I’m now in serious “can I do this or not” planning for visiting the Netherlands for a conference in Rotterdam between 19 and 26 July. I am definitely going to another conference in Montreal that ends on the 17th, leaving me one day for travel between the two cities unless I leave early.
Icelandair is opening service to Toronto and I can get a return ticket to Amsterdam via Reykjavik for $1200 Canadian. A return ticket from Montreal is about $1500 even with the convention discount on the official convention carriers, Star Alliance (in my case, Air Canada). And the Air Canada flight would take me back to Toronto for connections anyways, and then to either London or Frankfurt, before going to Amsterdam. If I’m going to do that, I might as well go home on the train and sleep in my own apartment before taking the cheaper flight. Even Zoom Airlines Montreal to Paris return is almost $1100 and after that I’d still have to get to Rotterdam…
Now, my question is: how long does it take to get from Schiphol to Rotterdam and how expensive is it? How crowded will Rotterdam be for accommodation during this time and how expensive is it?
I expect that if I go, I’ll be staying in youth hostels like usual… with the euro at $1.50+ Canadian, there is no way I can afford a hotel. But then my trips have always been like that, and I’m not particularly interested in ‘rich’ things. As long as there’s a basic level of comfort, a hostel is just as good as a 5-star hotel.
The standard train goes through Schipol station-- Rotterdam can’t be more than 45 minutes away. I’d guess, oh, 15 bucks? Possibly cheaper? You might look into hotels-- they can’t POSSIBLY be as expensive in R-dam as in Amsterdam.
It’s about an hour trip, and it wouldn’t cost you more than EUR 20 for a single (mind you, I hardly ever use the trains, so I’m not familiar with their fares that much).
Hotels in Rotterdam will probably close to the Amsterdam price range, as its a city with many foreign companies, the harbour, what have you. I’m sure there can be hostels there for less money, but as far as hotel prices go, expect to pay at least EUR 70 per night or so. Having said that, I’m not that fond of Rotterdam, spend as little time there as possible, and don’t know the ins and outs. So maybe someone else can help you on the hostel front?
Email me, I can help with planning and reservations!
I don’t think Rotterdam will be crowded around July 20. As it is the holiday season, there won’t be many business travellers, and Rotterdam unlike Amsterdam isn’t a touristy place. The Esperanto conference is hardly big enough, by Rotterdam standards, to make much of a dent in the city’s accomodations. As long as you make reservations far enough ahead, you should be okay.
Think about what you want to do in Rotterdam. If you’re going to be at the conference all day, or out with people you meet there, then it really doesn’t matter that much to be staying in Rotterdam. However, sightseeing in Rotterdam is not much of a treat. If you have a afternoon or day for sightseeing while you’re in Rotterdam, it is worth the train trip to go to Amsterdam, Delft, Dordrecht or any of the other beautiful old towns in a 1 hour/20 euro train ticket radius.
I get the feeling you should be able to get the ticket from Toronto to Holland much, much cheaper. A friend visiting me from Boston paid 300 dollars for his plane ticket; I paid 600 when I flew to Arizona.
And I looked up the official trains site: single way fare from Schiphol to Rotterdam 10 euro’s, return ticket 20 euro’s.
I’ve been digging around a little. I’m thinking of flying into Paris–I can get a return ticket on Zoom Airlines for less than $1100 Canadian. Thing is, I’m leaving from Montreal, and I must leave Montreal on the 18th of July; I basically have one day to get from Montreal to Rotterdam.
(I’m not sure where people are getting these $300 or $600 fares from, unless they’re one-way. There’s also about $200 in assorted taxes and airport fees and fuel surcharges and whatnot added to the typical ticket. If the cheap icket involves going through the States, that’s out; I don’t want to go through more Customs and Immigration than I need to.)
Paris to Rotterdam on the Thalys train is less than a hundred euros. Arrive Paris at 10:00 on the 19th; allow time for customs and the RER train from the airport to Gare du Nord; train from Gare du Nord to Roffwerdam at 15:30 or so; arrive Rotterdam 18:30ish.
Unfortunately, the HI youth hostel in Rotterdam is booked solid that week. My world-traveller co-worker was suggesting university residence accommodation; do you know anything about that, Maastricht? I’ll have a look around that Rotterdam info site. I don’t really want to stay in the ‘amaslogxejo’ (group lodging) they mentioned at the low end of the accommodation scale; it was only 11 euros a night, but you have to sleep in a room of fifty!
There are about a dozen day trips available during the conference, plus a few longer ones afterwards (including one to the city of Maastricht ).
I’ll be going back from Paris to Toronto; available flights on Zoom are on Monday the 28th of July or Friday the 1st of August. 'Returning on the 28th doesnt seem to leave enough time for some exploration afterwards, so the 1st it is.
July is an expensive time to travel, I’m getting quotes for about 1100 USD and up for that period. As far as transfering in the US: customs and immigration needn’t be a problem if you connect to an intercontinental flight, right? I guess it depends on the airport as well.
Student housing in The Netherlands is a little different than in North America. We don’t really have campuses with dorms over here (certainly not in Rotterdam anyway), and students tend to live in regular houses and flats.
Is Paris on your itinerary, or is it just an alternative city to fly to? If the latter, try looking for flights to Brussels and Frankfurt as well. Brussels - Rotterdam is less than 2 hours by train. Frankfurt’s a little further (more like 5), but it might work.
The Thalys high speed train from Paris to Amsterdam is fantastic, by the way, and that’s coming from an absolute train hater.
Thanks, Coldfire. I’m a train lover, so I know I’ll like it then.
Paris is the only close non-UK destination served by Zoom, which is a budget carrier that serves mostly North America and the British Isles. As I said, I don’t want to go to the UK or the US and have to go through two sets of customs. I just wanna get Shengeniiiised…ahem (Sorry.)
I’ll have more of a look around. Right now the whole thing is hinging on getting accommodations in Rotterdam.
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