Interrail Global Trip | DAY 4 | All Rivers Lead to Rotterdam | 12/6/2024

For my final travel day of my first Interrail pass, I decide to explore the two largest cities of the Netherlands, which was initially one of the first things I wanted to do since knowing about Interrail many years ago. Thus, I decide to cross the border on a regional express to Venlo, before riding a variety of NS IC trains to Utrecht, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Thereafter, I explore the parts of Rotterdam and Amsterdam (both had excellent waterfront areas) that I wanted to see, before heading back to Dusseldorf where my hotel was.

While I wanted to use the ICE International service, which normally goes direct to Amsterdam from Dusseldorf, this particular service was diverted at the time I was travelling due to engineering works on the Arnhem to Oberhausen line. This meant that the train stopped at Moenchengladbach instead of Dusseldorf and Duisburg, and 's-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch) instead of Arnhem. Given that reservations have now become compulsory on this service between June and September, as well as the extent of the delays I experienced with ICE the day before, I decided it was better to use the RE13 service to Venlo and connect with an NS IC train instead. This way was just as fast as that revised ICE route and more regular, without any reservation fees. Ironically, that route was partially cancelled on the way back, so the ICE that I ended up catching instead to bridge the gap surprised me at Utrecht by being on time for once.

0:00 - Eurobahn RE13 Dusseldorf Hbf to Venlo
2:42 - NS VIRM Venlo to Utrecht Centraal
5:45 - NS ICM Utrecht to Rotterdam Centraal
8:35 - Walking through Rotterdam Centrum to Waterfront
13:20 - RET Tram Willemsplein back to Centraal Station
14:34 - NS ICNG Rotterdam to Amsterdam Centraal
18:23 - GVB Ferry across the Amstel Waterfront and back
22:28 - Exploring Amsterdam's Historic City Centre
25:52 - NS Sprinter bashing to Zuid via Duivendrecht
29:28 - NS VIRM Amsterdam Zuid to Utrecht Centraal
32:02 - NS/DB ICE Utrecht Centraal to Moenchengladbach Hbf
33:33 - Eurobahn RE13 Moenchengladbach to Dusseldorf Hbf

NOTE: If any of the captions go too fast for you to read, I would recommend pausing the video. Whenever I get the time, I hope to use the YouTube captions feature to overlay captions that stay on for longer.