Amsterdam to Zurich by train

How to travel on the new direct overnight train from the Dutch capital to Switzerland's largest city

This new Nightjet service is now providing the only direct train from The Netherlands to north-west Switzerland.
The simplest option for travelling by day requires making an extended connection between ICE trains at Frankfurt (Main).
There are no direct daytime trains on this route:

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Routes

From Amsterdam to Zurich by direct train

Travel Information

Final Destination: Zurich

The train also calls at: Utrecht (21:03), connect from Rotterdam and Arnhem (22:02) connect from Nijmegen

The train is usually scheduled to depart Amsterdam Centraal at 20:30 and arrive in Zurich HB at 08:05.
However, due to the length of its route it is particularly susceptible to having it's timings altered.

Typical onward connections:

1 x train per night

Tickets

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings open: 6 months ahead of the travel date

The train conveys:

  • Compartment Seats (Sitzwagen)
  • Couchettes (Liegewagen); 4 berths AND 6 berthsm
  • Standard sleeping cars (Schlafwagen) with 3 bed, 2 bed and 1 cabins
  • Deluxe sleeping cars with showers (Schlafwagen) with 3 bed, 2 bed and 1 cabins

The first price you will see on the OBB ticketing site will be for the compartment seats.

Click the train details below for more info including the rail pass reservation fees:

Rail pass users must reserve before boarding these trains,

You can now book rail pass reservations without paying booking fees on the OBB website (OBB operates these trains).Though the process for doing so isn't particularly obvious, hence this step-by-step guide.
By booking online you can avoid the booking fees which will be payable at the station in The Netherlands.

Where to book
Ticket Provider Approximate Cost
OBB *

OBB Guide

OBB is the national rail operator and its booking service offers journeys by express trains within Austria, as well as international journeys which don't involve making a connection outside of Austria.

It pays off to book online, as the discounted 'Sparscheine' tickets are only ever made available on the website, and when making international journeys to and from Austria, these Sparscheine tickets tend to be cheaper.
OBB can offer particularly good value for money when travelling with children on international rail journeys, but something to watch out for when travelling between Austria and Germany on daytime trains, is that reservations are an optional extra; but if you book 1st class tickets with the Germany railways website DB, the reservations are complimentary.

OBB often takes a unique approach to its booking path, but a key thing to keep in mind is that the first price you will see for any journey is that of a Second Class seat.
The costs of upgrading to first class, a reservation, or a sleeping cabin etc, is then added to this price.

NS Intl

NS Intl Guide

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:

  • Thalys trains to Bruxelles and Paris
  • IC trains to Berlin via Hannover and Bruxelles via Antwerpen
  • Eurostar to London
  • ICE trains to Basel and Frankfurt (Main) via Koln
  • the Nightjet trains to Austria and Germany

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.

On this journey

Journey Features

Night

Good to Know

This train is in effect two trains combined into one departure:

  1. A Nightjet train which conveys the sleeping cabins and couchettes
  2. An IC train, which uses the same types of coaches as those used on daytime services
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