London to Brussels

Amsterdam is a city that seamlessly blends the old and the new. You can immerse yourself in the arts, culture and history at one of the many museums in the city, or just chill out in a modern cafe and let the world go by in front of you.

There are lots of options for travelling from London to Amsterdam. The fastest way is to catch a flight from one of London's three airports. The Eurostar passenger train also provides a great option for travelling from London to Amsterdam. The Eurostar is a high-speed train network that takes you from London to Brussels, from where you can switch to the Thalys high-speed network to reach Amsterdam. A more easygoing option is to travel by ferry from Harwich to Hook with rail links either ends.

Starting from the second week of December 2009, the Thalys train network will start providing high-speed services to travel times to Cologne and Amsterdam from Brussels and Paris. This means that the journey time will be cut down by approximately one hour making these the ideal destinations for a city break. Well equipped with modern facilities, Thalys is poised to capture a major share of the market in Europe.

Quickest train travel times

• London to Paris: 2 hours 15 minutes;
• London to Brussels: 1 hour 50 minutes;
• London to Lille: 1 hour 20 minutes.

London to Amsterdam by Train

If you are aiming to reach Amsterdam or any other city in the Netherlands, the tickets from Eurostar.com from London Waterloo or Ashford provide excellent value for money. Ticket fares from London to Amsterdam are just £89 round trip. The total duration of the journey is about 5 hours and 10 minutes from London, and includes the time required to change trains at Brussels. A high-speed train line between Brussels and Amsterdam is currently being developed. When this is ready in the second week of December 2009, a further 1 hour 40 minutes will be shaved off the journey time. It will then be possible to travel from London to Amsterdam is just under four hours.

Trains from Amsterdam to London

Although it is not as fast as flying, trains do provide a reasonably quick way of getting from Amsterdam to London. The total journey time by train is around 6 hours, give or take half an hour, and is a little longer than it would take you if you flew. You can take a direct train to Brussels in around 3 hours, and then switch to the Eurostar, which takes less than 2 hours to reach London St. Pancras International Station.

Ticket prices for the train from Amsterdam to Brussels are usually quite standard, but the price of the Eurostar ticket can fluctuate like flight tickets. If you book tickets well in advance you have a chance of getting a special promotional fare, which is far cheaper than normal fare. These promo fares are especially useful when you're planning a round trip – they are cheaper than the one-way normal fare. While normal one-way fares are almost always in excess of €100, a promo return fare will cost only €99 or even as low as €69 during certain parts of the year. Therefore, it's always a better idea to buy a return ticket at low prices and only use one half of it, rather than buying a one-way ticket.