Copenhagen to Amsterdam by train

No direct train runs from Copenhagen to Amsterdam. Every trip changes in Hamburg and takes around 11 to 12 hours in total.

Two legs via Hamburg

Start with a direct EuroCity Express from København H to Hamburg Hbf. DSB and Deutsche Bahn run these trains together, several times a day, and the ride takes about 4 hours 40 minutes. From Hamburg an ICE covers the rest of the way to Amsterdam Centraal in just over five hours.

Leave Copenhagen in the morning. Those departures give the quickest connections with the fewest changes, and you arrive in Amsterdam the same evening. No day or night train runs the whole way.

Changing trains in Hamburg

From 2 October 2026, four ICEs a day run directly between Hamburg and Amsterdam Centraal. They are Berlin trains diverted by engineering works, and until 12 December 2026 they skip Hamburg Hbf. They call at Hamburg-Harburg and Hamburg-Bergedorf instead. Your train from Copenhagen still arrives at Hamburg Hbf, so ride the S-Bahn or a local train across to Hamburg-Harburg. They run frequently between the two stations. Build that hop into your connection time.

From 13 December 2026 the direct ICEs call at Hamburg Hbf and Bremen Hbf, and NS plans this pattern until the end of 2027. The change then happens in one station. When no direct ICE fits, you change twice, in Hamburg and Osnabrück.

In the Netherlands the direct ICE also stops at Hengelo, Deventer, Apeldoorn, Amersfoort and Hilversum. Get off early if one of those is closer to where you are going.

Tickets and seat reservations

DSB sells the whole trip to Amsterdam in one booking. Its cheapest fares, DSB Orange Europa, are valid only on the departures you pick and cannot be changed or refunded. Europa Flex tickets cost more but can be changed or refunded free of charge until the day before travel. On an adult ticket you can usually take up to four children under 15 for free.

Outside the summer peak, seat reservations are optional. DSB still recommends one, and it is worth having on a long day with a change. In summer 2026 reservations were compulsory on direct trains to Germany from 26 June to 16 August, and on NS International trains from 26 June to 31 August.

Passports, bikes and autumn works

Pack your passport. Border checks continue on trains between Denmark and Germany. Bikes are harder: for now, DSB does not carry them on its international trains between Copenhagen and Hamburg.

Two changes affect October 2026. On 17 and 18 October, international trains do not stop at København H and start from København Syd instead, so take a local train out to Syd first. Until 31 October, two of the late afternoon and evening departures from København H to Hamburg do not run.

Overnight to Hamburg

There is a way to sleep through the first leg. Snälltåget's night train calls at København Syd in the late evening and reaches Hamburg Hbf early the next morning, on selected days until early January 2027. You then pick up a daytime ICE to Amsterdam.