Interrail trip to Germany

[MarcVD]

Hello,

I would like to share and get any advice you might have on this planned interrail trip to Germany week after next.

Tuesday 05 yay :
Bruxelles-midi 07:33 IC2107
Luxembourg 10:49 / 11:33 RE11 5117
Treis-Karden 13:26 / 13:35 RB81 12125 (apparently at this time the CFL train doesn't go to Koblenz)
Koblenz Hbf 14:16 / 14:48 ICE 1229
Nürnberg Hbf 18:30

Wednesday 06 may : visit DB museum in Nürnberg

Thursday 07 may :
Nürnberg Hbf 08:31 ICE 684
Hamburg Hbf 13:36 / 14:02 ICE 2374
Westerland (Sylt) 17:03

Friday 08 may :
Westerland (Sylt) 09:53 ICE 2311
Hamburg Hbf 13:06 / 14:39 RJ 385
Dresden Hbf 19:07

Saturday 09 may:
Special steam train to CD museum near Prague, visit museum, and return to Dresden

Dampflok Sonderfahrten 2026: Sonderzüge ab Sachsen

Dampflok Sonderfahrten 2026 ab Sachsen: Alle Termine und Sonderzüge ab Dresden, Chemnitz und Zwickau auch mit Mitropa-Speisewagen.

www.maertens-reisen.com

Sunday 10 may :
Dresden Hbf 09:22 IC 2048
Hannover Hbf 13:23 / 13:56 ICE 144
Amersfoort Centraal 17:24 / 18:11 ICD 1862
Amsterdam Zuid 18:43 / 19:03 ECD 9564
Bruxelles-midi 21:03

Party of 3, first class interrail 4 days digital version (first time), all reservable trains reserved.

Any remarks ?

Thanks in advance,

 

[Polarbear]

Just be wary of DB’s timekeeping, especially on longer routes. Your plan seems to include some decent breaks between trains, but maybe have some back-ups in mind.

Enjoy your trip.

 

[DeverseSam]

It seems a great idea. Could be worth buying the 3 month version if you want subsequent trips, which is much better value per day, and would also let you travel on the 6th and 9th

 

[Warrior2852]

Make sure that any Deutsche Bahn trains you are getting you have a backup plan in case of delays or cancellations - they're notorious for poor reliability.

 

[DanielB]

Amersfoort Centraal 17:24 / 18:11 ICD 1862
Amsterdam Zuid 18:43 / 19:03 ECD 9564
Bruxelles-midi 21:03

I'd advise against spending 20 minutes at Amsterdam South, a building site in the middle of the motorway, as the same change is also possible at Schiphol Airport or Rotterdam Central. There's no difference in route or rolling stock either, both 1862 and 9564 are ICNG. Only the interior layout is slightly different for the ones that are equipped for Belgium.

 

[Bemined]

Due to engineering works, the train from Amersfoort actually departs a few minutes earlier that weekend. Should not mess up your schedule, but something to keep it in mind in case you plan to leave the station to get something to eat.

 

[Denis103]

Alternative is 1741 Amersfoort to Rotterdam Central arriving 1840 for ECD9564 to Brussels departing Rotterdan at 1942 or the 1910 ECD9260 loco hauled from Rotterdam CS to Brussels via Breda arriving 2117

 

[Amalie]

I agree with Daniel that Rotterdam and even Schiphol are much nicer stations to transfer at.

Should you be stuck in Amersfoort, for a while, there aren’t too many options to eat in the station, but the excellent Bombari (pizzeria) is a 5 minute walk away. Its menu is in Dutch but everyone there speaks English and would be happy to translate.

 

[30907]

ICE 684 to 2374 is the one that might be risky, assuming you particularly want 2374. Check Zugfinder for its record - which isn't particularly bad.

 

[NCT]

At first glance seems ok. Be prepared to have to replan your journey as you go in case of delays. It doesn’t look like you are relying on last trains. My general Germany philosophy is plan to arrive at dinner time and you should arrive by bedtime.

 

[Meole]

Pity no time for the NG at Dresden

 

[deltic]

Must admit I was rather underwhelmed by the DB museum.

But I thought the at seat catering in first class was pretty good.

 

[MarcVD]

OK, lots of good advice here. Normally, we have backup plans for any tight connections. And we'll probably eat on-board for lunches and also dinners if we are late, so no rush to purchase catering during layover at stations. All notes are prepaid so lats arrivals shouldn't be a problem either. Special thanks for the advice regarding Amsterdam Zuid and for the backup plan in the Netherlands. I will certainly report back on the trip after our return, on this same thread.

Ah, and also, as the opinion about the DB museum is not that enthusiastic, any suggestions about what to do in Nürnberg if our visit finishes short ?

 

[deltic]

Depends what you are interested in but Rothenburg ob de Tauber is a very picturesque town an hour or so out of the city by train which is worth a stroll around in the evening

 

[NCT]

Ah, and also, as the opinion about the DB museum is not that enthusiastic, any suggestions about what to do in Nürnberg if our visit finishes short ?

Plenty to see just mooching around town, walk along the city wall, or along the river. Bamberg is not far away - very picturesque with lots of options for lubrication.

 

[eastwestdivide]

Must admit I was rather underwhelmed by the DB museum

By contrast, I thought it was worth the visit (in 2015)

 

[deltic]

By contrast, I thought it was worth the visit (in 2015)

I suppose I was expecting it to be more like York Railway Museum

 

[JB_B]

I suppose I was expecting it to be more like York Railway Museum

I had a similar reaction at first but once I'd recalibrated I thought the Nürnberg site was really good. I'm guessing that to fill the gap you might need to take in the other DB Museum sites.

 

[Interrail69]

Nürnberg : I would recommend a visit to the Zeppelin field, and there's a nice beer garden and lake nearby.
Also Albrecht Dürer house.

It's a great place to visit, and only a short train ride to Regensburg or Munich.
If you want a place to stay I would recommend Astoria apartments.

 

[Amalie]

There’s also a railway museum close to Brussels (Train world) and one in Utrecht (Spoorwegmuseum), close to Amersfoort, although I assume that a visit to the latter won’t fit in your timetable.

Both of those are the “main” railway museum of their respective countries, so they should both be quite larger than the DB Museum. Both also have their own their own train station, which of course is the recommended way to get there.

 

[Golghar]

The Germanisches Nationalmuseum at Nürnberg might also be worth a visit.

 

[Porty]

The Germanisches Nationalmuseum at Nürnberg might also be worth a visit.

I was a little underwhelmed by this when I visited last year. A large chunk was being refurbished and some of the galleries were quite dated. Maybe I was spoilt as it came after a visit to Berlin where all the museums on Museum Island had excellent quality of presentation and the English language was very prevalent in the displays.

 

[duesselmartin]

Must admit I was rather underwhelmed by the DB museum.

But I thought the at seat catering in first class was pretty good.

a lot of stock was destroyed by a major fire about 20 years ago.

 

[SeanG]

I wouldn't rely on that connection in Hamburg when going north, it seems rather tight given DB Fernverkehr's timekeeping

 

[A S Leib]

Treis-Karden 13:26 / 13:35 RB81 12125 (apparently at this time the CFL train doesn't go to Koblenz)

That's currently, or at least was the case around a week ago, for RE1 services from Mannheim / Saarbrücken as well.

There’s also a railway museum close to Brussels (Train world) and one in Utrecht (Spoorwegmuseum), close to Amersfoort, although I assume that a visit to the latter won’t fit in your timetable.

Both of those are the “main” railway museum of their respective countries, so they should both be quite larger than the DB Museum. Both also have their own their own train station, which of course is the recommended way to get there.

My impression of Utrecht and Schaa/erbeek is that whilst they're enjoyable, they feel more like art installations than railway museums in the sense of York or Mulhouse (too big of a diversion to work with your near upcoming plans).

It seems a great idea. Could be worth buying the 3 month version if you want subsequent trips, which is much better value per day, and would also let you travel on the 6th and 9th

The main benefit of getting separate passes would be being able to use outbound / inbound domestic days each time, especially if using each pass for journeys like Manchester – Paris leaving in peak hours where there's large savings rather than going from a local airport to start the trip where there'd be a less clear saving.

 

[quartile]

The Nuremberg museum was interesting for a couple of hours, they had a special exhibit on the train toilet when I was there in 2024. My main memory was that it was stifling hot with no air con. Not much fun in August even in the morning. Interesting timeline about the changing network with national boundaries changing during the 20th century. -not something we've had to consider in the UK.

 

[AdamWW]

The Nuremberg museum was interesting for a couple of hours, they had a special exhibit on the train toilet when I was there in 2024. My main memory was that it was stifling hot with no air con. Not much fun in August even in the morning. Interesting timeline about the changing network with national boundaries changing during the 20th century. -not something we've had to consider in the UK.

I got to have a go at operating a pump trolley when I visited a few years ago - rather fun and not an experience any other railway museum I've been to has offered me.

I didn't have much time in the museum so had to rush around. I suspect it would have been hard to fill a full day though.

The hands-on mechanical signal box was rather interesting given how differently they do that sort of thing to the UK.

A fair bit of it was outdoors so definitely no air conditioning there.

 

[MarcVD]

My impression of Utrecht and Schaa/erbeek is that whilst they're enjoyable, they feel more like art installations than railway museums in the sense of York or Mulhouse (too big of a diversion to work with your near upcoming plans).

Being belgian, I of course have visited Train World in Schaerbeek already. Several times in fact as they regularly hold temporarily exhibitions in addition to the permanent setup. Next one will be about belgian railways during WW2. I have also visited Mulhouse and York already too. I'll tell you how I found Nürnberg when I come back.

Next step in preparation done : all passes and the trip schedule loaded in the Interrail app. First time we use it.

 

[MarcVD]

I’m back !
Overall a wonderful trip.
First day was a bit of a mess because of a points failure on the line to Koblenz. Trains were queuing to use the remaining usable track, despite the bidirectional signalling. Made us miss our connection to Nurnberg but we just catched the next one two hours later.
The DB museum in Nurnberg was fantastic, we spent 6 hours in it, despite all the explanations written in German only, which is a shame.
Westerland is a wonderful place, I will certainly be back there with the wife for a family vacation.
The steam train in Dresden was exhausting. Start 6h15, back just before midnight. But the CD train museum was very nice too, with 4 locos in steam. First time I ride behind a 4-8-2...
Got to compare most of the ICE cavalry: ICE1, ICE3neo, ICE4, ICE L, and IC2. All fine, IC2 a bit lower than the others.
None of our DB trains arrived on time.
Finished the trip with a NS VIRM set and then a new ICNG-B. Both of them miserable, comfort-wise, compared to the German stock.
Usage of digital Interrail was fine, despite a few minor glitches. Will be using it again.
I think our next trip (one per year) will be to either UK or Italy. Or may be the Belgrade-Bar day train.
Cheers,

 

[AdamWW]

Finished the trip with a NS VIRM set and then a new ICNG-B. Both of them miserable, comfort-wise, compared to the German stock.

I haven't been on an ICNG but if they're anything like the Romanian Coradia Streams they look as if the starting point was an attempt to see how unpleasant a long distance train can be made to be.