advice on amsterdam-berlin train

The reserve seat thing was so inexpensive for us it was booked every time we travelled, they do promise to get you from point A to B, standing or sitting down. Very early in our travels we once went from Nice to Paris standing up, and we vowed never again!

The Dutch website is http://www.nshispeed.nl/en

I would go for the IC train with only one change - the more changes you have, the more likely it will be that one train is late and you will miss your connection.

From the outside the more modern ICE trains look much nicer and sleeker than the regular InterCity trains, but from the inside I really see no difference. The ICE (the E stands for Express) CAN go faster but it rarely does.

Do book seats in advance, it means a guarantee that you have some nice seats waiting for you just in case the train is really busy and you might not end up sitting together, even if you do find seats somewhere.

There are direct IC trains from Amsterdam Zuid station to Berlin.

Seat reservations are not compulsory. But for such a rather long trip I would reserve seats.

1. I'd book at www.bahn.de. You print out your own ticket. Easy!

2. There are direct InterCity trains every 2 hours Schiphol-Amsterdam Zuid-Berlin. Fares from just 29 euros!!!

3. The price is the same whether you book from Amsterdam Zuid (in the south of the city way out on the ring road, aargh!) or Amsterdam Centraal, a convenient stroll from all city centre hotels. I'd book from Centraal, any day! You change at Hilversum or possibly Amersfoort, whatever it says. Only 1 change should be necessary.

4. Top tip: It'll offer you 1 change at Hilversum (or perhaps Amersfoort), but being a stupid journey planner with no 'brains' built in, it will suggest a 4 minute connection. I'd change 'duration of transfer standard' to 'duration of transfer at least 20 minutes' when booking at www.bahn.de, to get shown a more realistic connection with margin of error built in.