I find it weird too that is already sold out being a wednesday train and its more than 2 months in advance. I’ll see if I can give them a call and book it online though I wish they had a way to contact them online or something

Perhaps they have some system in place where they can “convince you” the tickets are sold out to buy at a higher price. Did it work with the phone call? Haven’t tried to book any of these tickets before myself but planning a trip in the next 6 months so may come in handy! All other tips and info greatly welcome as well some of which I will follow up on!
Cheers
Adirec

It is definitely difficult if you haven’t got a good map. Make sure you know where you are going before you start regardless of what sort of ticket plan or travel type you use.