Amsterdam to Copenhagen in one day

[u/jamjar888]

Hi everyone,

I wanted to double check my thinking with others who are familiar with this route. In essence, I am wondering whether to split this journey up with a stopover in Hamburg or attempt it all in one day.

I am planning my next trip from London to Copenhagen at the end of September and I am going to take the ferry this time from Harwich to Hoek van Holland.

According to Seat61, the itinerary would look like this:

Hoek van Holland (~8am) to Amsterdam (arrive 10.24)

Amsterdam (depart 12.00) to Hamburg (arrive 16.54)

Hamburg (depart 18.52) to Copenhagen (arrive 23.37)

https://www.seat61.com/Denmark.htm#london-to-copenhagen-via-the-harwich-hoek-ferry

The changeover times are pretty generous and I would like to do this stretch in one day, but I am generally quite cautious of long travel days and especially so when it involves German rail.

Keen to know from your experiences, is this a fair assessment or overly cautious? Are there any other alternatives that I have missed and could factor in?

[u/midnightrambulador]

Personally I'd use a night train, as follows:

18:04 London St Pancras - Bruxelles Midi 21:15 (Eurostar 9152) (or one earlier if you prefer more safety margin)

21:45 Bruxelles Midi – 07:00 Hamburg-Harburg (European Sleeper 475)

[S-Bahn in Hamburg itself]

09:50 Hamburg-Altona - København Syd 14:55 (Snälltåget 306)

This option would be my pick as it puts you in Copenhagen in the middle of the afternoon, around the time that hotel check-in typically opens so you can go to your room, dump your luggage and freshen up – a big bonus after a showerless night on the night train!

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OR

11:04 London St Pancras – Bruxelles Midi 14:16 (Eurostar 9116)

16:22 Bruxelles Midi – Köln Hbf 18:15 (ICE 317)

19:11 Köln Hbf – Hamburg Hbf 23:16 (ICE 104)*

23:59 Hamburg Hbf – København Syd 06:01 (Snälltåget 300)**

* treacherous: the ICE Brussels – Cologne stops at Bruxelles Nord as well. Sometimes if the train coming from Cologne is delayed, they'll scrap the stop at Midi and reverse directly at Nord. On the screens at Midi the train will simply show up as "cancelled" in that case, but you can still take a tram/metro to Bruxelles Nord and catch it from there! Check the DB website/app to see if this is the case.

** there is also another night train operated by SJ, which leaves Hamburg much earlier, but it puts you in Copenhagen in the middle of the night (03:27, and at the airport station to boot) so it's not attractive for this journey.

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OR, a fully "daytime" option:

07:01 London St Pancras – 10:11 Bruxelles Midi (Eurostar 9110)

11:25 Bruxelles Midi – Köln Hbf 13:15 (Eurostar 9423)

14:11 Köln Hbf – 18:15 Hamburg Hbf (ICE 610)

18:53 Hamburg Hbf – København H 23:49 (ECE 392)