Getting Around Amsterdam: Trains, Trams, Bikes and Ferries
7 minutes
Amsterdam is small, flat and laid out around a neat horseshoe of canals, which makes it one of the easier European capitals to get your bearings in. It is also, famously, a city built for bicycles rather than cars, a fact every visitor discovers within about four minutes of stepping off the train, usually by nearly walking into one.
Unlike some capitals we could mention, Amsterdam gives you a proper train straight from the airport. Everything downstream of that is a question of picking the right card and, ideally, a bicycle.
Schiphol Airport sits directly beneath the national rail network, which means the journey into town is refreshingly simple. Direct NS trains run to Amsterdam Centraal roughly every few minutes, take about 15 to 17 minutes and cost in the region of €5.50 to €6.20 for a single second-class ticket. Do check the departure board rather than the platform number alone, since some services from the same platform run to Amsterdam Zuid or Bijlmer ArenA instead of Centraal.
A handful of alternatives exist if the train does not suit:
Connexxion airport bus 397, slower and pricier than the train, useful mainly for hotels near the RAI or south Amsterdam
A licensed taxi or ride-hailing pickup, running roughly €45 to €65 depending on traffic and provider
A pre-booked transfer, sensible for very early flights or larger groups with luggage
For nearly everyone else, the train is faster, cheaper and considerably less fuss than working out which coach stop is which.
Tickets and the OV-chipkaart
Amsterdam's public transport, run by GVB, uses a check-in, check-out system rather than a flat fare, so the amount you pay depends on distance travelled. The good news is you do not need to buy a special card to use it: any contactless bank card or phone wallet works directly on the tram, bus and metro readers, charged at the same rate as the anonymous OV-chipkaart.
Depending on how much moving around you plan to do, a few options are worth weighing up:
Pay as you go with contactless, from around €3.40 for a short single hop, daily spending capped at roughly €10.50
A GVB 24-hour ticket, around €10, for unlimited tram, bus and metro travel from first tap
Multi-day GVB tickets running up to seven days, which work out cheaper per day the longer you stay
An OV-chipkaart itself, useful mainly if you also plan to take NS trains beyond the city
Whichever you choose, remember to check out at the end of every journey. Forget, and the system assumes you rode to the end of the line and charges you accordingly.
This is the city's actual backbone, not a novelty for tourists to try once. More bicycles cross central Amsterdam each day than cars, and the infrastructure, wide segregated lanes, dedicated traffic lights, entire car-free stretches, reflects decades of taking the bike seriously rather than tolerating it.
Rental shops cluster around Centraal Station, Leidseplein and Dam Square, with MacBike and Black Bikes among the largest chains. A standard city bike runs roughly €12 to €18 a day, e-bikes rather more, usually with a card or passport left as deposit. Locals also swear by OV-fiets, the yellow-and-blue bikes stationed at train stations, though these require a personal OV-chipkaart rather than a tourist ticket.
A short list of local etiquette worth absorbing before you wobble off:
Stay in the marked red-surfaced cycle lanes, never the tram tracks
Signal turns with an outstretched arm, the way everyone else does
Never stop dead in a cycle lane to check your phone or your map
Lock the bike properly at both wheel and frame; Amsterdam's theft rate is a running local joke, and not a very funny one if it happens to you
Confident cyclists will love it. Anyone who has not ridden in traffic for a decade might sensibly practise in Vondelpark before joining the main flow.
Trams
Where the bicycle does not reach, the tram usually does. GVB's tram network is the real workhorse of Amsterdam public transport, threading through the canal ring and out to the museums, markets and neighbourhoods a bike ride would otherwise cover.
Trams run roughly from six in the morning until half past midnight, board at any door, tap the reader as you get on and again as you get off. They are frequent enough that timetables barely matter in the centre, and a wrong tram is rarely more than a short walk from where you meant to be.
On foot
The historic centre rewards walking more than almost any transport option going. Distances between the major sights, the Museumplein, the Jordaan, Dam Square, are modest enough that a tram often takes longer once you account for waiting.
The one hazard is inattention. Cycle lanes run directly alongside, and sometimes across, pedestrian pavements, and a Dutch cyclist bearing down at speed will not be slowing down for a tourist checking a map. Look both ways, always, and not just for cars.
Metro and buses
The metro exists mainly for longer hops, connecting Centraal to Amsterdam Zuid, Bijlmer ArenA and the newer developments in Noord via the Noord/Zuidlijn under the IJ. It runs on the same GVB ticketing as the trams, and is generally the fastest way to cover distance rather than sights.
Buses fill in the gaps further out, useful for reaching residential neighbourhoods and, after half past midnight, taking over from the trams as night buses on routes numbered in the 300s.
Two very different boats are worth knowing about. A canal cruise, run by any number of private operators, takes you through the historic waterways for a fee and a running commentary, and remains a pleasant if slightly touristy way to see the merchant houses from water level.
The free GVB ferries across the IJ are a different matter entirely and a genuine transport option rather than a sightseeing add-on. Departing from behind Centraal Station, they cross to Amsterdam-Noord in a few minutes and cost nothing at all for pedestrians and cyclists.
Some lines run around the clock, others close overnight, so it is worth glancing at the board before making a night-time crossing. They will not take you through the canal ring, but for reaching the EYE Filmmuseum or the NDSM wharf, nothing beats a free boat.
Taxis and ride-hailing
Amsterdam's taxis are metered and regulated, distinguishable by blue number plates and a roof light bearing the company name and licence number. Fares are built from a starting charge plus distance and time, and a short hop across the centre typically lands somewhere around €15 to €20.
Uber and Bolt both operate here as licensed services rather than the informal arrangement found in some cities, connecting you to the same regulated drivers at generally lower prices than hailing on the street. Either app is a sensible default; a taxi rank is best reserved for when the apps are quiet or your phone battery has other plans.
Driving and parking
We will keep this brief, because Amsterdam does not want you to drive and has built an entire city to discourage it. Large parts of the centre are pedestrianised or bicycle-only, parking within the ring road is expensive by the hour, and traffic planning has been trending toward fewer cars for years, not more.
If you do arrive by car, head straight for one of the Park and Ride sites on the outskirts rather than the centre. Parking there costs a token amount when paired with public transport onward, against a genuinely startling hourly rate if you try your luck in town. For a short city break, the bicycle and the tram will get you everywhere the car would, without the parking bill at the end of it.
