Hoek van Holland > Köln Sat 28 May

[Nicholas43]

My wife and I are arriving at Hoek on Saturday morning 28 May and continuing to Köln, in no particular hurry. We will of course have day chipcards valid to any Dutch station. My plan was to stop and have a wander in Utrecht. But from 26 to 29 May ICE trains Amsterdam > Köln and beyond are diverted via, or starting at, Amersfoort. See
http://bauarbeiten.bahn.de/docs/fernverkehr/ICE_78.pdf
Rather oddly (to my mind) the DB website will currently sell me tickets (for €19 each) on (for example) the not-running 1302 departure from Utrecht (ICE125), with a warning asking me to check nearer the date: I presume I will eventually be told to get a local train to Amersfoort.

What do forum readers recommend?
(a) Buy tickets Utrecht>Köln. On the day, travel > Rotterdam > Amersfoort, and take a look at Amersfoort. I note that Amersfoort Centraal appears to have Bagagekluizen.
(b) Go via Venlo. DB offers tickets Venlo > Köln (with a 4-minute connection at Mönchengladbach) for €20.50 each.
(c) Some other option?

 

[Groningen]

First look at cheap tickets in Hoek van Holland. Look at offers of Kruidvat, Blokker, Albert Heijn, Etos, Hema and NS. Problem could be that some have a e-ticket, which you must send a code and than print your ticket on paper.

Kruidvat, Prins Hendrikstraat 255,3151 AK Hoek van Holland
Blokker, not in Hoek van Holland
Albert Heijn, Prins Hendrikstraat 382,3151 AW Hoek van Holland
Etos, not in Hoek van Holland
Hema, Rietdijkstraat 74A,3151 GK Hoek van Holland

The chance that Kruidvat has a new offer is huge, because the current one ends on May 1, 2016. The distance from the trainstation is 300 meters and the store is open at 9 hours. Price is 14 euro for a full day travel in the Netherlands in the weekend.

Also watch at http://goedkooptreinkaartje.com/ for the new offers. It is in Dutch however.

From Venlo i would go for the SchönerTagTicket NRW (43 euro for 5 persons). If you only go to Koeln, than 2 single tickets are a few euro cheaper.

I see that the ICE will go from Amersfoort to Arnhem via Barneveld (the chickenline) and you will maybe get a clue. It is the chickencapitol of the Netherlands. You can also can catch the train (ICE) in Arnhem. Problem is that the dutch travelplanner does not know anything about May 28 yet.

 

[radamfi]

He will already have a free day ticket for Dutch trains, given to him by Stena Line. You can buy them on the boat as well. These are valid all day, even in the early morning.

 

[AlexNL]

As you already have a day pass for the Netherlands you'll only need to buy an ICE ticket for the international leg of your journey, which would mean Arnhem - Cologne. These tickets might be a bit cheaper than tickets from Amsterdam.

Please note that it is not yet known what the impact of the engineering works at Utrecht will be, in the Netherlands engineering works are not communicated this far in advance. It is possible that the works will be altered or postponed.

If you want to visit Utrecht, go there. There might be some rail replacement buses involved though.

Alternative journey options, if you decide to skip Utrecht:

1) Travel from Hoek van Holland to Amsterdam, and board your ICE there.
2) Travel from Hoek van Holland to Rotterdam, take a train to Breda and change onto a train towards Zwolle there. Change at Arnhem and take your ICE from there.

 

[Nicholas43]

Thanks for inputs. I deduce that DB knows that Arnhem<>Utrecht, and (much of?) Utrecht CS, will (probably?) be closed, but doesn't yet know how many paths Amersfoort<>Amsterdam (via Hilversum?) it will get. We don't want to get a replacement bus Woerden>Utrecht (or any such). So Breda>Nijmegen>Arnhem looks our best option, I think.