My husband and I will be traveling from the US to Amsterdam, where we will be joining a group tour. We arrive a day and a half early so will need to get ourselves from the airport to our hotel first off (and I don't know which hotel at this point). We will leave our luggage at the hotel and will need to get from there into the historic old town to do some sightseeing before the tour starts. Once the tour starts, we don't need to worry about transportation as it will be included. So airport transfer to hotel then a day and a half of Metro or whatever they have in Amsterdam. Please let me know what our options are? Thanks for any info.
Posted by
St. Francis, WI
109 posts
There is a train from the airport into the city as well as a bus service. For transit within the city, you can ride the trams. You can find their info online by searching for GVB Amsterdam
Posted by
Wyckoff, NJ, USA
8681 posts
Posted by
Eastern Iowa, USA
9291 posts
Most of central Amsterdam is as easily walked as trying to use public transport. There are trams, buses, and a Metro, they are handy for longer hops, but most everything you want is in central Amsterdam. At most, I might hop on one of the trams to save a little walking. The Metro is handy for where it goes, but is limited in scope. Someone mentioned taking the Metro from the airport, but the Metro does not go to the airport, you are limited to trains and buses.
From the airport, right under the main arrival hall is the airport train station, with lots of trains going to Amsterdam Centraal, the main train station.
For the trains, buses, trams, and metro, basically any public transport, you can tap in and out using a credit card, you each will need one.
For hotels, you do not mention when you will be going, but hotels can go quick depending on time of year and what is going on. Once you figure out where you want to stay, then you can fine tune a transport plan, whether you stay right in central Amsterdam, some place like near the Sloterdijk Train Station, or outside of Amsterdam, someplace like Leiden or Haarlem.
Posted by
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
5736 posts
Transit from the airport and within the city is really simple and you can use your credit card to tap in and out. You mention you'll need to find your way into the historic area after you drop off luggage. Are you on a budget that limits your choices in the historic area? If not there are plenty of choices but depending on time of year it can get crowded. I'd start getting serious about a reservation if your trip is this spring or summer.
Posted by
OP
Michigan, United States
710 posts
Hi and thanks for the info. We are going with a tour group and they have not told us what hotel we will be staying at, so I don't know at this point. I think to simplify things, depending on their chosen hotel, we will just take a taxi to the city center from the airport (I am assuming the hotel will not be in the center, if it is that simplifies things) and go from there. I'm sure the hotel staff will be able to direct us once we are there. Our trip starts August 1st.
Posted by
The Netherlands
2166 posts
@Diane; may I suggest you to come back to this thread or start a new one once you know where you’ll be staying. Public transport in Amsterdam is extremely well organized and is often the easiest way to get to your hotel. But of course the exact route and whether the bus or train is most convenient, depends on where you’ll stay exactly.
So the best thing to do, is ask this question again once you know the name of your hotel.
Posted by
Minnesota
10 posts
Just returned from a trip to Amsterdam. It is very easy to get around Amsterdam, we found. As others have noted, a lot of the historic center is quite walkable. There are several trams that run very frequently, and some metro lines as well. Trams and metro both use the tap in/tap out with your own credit card - super easy. You can download the "GVB" app if you want to search the public transit options to get from one point in Amsterdam to another. We found that to be a helpful tool. One other recommendation - when you are crossing streets, watch out for bikes! There are a lot of them and they are traveling in their own lanes.