All that’s good to know about taking the train from Amsterdam to Hamburg

There are no direct trains between Amsterdam and Hamburg, but this is usually a straightforward journey, with just the one comparatively simple connection between trains.
And travelling by train from Amsterdam to Hamburg has the tick in the box, of the stations in both cities having ultra convenient locations!

Connecting in Osnabruck

You may not see Osnabruck on the departure screens at Amsterdam's central station, so the train you will be looking for is the train going to Berlin.

Osnabruck station is unconventional because it is shaped like a cross, the railway line from Amsterdam goes west to east. under the railway which links Dortmund to Hamburg.
So at Osnabruck Hbf the trains on to Hamburg via Bremen depart from a different part of the station, which is at an upper level.
There is an elevator, in addition to the stairs, to help facilitate the connection.

Also keep the connecting time in Osnabruck front of mind when planning this journey, most connections won't allow much time to do anything at the station between trains, such as buying something to eat and drink.

The connecting time between trains at Osnabruck Hbf will be around 17mins.
If the train from Amsterdam does arrive too late in Osnabruck to make the booked connection, then tickets/reservations can be transferred free of charge to a later departure on to Hamburg
And there are 1 or 2 x trains per hour during the day from Osnabruck to Hamburg.

Book early and save: Yes
Online bookings usually open: up to 6 months ahead of the travel date - but this period of time is shorter when looking up journeys in August to October.

A choice of tickets

Four types of tickets are available:
Two types of discounted tickets, which will be cheaper the further ahead you book - Sparpreis Europa and Super Sparpreis Europa
Two types of non-discounted ticket - Flexpreis Europa and Flexpreis Plus Europa.

A key difference between these types of tickets is refunds:

• Super Sparpreis tickets are cheapest, but they can't be refunded at all.
• Sparpreis tickets can be refunded for a fee, but the refund will be in the form of travel vouchers to be used for alternative / future journeys.
• Flexpreis Europa and Flexpreis Plus Europa tickets can be refunded at no additional charge.

The other key difference is that both types of Sparpreis tickets are only valid on the specific departures selected when booking, but both types of Flexpreis tickets live up to their name, as they can be used on any departure on your travel date.

Note that none of the tickets can be exchanged to a different departure.
There's no need for this to be available for Flexpreis Europa tickets, as they aren't train departure specific.
If you book a Sparpreis Europa ticket and want to travel by a different departure you can refund it and then use the travel voucher towards the cost of the new booking.
Super Sparpreis Europa tickets can't be exchanged or refunded.

The Sparpreis, Flexpreis and Flexpreis Plus tickets also include 'City tickets', which can be used on public transport between locations in Hamburg the station.

Seat reservations

Seat reservations are optional on these trains.
They cost €4.90 when travelling in 2nd Class and €5.90 when travelling in 1st class - take note if you will be using a rail pass.
Specific seats can be selected from seating plans - you don't have to accept the seat(s) that you will be automatically offered.

They are included within the cost of booking 1st class Flexpreis tickets and both 1st and 2nd class Flexpreis Plus tickets.

On this journey which involves two trains on which seat reservations are available, the fees cover all trains - if reservations are added when initially booking.

When booking Super Sparpreis, Sparpreis and 2nd class Flexpreis tickets, you have the option of purchasing seat reservations later.
It can be worth re-looking up a journey a week or two ahead of travel, because the DB website will indicate how busy a departure will be.
Though if you opt to add reservations later you will have pay the fees per train.

Booking on the DB website

To see all the combinations of trains and journey options, some of which may be cheaper, take off the 'fastest connections' default.

Trains departing at different times can be cheaper than others leaving on the same day, so if you can be flexible with your departure time use the 'best prices' tool - at the top right on the list of journey options.

Making the connection or extending the transfer time:

Most of the journey times shown above and the associated train specific tickets are are all dependent on making a transfer between ICE trains in Osnabruck of under 30 mins.
Making this connection is not guaranteed, but if the train from Amsterdam does arrive too late, tickets / reservations can be swapped free of charge to subsequent connections at the Reisezentrum travel desk

OR minimise your chances of encountering this scenario, by using the transfer tool on the DB home page
You can then book journey options which allow more than 30min to make the transfers between trains.