Netherlands Rail Fares - Why Advance purchase??

In message , Hatunen
writes
On Sun, 8 Aug 2010 13:11:57 +1000, "CamperVanner"
wrote:

Is there any price advantage in advance purchase of train fares in the
Netherlands, or is it simply better to buy a ticket at a station and go
immediatly seeing that to most destinations trains run about every hour?
The various internet sites flogging tickets seem to suggest that advance
purchase is cheaper, and there are so many "resellers" taht it seems hard to
find the "real" Dutch rail fares amongst all the commercial ticket reseller
hype like RailEurope trying to sell tickets to tourists.

Websites like RailEurope are generally much more expensive than
buying tickets on the ground when you get there. And they never
mention the many discounts offered by by the rail lines.

I suggest going to the offial Netherlands rail site at
http://www.ns.nl/cs/Satellite/travellers

I haven't looked too deeply into the site, but it may be possible
to order your tickets and pick them up when you arrive in the
Netherlands. Still, I've never had a problem buying rail tickets
at the station on the day of departure. Major events and local
holidays could make it hard to get tickets, though.


I agree with others that you should not have a problem buying on the
day, and you should be able to find fares on the ns.nl website, but you
may need to buy at a ticket window because the machines (at least at
Rotterdam Central Station) take only Netherlands cash cards, etc., or
coins. They rejected all forms of UK credit and debit card, and didn't
take notes. One website said that windows were more expensive than the
ticket machines, so the alternative would be stocking up on coins.



--
---
Sheila Page

On Wed, 11 Aug 2010 22:55:27 +0100, Sheila Page
wrote:



In message , Hatunen
writes
On Sun, 8 Aug 2010 13:11:57 +1000, "CamperVanner"
wrote:

Is there any price advantage in advance purchase of train fares in the
Netherlands, or is it simply better to buy a ticket at a station and go
immediatly seeing that to most destinations trains run about every hour?
The various internet sites flogging tickets seem to suggest that advance
purchase is cheaper, and there are so many "resellers" taht it seems hard to
find the "real" Dutch rail fares amongst all the commercial ticket reseller
hype like RailEurope trying to sell tickets to tourists.

Websites like RailEurope are generally much more expensive than
buying tickets on the ground when you get there. And they never
mention the many discounts offered by by the rail lines.

I suggest going to the offial Netherlands rail site at
http://www.ns.nl/cs/Satellite/travellers

I haven't looked too deeply into the site, but it may be possible
to order your tickets and pick them up when you arrive in the
Netherlands. Still, I've never had a problem buying rail tickets
at the station on the day of departure. Major events and local
holidays could make it hard to get tickets, though.


I agree with others that you should not have a problem buying on the
day, and you should be able to find fares on the ns.nl website, but you
may need to buy at a ticket window because the machines (at least at
Rotterdam Central Station) take only Netherlands cash cards, etc., or
coins. They rejected all forms of UK credit and debit card, and didn't
take notes. One website said that windows were more expensive than the
ticket machines, so the alternative would be stocking up on coins.

I should think, though, that the ticket window used for the
purchase need not be at a station you will be departing from,
i.e., in general any ticket is availabel at any station.

I see that Schiphol has rail ticket windows as well as rail
service.

--
************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

On 8/11/2010 5:19 PM, Hatunen wrote:

On Wed, 11 Aug 2010 22:55:27 +0100, Sheila Page
wrote:

I agree with others that you should not have a problem buying on the
day, and you should be able to find fares on the ns.nl website, but you
may need to buy at a ticket window because the machines (at least at
Rotterdam Central Station) take only Netherlands cash cards, etc., or
coins. They rejected all forms of UK credit and debit card, and didn't
take notes. One website said that windows were more expensive than the
ticket machines, so the alternative would be stocking up on coins.

I should think, though, that the ticket window used for the
purchase need not be at a station you will be departing from,
i.e., in general any ticket is availabel at any station.

This is correct, from personal experience.

I see that Schiphol has rail ticket windows as well as rail
service.

Yep. The station at Schiphol is a full-fledged NS facility, where
you can buy tickets to anywhere the trains go.

I always try to avoid using credit cards and prefer to use cash to avoid
any extra charges on my credit card. When I went to Amsterdam last march
I booked my Hotel in Amsterdam online and paid in advance.


--
Matsuko

advd loc is london, ip is ireland
Message origin: TRAVEL.com