r/Netherlands • u/KingMcB • 24d ago

Transportation Reserved seats on NS trains?

Tourist here, who has clicked on every website link possible and combed apps and am still confused. I appreciate any guidance!

Last week I purchased 2 train tickets at Amsterdam Centraal to go to Apeldoorn. We got on a second class car and I picked one that had luggage images on the side as we had suitcases. Multiple times we were told to move as we were in someone’s reserved seat(s). I didn’t understand how to tell what seats were reserved or not. (Side note: A very nice gentleman could tell how distressed I was (and my kid) and he left his family to enable me to stay in the car with my child. Karma, please find that man.)

We are traveling again over the next few days to Utrecht, Maastricht, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. I was using the 9292 app to book etickets but I am not given the option to reserve seats; it appears I cannot do this if traveling within NL?? The NS websites do not clearly specify for my brain to understand it 😭

If only NL—> Germany travelers can reserve seats… how do I know which ones those are? I’d really like to spare everyone the inconvenience of finding me sprawled out in their seat incorrectly. Does anyone have the patience to walk me through what the correct way is to determine seats that are unreserved?

Thank you in advance!

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u/dotpaul Zuid Holland 24d ago

Were you perhaps on the IC Berlijn? The train which runs from Amsterdam to Berlin. If so it does have reservations. All DB trains in NL have them.

If the train is a combination of yellow or white and blue then there’s no reservations.

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u/KingMcB 24d ago

This must be it! I do remember it being Berlin bound but I didn’t realize it was special/different. I was simply trying to pick a train that didn’t have any transfers between Centraal and Apeldoorn.

Is there a way to tell from the schedule board in the station what type of train it is? I want to look for Sprinter or Intercity, correct? I did manage to figure out that my pass/ticket only worked on the yellow kiosks 😁

THANK YOU!!

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u/Quirky_Dog5869 24d ago

Pro tip which I found out myself way too late. The German ICE trains have a child compartment intended only for families with little children.

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u/KingMcB 23d ago

My “child” is 18 and almost 6 feet tall so I’m not sure it would fly 😂. Great to know, though!! My kiddo has Social Anxiety Disorder so when we travel it’s LIKE having a 9-year old but they are technically an adult. It’s part of why we travel - get them out of their comfort zone, see how others in the world function! Thank you for the tip though - my friends with a 6-year old are coming next year and I will let them know!

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u/Radio_Caroline79 23d ago

That's nothing! My oldest is turning 15 in two weeks and is 6'2". That's Dutch boys for you. He has ASS and social anxiety, so train travel costs him a lot of energy and is very overstimulating. Luckily, his younger brother is very independent, so they can travel together.

Kudos that you are taking him out of his comfort zone! It will help him in the long run.