How To Get From London to Amsterdam

You have a few options traveling from London to Amsterdam. Which one is best for you? We’ll let you decide. Amsterdam is a popular destination, with a surprising number of options when traveling from London. Whatever your preference, we have got you covered.

There are five main options to get from London, UK to Amsterdam, The Netherlands. These are:

• The Eurostar – the high speed train
• Coach – travel by road (mostly)
• Car & Train – mix it up with road and rail
• Train & Ferry – mix it up rail and sea
• Plane – the quickest route

London and Amsterdam lie 358 km (222 miles) apart separated by the North Sea. It’s great to know there are a number of ways to be able to travel between the cities depending on your circumstances i.e. on how much time you have, your budget and generally your preference of how to travel. We did some research to give you guys a great summary about what option suits you! Let’s take a look into this more below.

The Eurostar

The High-Speed Train

The Eurostar is an impressive high-speed railway service that connects London via the channel tunnel to other European cities including Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam amongst others.

Currently, there are no direct train from London to Amsterdam. Passengers are required to alight at Brussels and take a connecting train to Amsterdam Centraal Station.

However, this isn’t for much longer. On 30th April 2020, they’ll be a new route running directly from London St Pancras to Amsterdam Centraal Station.

When and How Frequently do the Trains Depart?

• * Excluding Sunday.
• ** Excluding Saturday.

How Much does the Eurostar Cost?

Prices start one way from £37.36, but can get as expensive as £609.73!

We recommend to book your tickets in advance to be able to get a cheaper deal. If you buy a ticket on the day of travel it can end up costing you over £200.

Why Choose the Eurostar?

• It’s comfortable, spacious, modern and plenty of food and drinks on offer.
• Free WiFi.
• You can book either Standard, Standard Premier or Business Premier seats to suit your own needs.
• This is a great alternative to flying, while it takes a little longer the whole journey time probably works out to be similar if you count the checking in, getting through security and boarding a plane.

Coach

Travel by Road (mostly)

Coach travel is another option. There’s only one coach company we can find that offers a direct service, BlaBlaBus (formerly known as OUIBUS, The coaches depart from London Victoria Coach Station and arrive Amsterdam City Center – Sloterdijk.

There are other options that have 1 stop, such as FlixBus (Eurolines is now part of FlixBus), however the journey time for is around the 18-19 hrs mark, so very long! It’s probably not worth taking that option.

How Often do the Coaches Travel from London to Amsterdam, How Long is the Journey and How Much?

There are minimum of three services per day. It’s worth booking up to 3 months in advance as the tickets will be cheaper. If you are to buy a ticker on the day of travel, it will cost more. So, the earlier you book, the better! To check out what times are available for your travel, find out here on the BlaBlaBus website.

Why Choose the Coach?

• Value for money – definitely one of the cheaper options.
• Ease of travel, you are being driven so just sit back and relax!
• It’s definitely worth choosing if you’re taking the night coach, you can just sleep your way through the journey and wake up in Amsterdam.
• Great access for disabled passengers.
• Free WiFi and a plug socket for every seat.

Car & Train

Mix It Up With Road & Rail

If you enjoy driving and don’t mind breaking the journey up with traveling on the Eurotunnel Le Shuttle, this is a great option. The Eurotunnel Le Shuttle is a car train service which runs between the Folkstone, UK and Calais, France.

Folkstone has great motorway links which can be reached easily from M25 and M20. You are expected to be at the terminal between 45 minutes to 2 hours before your departure time.

What to Expect when you get to the Terminal?

• Head to the check-in booths and collect hanger to keep visible in the windscreen.
• Visit the terminal to use the facilities and get refreshments.
• Pass through passport control.
• Board the train around half an hour before departure time.
• Relax in your car for the short 35 minute journey.
• Arrive in Calais!

Don’t worry, you’re not completely confined to you car for the journey. If you wish to use the toilets, you are free to do so.

How Much Does the Eurotunnel Le Shuttle Cost?

This depends on your ticket type, and time of travel. You can book your tickets here on the official Eurotunnel Le Shuttle website.

If you’re a frequent traveler, there’s also an option to purchase a minimum of 10 single trip tickets and pay from £48 per trip. If you’re only traveling one way, price tend to start around £70.

We’d recommend booking early to get the best deals.

How Frequent are the Trains from Eurotunnel Le Shuttle?

Trains can run up to 4 per hour. However, this is dependent on the time. Check the website to select your preferred departure time to see what’s available.

Driving from Calais to Amsterdam

The journey time driving from Calais to Amsterdam will take approximately 3 and a half hours. The distance covered will be from around 360-430 km so that’s a lot of petrol and diesel to consider too.

So in total, from Folkstone to Amsterdam you would need to account for at least half a day for the journey and that’s not including the journey to get to the Folkstone terminal!

Why Choose Eurotunnel Le Shuttle?

• The journey time i.e. 35 minutes is quicker compared to the car and ferry option at 90 minutes.
• Regular departure times.
• A great alternative for someone who suffers from sea sickness.
• More reliable services due to no possible cancellations or delays due to weather conditions.

Train & Ferry

Mix It Up With Rail & Sea

Mix it up with a combination of getting a Greater Anglia train from London Liverpool Street (stopping at Stratford and Colchester) to Harwich International Port where you can board a Stena Line ferry to take you to Hook of Holland. From there, you can continue your journey onward to Amsterdam using the Metro service to Schiedam and then switching to a train to reach Amsterdam.

To find out the exact timings of the trains and ferries, you can find out on the Stena Line website here, but we have provided an overall summary below.

When and How Frequent do the Trains Depart?

The trains from London Liverpool Street to Harwich International Port depart twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening and the journey takes approximately 1 and a half hours.

The train also makes stops at Stratford and Colchester, so it’ll be a shorter journey from there if you wish to get on the train at either of those stops. The timings below refer to departure times from London Liverpool Street.

When and How Frequent do the Ferries Depart?

Ferries from Harwich International to Hook of Holland depart twice a day, one during the day and one overnight.

How Much does the Rail & Sail Ticket Cost?

The ticket has a standard cost of £55 one way for both the day or overnight crossing. However, for the overnight crossing you will need to also purchase a cabin. You can choose from single (from £39), 2-berth (from £48), 4-berth (£84) and family and Captains Cabins. You can find out here on the Greater Anglia website.

Why Choose Train and Ferry?

• Ferry facilities are fantastic – restaurants, bars, shop, play areas and even a cinema!
• Free WiFi on board the ferry.
• Ensuite cabins on board the ferry.
• Rail and Sail ticket can compete with flight prices at certain times.

Plane

The Quickest Route

This is by far the quickest way to get from London to Amsterdam. You can take a flight from any of the London airports, which makes it even more convenient for wherever you’re based in London.

Which Airlines Fly from London to Amsterdam and How Frequent are the Flights?

How Much do the Flights Cost?

Easyjet and Level are budget airlines and you can get pretty low cost flights for a round trip from approximately £45! British Airways and KLM offer prices around £80. Both prices aren’t too badly priced, whichever option you choose.

We’d recommend the budget airlines for such a short flight!

Why Choose to Fly?

• A huge range of options of flying in terms of choice of every London Airport and number of departure times per day.
• The fastest route to reach Amsterdam.
• It’s possible to get cheap tickets with the budget airlines.

To Summarize…

It’s great to know that there are various options when you want to travel from London to Amsterdam and even vice versa. So, just a quick summary:

• Fly – if you want to get to Amsterdam as quickly as possible.
• The Eurostar – a great alternative to flying, not loads longer in terms of travel time.
• Car & Train or Train & Ferry – if you want to go on an adventure and don’t mind the travel time.
• Coach – can compete with flying for cost of ticket, good option to look at if flights are too expensive.

Our preference? Flying, for sure! We don’t like to hang about too much dragging out luggage, the quickest option is always the best for us. But everyone is different. Some people love the idea of starting their break from the moment they start their journey. To be fair you do get to see a lot more on the way! Whatever your preference, we hope this article has given you enough information to make your decision.

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