Ferry to Amsterdam
There are more interesting ways to travel from the UK to the Netherlands than the standard plane ride or Eurostar journey. Every year, many Britons choose to take a ferry to Amsterdam to experience the excitement of the high seas before reaching their destination.
Traveling by ship can enhance your holiday and bring a whole new level of fun to the journey. It also cuts a significant amount off of your family’s carbon footprint. If you decide to explore this option instead of getting to Holland by plane or train, there are several different ferries to Amsterdam that you can choose from. All of the ferries are accessible by foot passengers or those travelling with vehicles onboard, so you can even bring your car along for the ride and save on car hire costs abroad.
If you’re travelling from London, Essex or the surrounding area, the Harwich-Hoek Van Holland route may be ideal for you. This ferry sets sail from Harwich twice a day, and you’ll arrive in the Netherlands in around 6 hours and 45 minutes. If you’re on foot, you can then get a train directly from Hook of Holland to Amsterdam’s Centraal Station.
Luxury ferry company Stena Line offer combination tickets that allow you access to one of their high-class super ferries and onward train tickets from Hook of Holland, so that you can easily arrive in Amsterdam in comfort and style.
If you’re outside of the Harwich area but want to use Stena Line’s service, the company Dutchflyer also has a combination ticket on offer that will get you to Harwich by train from anywhere on the Greater Anglia train network, dropping you directly at the ferry to Holland.
Cheap ferry to Amsterdam
For those living in the north of England, there’s an even easier route if you want to take the ferry to Amsterdam. DFDS Seaways has a ferry in operation from Newcastle to IJmuiden that leaves daily and takes from 15 hours and 30 minutes to arrive in Ijmuiden, a town just outside of Amsterdam. DFDS provides a connecting bus from IJmuiden to the centre of Amsterdam, so you’ll have no trouble reaching your destination even if you haven’t travelled with your car.
If you’re closer to Hull than Newcastle or want to combine your visit to Amsterdam with a trip to the vibrant city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, then P&O’s ferry service from Hull to Rotterdam is ideal.
P&O’s luxurious ship also leaves daily and makes an overnight crossing of 10 hours and 45 minutes to Rotterdam, with plenty of onboard entertainment and fine dining on offer to pass the hours.
Once arriving in Rotterdam and getting to Rotterdam Centraal Station, you can easily catch a high-speed train to the Amsterdam’s Centraal Station. The speedy Fyra train service makes trips of only 41 minutes between the two cities, with a high frequency of trips every day. There are also regular train connections to Amsterdam from Rotterdam that take just over an hour for a slightly lower price.
If you’ve travelled on the ferry to Amsterdam with your car, you can drive easily from Rotterdam to Amsterdam in about an hour following Holland’s main motorways.