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The EuroNight train Jan Kiepura to Warsaw, at Amsterdam.

Amsterdam to Warsaw by direct train -

Hassle-free, no airports, no flights, and saves a hotel bill, too!

The best way to get from Amsterdam to Warsaw or from Cologne to Warsaw is by train, aboard the direct EuroNight sleeper train Jan Kiepura.  With cheap fares, easy online booking with self-print tickets, city centre departures and arrivals in Amsterdam, Cologne & Warsaw, and comfortable sleeping accommodation that may even save you a hotel bill, forget flights, this is the train to take.  You can use it to travel from London or Brussels to Warsaw, using connections by Eurostar and high-speed ICE to Cologne.  This page explains what travelling to Warsaw on the sleeper train Jan Kiepura is like.

Click here to buy Amsterdam to Warsaw tickets

Click here to buy Warsaw to Amsterdam tickets

The train also calls at Utrecht, Arnhem, Duisburg, Dusseldorf & Hamm, use www.bahn.de to find train times.  For connections between London or Brussels & Warsaw, see here.

Important:  This train may be leave Amsterdam & Cologne earlier due to engineering work from 19 July to 1 September 2013.  Please check times at www.bahn.de for your date of travel.

Amsterdam to Krakow:  Take the Jan Kiepura to Warsaw as shown above.  A fast air-conditioned InterCity train leaves Warsaw Centralna at 12:20 arriving Krakow Glowny at 14:53, with a restaurant car available for lunch (treat yourself!).  Returning,  an air-conditioned InterCity train leaves Krakow Glowny at 14:05 arriving Warsaw Centralna at 16:40, restaurant car available.  Buy tickets for this train when you get to Warsaw, or try www.intercity.pl.

Buy tickets online from Amsterdam or Cologne to Warsaw from €43 at  www.bahn.de...

Click here to buy tickets from Amsterdam or Cologne to Warsaw at the official German Railways website, www.bahn.de.  Bookings open 90 days ahead, you pay online & print out your own ticket.  Easy!  The fare starts at €43 in a seat, €59 in 6-berth couchettes, €64 in 4-berth couchettes or €91 with a bed in a 2-bed sleeper (all per person), but book early to get the best prices.  The price covers your journey from Amsterdam (or Cologne) city centre to Warsaw city centre and includes a reserved seat, couchette or sleeper, with no baggage fees, no booking fees, no check-in fees, and it may save you the cost of a hotel room, too.  A bargain!  Although a seat is cheap, I strongly recommend booking a couchette or better still, a sleeper, so you can sleep safe & sound.  I also strongly recommend registering on bahn.de, before you buy your ticket, so you can log in later to retrieve your bookings or re-print the ticket if necessary.

What's it like on board the Jan Kiepura?  Which type of couchette or sleeper to choose?

The sleeping-car  is the most civilised & comfortable way to travel, so if you're not on a tight budget, pay the modest amount extra for a proper sleeper if you can.  One or two modern air-conditioned Polish sleeping-cars are attached to the Jan Kiepura, each with 8 standard compartments and 2 deluxe compartments.  The standard compartments can be used as 1, 2 or 3 bed rooms with washbasin.  The deluxe compartments can be used as 1 or 2 bed rooms with private shower & toilet.  Couchettes are the economy option, simple bunks supplied with sheet, rug & pillow, great for families or groups of friends or individual travellers on a budget.  A berth in a less crowded 4-berth compartment is well worth the extra over a berth in a 6-berth compartment, the 4-berth compartments are the same size as the 6-berth rooms, but with fewer passengers per room.  The reclining seats on this train are equipped to first class standards, but the best advice is to always book a couchette or sleeper for a safe & sound night's sleep, even if you're on a budget.  An InterCity cafe car operates between Berlin & Warsaw, for breakfast when travelling Amsterdam to Warsaw, dinner when travelling Warsaw to Amsterdam.  See these travel tips...

1 or 2 berth deluxe sleeper with shower & toilet...

The Jan Kiepura sleeper train from Amsterdam & Cologne to Warsaw. This is one of the modern Polish sleeping-cars.		Deluxe sleeper, set up as a 2-berth, showing TV & wardrobe.		Deluxe sleeper:  En suite shower & toilet...

1, 2 or 3 berth standard sleeper with shower & toilet...

Standard sleeper, set up as a 3-berth compartment.		Standard sleeper, this time set up as single-berth room		Standard sleeper in daytime mode with seats folded out...		The washbasin & toilet cabinet...

• The sleeping-car attendant will greet you at the door to the sleeper, check your reservation and direct you to your room.  He or she will come round shortly afterwards to take your rail tickets, so you will not be disturbed by ticket inspections.  Your tickets will be handed back to you at the end of your journey.  There's now normally no passport control between the Netherlands, Germany & Poland.

• Each bed has fresh clean sheets, a pillow, snug duvet, and its own individual reading light.

• Soap, flannel, mineral water, and a small evening fruit juice are provided.

• The sleeper attendant can provide 'room service' of tea, coffee & soft drinks, with payment in zlotys or euros.  An InterCity cafe car is attached between Berlin & Warsaw, for breakfast eastbound from Amsterdam to Warsaw and for dinner westbound from Warsaw to Amsterdam.  Or feel free to take your own bottle of wine or picnic on board.

• A light breakfast is included in the fare (see the photo below), served in your compartment. Or, going east from Amsterdam to Warsaw, you can buy a hot cooked breakfast in the InterCity cafe car.

• There's room for luggage on the racks above the door.  You take your luggage with you into the compartment, so you can access sit at any time you like.

• The door has a normal lock, a yale-style security lock, and metal security bar which cannot be opened from the outside, and there is CCTV surveillance in the corridor.  So you'll be both safe and snug in your sleeper.

• All compartments have 220V power sockets for laptops and mobiles, as well as a separate shaver socket.

• For the evening & morning parts of the journey, ask the attendant to fold the beds away and convert the compartment into a private sitting room with sofa.

• Each compartment can be booked for single, double or triple occupancy, or in the case of the two deluxe compartments, single or double occupancy.  Berths can also be booked individually:  Passengers travelling alone do not have to pay the fare for a single-berth sleeper, but can pay for a bed in a 3-berth or 2-berth sleeper and share with another civilised sleeper passengers of the same sex.  Once snug in your berth you cannot see the person above or below you, giving you all the privacy you need.

• If there's a small group of you, ask to book a pair of adjacent sleeper compartments with an inter-connecting door, which opens to make a suite for 2 to 6 persons.

• For information about how sleeper berths are numbered, see here.

• See the travel tips here.

4-berth & 6-berth couchettes...

Couchettes are basic, inexpensive sleeping accommodation.  6-berth couchettes have six padded bunks per compartment (upper, middle & lower each side of the compartment), 4-berth couchettes have four bunks (upper and lower each side).  A pillow, sheet and blanket are supplied, and each berth has its own reading light.  Washrooms & toilets are available at the end of the corridor.  The extra space and privacy in a 4-berth is well worth the extra cost over travelling in a 6-berth.  By day, a couchette compartment is an ordinary seating compartment, with two bench seats facing each other.  At night, the attendant converts the compartment into a sleeping berths by folding bunks out from the wall.  The sexes aren't normally segregated in couchettes as you don't normally fully undress, but women travelling alone can book a berth in a ladies-only compartment if they like.  All couchette compartments have a normal lock and a security lock on the door which cannot be opened from outside, even with a staff key, so you'll be safe and snug.  There's plenty of space for luggage under the bottom bunks, on the racks and in the big recess above the door which projects out over the corridor ceiling.  There is no restaurant or buffet car, but the couchette attendant may be able to sell you tea, coffee, wine, beer & soft drinks.  The attendant will take your ticket so you are not disturbed during the night, and will return them next morning.  There are no longer any passport checks between Amsterdam, Germany & Warsaw.  For information about how couchette berths are numbered, see here.  See the travel tips here.

A couchette car on the Jan Kiepura train to Warsaw.

4-berth couchettes...

6-berth couchettes...

Reclining seats...

This EuroNight train also has reclining seats, sometimes referred to as 'sleeperettes'.  Although cheap and furnished to first class standards with a 40 degree recline, travelling overnight in a seat with nowhere to lie down properly, no attendant on duty and no locked compartment, is not recommended.  Always book a couchette or sleeper for a comfortable and safe journey.

A destination board on the Jan Kiepura...		The Polish sleeperette reclining seats on the Jan Kiepura...

Food & catering on board...

In the sleeper, a very simple light breakfast is included in the fare.  Feel free to bring your own beer, wine or picnic, it's allowed!		...but why not have a cooked breakfast for a few euros in the InterCity cafe car?  The cafe serves breakfast on the way from Amsterdam to Warsaw and dinner on the way from Warsaw to Amsterdam.

Travel tips...

• If you're boarding in Amsterdam, take a picnic & bottle of wine!  There's no restaurant or buffet car on the this sleeper train outside Poland, so take a picnic and perhaps a bottle of wine with you...

• If you're joining the train in Cologne, have dinner before you board.  Try the Brauhaus Sion (www.brauhaus-sion.de) 5 minutes walk from Cologne hauptbahnhof, or the Malzmuehle restaurant (www.muehlenkoelsch.de) 10-15 minutes walk away, or the Schweinske (www.schweinske.de) inside Cologne Hauptbahnhof itself.

• First class lounge in Amsterdam:  Deluxe sleeper passengers (but not standard sleeper or couchette passengers) can use the NS HiSpeed lounge to wait for the train at Amsterdam Centraal, with complimentary tea, coffee, juice, wine & beer.

• First class lounge in Cologne: Deluxe sleeper passengers (but not standard sleeper or couchette passengers) can use the DB lounge to wait for the train at Cologne Hauptbahnhof until it closes at around 21:00.  Complimentary tea, coffee, juice, wine and beer are provided.  You can also use the lounge if you have a first class ticket for connecting trains to or from Cologne.

• First class lounge in Warsaw: There is a 1st class lounge at Warsaw Centralna, called a VIP Zone, entrance from Emili Plater Street.  Open 06:00-20:00.

• Finding your train in Amsterdam or Cologne:  The departure screens at Amsterdam will say '19:01 to Copenhagen', it's the same train. In Cologne, they may say Prague or Copenhagen or Warsaw, it's all the same combined train.

• Finding your train at Warsaw or Poznan:  Polish stations use a platform number (Peron) and a track number (Tor), and it helps to know that the number shown on departure indicators and printed departure posters is the Peron.

• Where to stand on the platform:  There's usually a train composition poster in a display case on the platform.  This shows the formation of all trains calling at that platform and where the train's various cars will stop along the platform when the train arrives.  This saves running up and down looking for your car.

• For information about Warsaw Centralna station & visiting Warsaw city, see here.

• If you need a hotel in Warsaw, try the excellent and historic Polonia Palace Hotel, just across the road from Warsaw Centralna station.

• For information about left luggage lockers & left luggage offices in Amsterdam, Cologne or Warsaw, see here.

• For information about how sleeper & couchette berths are numbered, see here.

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