With the advent of high speed rail travel, visiting Germany’s famous capital Berlin by train is an increasingly popular option, and one Matt and I were keen to explore. Before this however, we decided to take the opportunity to try out the new high speed rail links to the Netherlands, with Brussels to Amsterdam in particular having been reduced to a 1 hour 53 minute journey at the start of 2010.

The sun had only just lightened the sky as we were served our first coffee en route to Brussels. The inclusion of a cooked breakfast served to you in your comfy seat, in quieter carriages than those in standard makes Leisure Select an even more rewarding option on the Eurostar on an early morning train such as this.

We arrived into Gare du Midi well fed and rested, and had enough time to nip over to Gare Central for a quick peep around the Grand Place and a snap of the Mannequin Pis before it was time for our connecting Thalys train to Amsterdam. This highspeed line had become even quicker recently, and now the journey time is under 2 hours.
There is a more economical option for this journey, however this takes nearer 3 hours, and with no seat reservation and fairly busy trains it is not the most comfortable of trains. Thalys trains are very much like the Eurostar, with the addition of free wifi. The price difference from standard and first can be very little, and again we were rewarded with a meal and drinks served in our seats.

Once we arrived into Amsterdam we had a busy schedule of visiting hotels and making sure they were up to Railbookers’ high standards. Crisscrossing the city’s wonderful canals is made all the more fun dodging trams and the hundreds of cyclists who rule the roads. I think that if it wasn’t for my bag, joining those travelling on 2 wheels would have been a great way to see the city.

This being my first visit to Amsterdam, it soon became apparent that the best area to stay is around Vondelpark. The Vondelpark is a large green area around 15 minutes by tram from the main station, and is ideally located next to all of the major museums but just 5 minutes from the Dam Square. The area has numerous restaurants, and public transport is extremely easy to use. We spent the night in the 3* Robert Ramon (soon to seen here at Railbookers!), where the rooms were a little small but with a fantastic breakfast and an unreal price one couldn’t moan.

After more hotel visits on the Friday morning and a quick wander through the wonderful flower market, the time came to head down to Amsterdam’s South station for the journey to Berlin. The train was more than comfortable, and we spread out in our own 6 seater cabin, making the most of the English speaking waiter service from the nearby buffet car. The closer to Berlin we came, the gladder we were for packing our gloves and woolly jumpers as the piles of snow and ice increased in size at each station we stopped at. On arrival we made the quick transfer on the clean and easy to navigate ‘U-Bahn’, to our hotel, just 4 stops away.

The Art’otel City Centre West was only a short and icy walk from the station, and is a great little 3* with an ungarish Andy Warhol theme. We were glad to have reserved an upgraded room where coffee and tea making facilities are provided, and warmed ourselves with a quick coffee. That evening we wrapped up warm and went for a little wander to get our bearings and some dinner and walking along the nearby fashionable Kurfürstendamm (known as the Ku’damm) we stumbled across a true Berlin gem. ‘Curry 195′ doesn’t look like anything more than a small neon lit cafe from the outside, but it serves some of the best Currywurst in the city and it must be washed down with a glass of champagne or two, as is the unconventional tradition in Berlin. we were now suitably warmed despite the near -10 degrees temperature and ready for bed.

The next morning we were up early for a visit to the nearby ‘Story of Berlin’ museum, which gives the visitor an extremely good guide through the vast history of this great city and ends with a tour through an original nuclear bunker built in the 1970s to shelter almost 3,600 people. It is one of the many reminders one gets from this city of how much of a different place Berlin was just twenty years ago. It was then time to do some work, and we popped our heads into all of the hotels that Railbookers works with, all of which are fantastic locations for enjoying Berlin, whether it be a short walk from the central green Tiergarten or a stone’s throw from Unter den Linden.

By the end of our visits we had a little time left for some photos under the beautifully lit Brandenburg Gate until we headed back in the direction of our hotel for some dinner. In search of some more local specialities we were lucky enough to find ‘Zillermarat’ just around the corner from Savignyplatz station. This area is rife with fantastic eateries, and we knew we were onto a good one when we realised it was packed to the rafters with Berliners.
Matthew enjoyed some goulash soup followed by a good old schnitzel, whilst I started with a delicious yet ordinary sounding potato soup, and then a ‘Rouladen’ (rolled beef, wrapped in cabbage) with yet more potatoes, all accompanied with some tasty rye bread and a large Berlin Pilsner. Despite the temptingly tasty looking strudels on show, we were both far too full for any more.

The following day was our last for this trip, and after making the most of the great breakfast, we left our bags in lockers at the train station for a mere €4, then we were off to enjoy the city. The Reichstag building with its Norman Foster designed glass dome is as impressive as expected. Berlin was covered in ice and snow during our visit, which added to the grandeur of this great building. However the queues were extremely long by the time we arrived, so a trip to the top of the dome will have to wait for my next visit.

Bernauer Strasse was our next port of call, and it is a must for any visitor to Berlin. It is a street which was split by the wall, and serves as a memorial to the division of the city with an informative documents centre it is great help to understanding how Berlin used to be from a human point of view. We next took the metro for a quick wander down Karl-Marx-Allee the huge old Soviet boulevard, with its large ‘wedding cake’ style housing blocks and recently restored towers, and then onto the largest length of the wall that still stands. Whether you enjoy graffiti or not, the Eastside Gallery is worth a visit. Here one gets both an understanding of the size of the wall, but also a reminder of the feeling of love and unity which eventually brought it down.

For lunch we headed over to the Hackesche Höfe, a beautiful little area of interconnecting courtyards with some lovely shops, restaurants and bars which were all renovated after the wall fell. Then for some more photo snaps at Checkpoint Charlie where Matthew succumbed to the cold and invested in Soviet Ushanka hat, (I cannot over emphasize how cold it was!) By which point it was time to bid farewell to Berlin and begin out homeward journey.

The glistening Mecca to rail travel that is Berlin Hauptbahnhof is what I hope will be the future of train terminals. The vast open planned glass structure really does look the futuristic part with ICE trains arriving and departing both above and below you as you explore the many shops on each level. One thing we had overlooked was to reserve a deluxe cabin for our City Night Line sleeper to Paris, which would have granted us access to the warm and comfortable looking DB lounge; however it wasn’t long until we were being welcomed onboard and shown to our twin cabin.

A bottle of water for each of us was provided in the cabin, together with very comfortable pillows, clean sheets, duvets, a wash basin and clean towels. And after a well priced bowl of hearty chili con carne and a beer to toast our journey in the restaurant car it was time to tuck in for the night. Being the smaller of the two I hopped up onto the top bunk, and was soon snoring my way to Paris, and we awoke to the stewardess handing us a warm cup of coffee and a small breakfast box, with croissants and jam.

The only downside of these wonderfully comfortable trains is that due to the nature of the journey, they run late on a regular basis. This service happened to be 45 minutes late, and due to our rush to get into the Railbookers’ office as early as possible our connection for our Eurostar was a little too tight, and on arrival into Gare de L’Est our Eurostar had departed.
Despite all the bad press regarding the problems over the Christmas period and Eurostar’s handling of it, the staff at Gare Du Nord were more than understanding, and on presentation of our late sleeper ticket they were able to give us a boarding pass for the following Eurostar. After tucking into our lunches and sadly declining the offer of accompanying wine, we were back in Railbookers’ Towers by 2pm.

To book your Amsterdam and Berlin holiday please call us on 020 3327 0800

Tags: Amsterdam, Berlin, Germany, Holland | Posted in: Amsterdam, Belgium, Brussels, Germany | Author: Gareth