How To Travel Amsterdam to Hamburg

The port city of Hamburg is an important economic hub in northern in Germany – it lies some 380km north-east from Amsterdam.

Let’s look at the options for travel between Amsterdam and Hamburg by train, air or bus.

1. Amsterdam-Hamburg by Train

Travel by rail can be done comfortably between Amsterdam and Hamburg in just over 5 hours, though it will require a change of train.

The Amsterdam-Hamburg trip is done by taking the Amsterdam-Berlin Intercity (IC) service (runs 5x daily) to Osnabrück and connecting to the hourly IC train to Hamburg Hauptbahnhof (final station is Hamburg Altona).

For example, take the 0900 IC Berlin-bound train from Amsterdam Central which will arrive at Osnabrück at 1206. From there take the 1223 IC service which arrives at Hamburg Hbf at 1414.

An example of the return trip is taking the 0946 IC train (direction Frankfurt) from Hamburg which arrives in Osnabrück at 1135; then take the 1153 Berlin-Amsterdam Intercity which arrives at Amsterdam Central at 1501.

Ticket prices are from €33 (2nd class) or €59 (1st class) each-way if booking ahead.

How to book online: Amsterdam-Hamburg train tickets can easily be booked at the NS International site. By booking online you avoid any booking fees charged at the international service desks at stations.

For further info see Amsterdam to Berlin travel.

2. Amsterdam-Hamburg by Air

Air travel is the quickest point-to-point option with flights between Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS) and Hamburg Airport (HAM) taking around 1 hour. However, if you factor in travel to/from either airport and check-in/security controls the total time taken is probably similar to the train trip.

Dutch airline KLM (Skyteam) has up to 4 daily non-stop flights from Amsterdam to Hamburg using Boeing 737 aircraft or smaller Embraer 190 Cityhopper services. Prices start from around €110 return not including checked luggage.

No frills German carrier Eurowings (a Lufthansa subsidiary) has up to 2 daily non-stop flights between Amsterdam and Hamburg using Airbus A320 series aircraft. Return fares are priced from around €70 without luggage.

3. Amsterdam-Hamburg by Coach

German coach company Flixbus operates up to 8x direct coach service daily from Amsterdam Sloterdijk to Hamburg (central bus station). The coaches take about 6-7 hours and singles start from around €25.

Hotels

For hotels in Amsterdam – Book here
For hotels in Hamburg – Book here