Thanks to the high speed Thalys serves which link the Dutch and French capitals taking the train from Amsterdam to Paris is a straightforward journey.
When travelling between most cities by train there is only one logical option, though on other journeys there is a choice between different trains or alternative routes. If different options are available you can use the info to decide which is best for you.
3hr 18 min (approx)
Daily
Monday to Thursday: 11 x trains per day
Friday: 12 x trains
Saturday: 7 x trains
Sunday: 10 x trains
ShowMeTheJourney earns a small commission on Trainline ticket sales. It can be a particularly good option for: Comparing different train services; Booking international journeys with connections; Travelling between the UK to destinations beyond Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris - and for international travellers who don't reside in western Europe.
NS is the Dutch national rail operator and it operates a bespoke website for the booking of international rail journeys from and to The Netherlands.
Therefore it offers tickets for journeys by:
NS International also sells tickets to a range of destinations in Austria, Czechia, Denmark, Italy and Switzerland, which involve a change of train in Germany, along with the destinations in France, which can be accessed by making a connection in Bruxelles.
B-Europe is the website provided by Belgium's national railway operator for the sale of international rail journeys from and to Belgium.
Therefore tickets can be booked for the following international train services to/from Belgium
It also sells international end-to-end journeys solely by train, with connections outside of Belgium, if you will be heading to popular destinations in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Italy.
Users of Eurail and InterRail passes can also book seat reservations on the Eurostar and Thalys services without paying booking fees.
SNCF is the national rail operator in France and not so long ago it recently simplified both the range of tickets and the term and conditions of using them.
Therefore the cheapest tickets also become more flexible too.
Other improvements included a simple integration of travelling with bicycles and rail pass users being able to book reservations for national journeys, without paying booking fees.
And it also recently launched SNCF Connect as replacement for its Oui.SNCF booking service.
You can set up a low price alert to let you know when the cheapest price is available for a future journey.
Something else to look out for is that simplest way of travelling with tickets is to use the SNCF Connect App, as booked tickets can therefore be stored on your mobile device, which can then be shown to the train conductors as proof of purchase.
SNCF Connect in the App (Apple) store
SNCF also operates RailEurope, which is in effect a dedicated online booking service for making bookings from outside of Europe.
If you reside outside of Europe you may discover that SNCF Connect rejects phone numbers or card numbers, but RailEurope won't do so.
Though RailEurope will add booking fees when making a purchase
Happy Rail is a Netherlands rail ticket agency which sells tickets for both national and international journeys within a range of countries including Belgium France, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland.
HappyRail doesn't charge booking fees in the conventional sense, but if you're not Dutch you can expect to pay additional transaction fees, which will be added to the total cost.
That's because the most common form of online payment used in The Netherlands is 'iDEAL' and HappyRail doesn't charge a transaction fee for 'iDEAL' payments, but only Dutch residents can sign up to 'iDEAL'.
Other forms of payment include Visa debit cards will incur a fee.
Final Destination: Paris Nord
All trains also call at: Schiphol; Rotterdam; Antwerpen Centraal; Bruxelles-Midi
These Thalys trains are the only direct trains between The Netherlands and Paris.
Being at Amsterdam Centraal station at least 20 minutes before departure is recommended - the Thalys trains usually depart from the far side of the station to the main entrance and passengers also have to pass through a security check point.
Aide from two fairly short stretches of the route (between Amsterdam and Schiphol and between Antwerpen and Bruxelles) you'll be travelling at high speed for the entire train ride!
It's not a scenically interesting journey, but look out around 15 mins before the train is due to arrive in Antwerpen - for the dramatic crossing of the location of where the River Rhine meets the North Sea.
And, as can be seen, you can view windmills between Schiphol and Rotterdam.
Book early and save: Yes
Online bookings open: up to 6 months ahead of the travel date
This booking period tends to be shorter when looking up journeys between mid August and mid October.
Though take care if you will be looking up a journey more than six months ahead of the travel date.
For a few weeks after the six month period the discounted ticket prices can also be available, but the non-discounted tickets can be on sale for dates further ahead.
So if you be will looking up a journey more than six months ahead and only see prices of more than €100, refrain from purchasing and return to the booking service a few weeks later.
Trains departing at different times can be cheaper than others leaving on the same day, so you may need to look through the day's departures to find the cheapest fares.
Seats will automatically be assigned when booking tickets for this journey.
Rail Pass Users:
If you want to travel DIRECT from Amsterdam to Paris, there's no alternative to paying the fairly expensive reservation fees, which are payable on these Thalys trains.
If you want to avoid the reservation fees completely you will have to make multiple connections.
So a tip is to add a fabulous Belgian destination such as Antwerp or Brugge or Gent to your rail pass itinerary, so that you don't have to travel by those alternative trains in a single day.
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This is one of more than 100 train travel guides available on ShowMeTheJourney, which will make it easier to take the train journeys you want or need to make. As always, all images were captured on trips taken by ShowMeTheJourney.
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