However, even if you don’t reserve a seat you can still get on the train--you will just have to sit on the floor which doesn’t seem to me to be a comfortable way of spending six hours! On intercity trains in the Netherlands, nobody reserves a seat, as there are usually enough to go around--although sometimes during rush hour, you have to stand because the trains get so crowded.
For intercity trains in the Netherlands, the system of boarding is a little complicated! You can buy individual tickets, but if you live here and travel by train a lot, people usually buy personalized OV-chipkaarts (transportation cards) like the one you can see in my photograph. When you board a train, you tap your card onto a little circle scanner. This process deducts some money off of the card and lets you through the gates. Then, when you arrive at your destination, you have to tap your OV-chipkaart again, to be sure they charge you the correct amount. It costs more to go somewhere further away.
I absolutely love taking intercity trains in the Netherlands. Next to biking, it is one of my favorite things about living in Amsterdam. I can easily get to every city in the country at a reasonable price and in a fairly short amount of time. I prefer trains to driving a car like I more typically do in the U.S., because you never have to worry about parking when you arrive by train! You can just hop off of the train and be in the middle of the city! I also love how you can do all sorts of things on the train that you wouldn’t be able to do in a car.
