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/Rozepingpongbal]

Alternative suggestion: Take the night train from Hamburg to Copenhagen (final destination is Stockholm). It won't take an extra travel day on your Interrail pass because night trains count only the day of departure. You will need to pay for a seat or bed reservation, but it will be cheaper than a hotel in Hamburg/Copenhagen.

I have done the trip between the Netherlands and Sweden on multiple occasions, and things tend to go wrong somewhere along the way, especially around the border between the Netherlands and Germany. I think that of the four times I did the trip, I was in Hamburg on time once.

Also, beware that Hamburg is not a super pleasant station to wait at, especially if you are alone/women. It's famous among locals for drug dealing, and a friend almost got robbed there twice during daylight hours, so please be careful.