There are numerous ways to transport yourself throughout Amsterdam. You can rent a car, bike, boat or you can take public transport. You could also take a taxi, but we don’t recommend it. In general, taxi’s are way to expensive and cabdrivers in Amsterdam are impolite and they will always try to go for an extra round to get more money out of you.

When you arrive at Schiphol airport the best way to get to the city center is by train to Amsterdam.  When you took your suitcase from the baggage belt you walk towards the central hall of Schiphol airport. You will find blue/yellow machines stating ‘ train tickets . Here you can buy your tickets a lot faster then standing in line at the ticket desk. Plus if you buy your ticket at the ticket desk you have to pay an additional fee. The most common payment method is coins or by card.

When you want to purchase a train ticket you’ll see the following screen:

 

Of course your Dutch isn’t that fluent yet so press the English button in the left corner of the screen.

When you go to the city center always go the ‘ Amsterdam Centraal’.

Choose the following boxes (when you tick the first box the other one will pop up automatically:
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  • One Way
  • 2nd class
  • Full Fare
  • Only Valid Today

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After you select the amount of tickets press the payment method and follow the instructions on the payment machine right to the screen. A one way ticket will cost you  €3,80. If the payment is okay you’ll get small yellow traintickets.

There are trains to Amsterdam going to central station every 15 minutes from different tracks. Make sure you stop at ‘ Amsterdam Centraal’ because the trains also stops at ‘Amsterdam Lelylaan’ and ‘ Amsterdam Sloterdijk’.

The best options to see Amsterdam is by bike or public transport. When you step out of central station go to the GVB (this is the name of public transport company in Amsterdam) info point, this is on your right hand side of the square just outside Central Station, and buy a public transport pass. You have to pay 7.50 euro deposit and you need to put money on it. If you over for a long weekend put approx. 20 euros on it and you don’t have to worry about not getting on the tram or bus.  If you want you can use the 7.50 deposit as travel credits. If you want put money on your public transport pass you can do this at the ‘ Albert Heijn’ which is the local supermarket in Amsterdam.

You CAN NOT put credits on your pass in the tram, subway or bus.

Make sure you know where your hotel is and the odds are that a tram will stop nearby so you don’t have to take a (expensive) taxi.

Download the condensed overview map of the tram and metro network in Amsterdam here!

Here is a small list with parts of the city and how to come there:
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  • Amsterdam Arena – subway 54 to ‘gein’ stop ‘Bijlmer Arena’
  • East side of Amsterdam (artis as well) – Tram 9 towards Diemen
  • West side of Amsterdam –Tram 17
  • South side of Amsterdam (P&R Olympic Stadion) – Trams 16/24
  • To get around in city centre – Trams 1 / 2  and 5

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