If you have a 72 hour pass hat covers all travel within Amsterdam, how do you purchase a ticket for the extra part (outside of city) to go to the airport? I assume it would need to cover Zuid metro station to the airport(?). Would it mean taking the metro to Zuid and then getting off to buy a ticket there? Or is there a way to buy in advance from any station?
Posted by
London, UK
417 posts
The easiest way is to buy your ticket from Amsterdam Zuid to Schiphol online, on www.ns.nl, the national railway website - you can tap the button at the top right corner to get the English version.
Posted by
Eastern Iowa, USA
8123 posts
Maybe just take the easiest route, simply get to the easiest train station near your hotel (Centraal, Sloterdijk, or Zuid), then tap through the gates with your credit card or phone, tap out at Schiphol, (effectively buying a ticket) and no worries. The cost should be between 3 and 5 euro. Alternately, if you have the NS App set up, you could buy on there, but tapping is just easier.
Posted by
OP
Washington, DC
30 posts
Perfect, thank you!!
Posted by
OP
Washington, DC
30 posts
We will be taking the metro from Amsterdam Noord. Centraal would be closest, but we were thinking that we could just stay on the metro all of the way to Zuid, and transfer there… Rationale is that it might be easier to transfer at Zuid since there are fewer lines running through there. Centraal seems very, very busy. And then the added benefit is that it would be less expensive because our transit pass would cover part of the trip.
Posted by
The Netherlands
1613 posts
No matter what, you will need to transfer to a train to get to Schiphol Airport as the metro doesn’t go there. If you tap your credit card, a train ticket for Amsterdam Centraal to Schiphol costs €4,90. The train from Amsterdam Zuid to Schiphol costs €3,30 when you tap.
Posted by
OP
Washington, DC
30 posts
Oh, interesting… I didn’t realize that the credit card tap worked for train tickets too. So it sounds like we don’t need to buy a ticket in advance at all… thanks for the info!
Posted by
Eastern Iowa, USA
8123 posts
Just a heads up, when you enter to get on the train, you will go through a turnstile gate, tapping your credit card or phone. When you arrive at Schiphol, there are no gates, you go up the escalators into the main hall, and where you come out, there are posts for you to "tap out". It might take a bit to locate them, but you do need to tap out.
Posted by
The Netherlands
1613 posts
The credit (and debit) card tap works on every single form of public transportation throughout the entire country. This nationwide system is called OV Pay https://www.ovpay.nl/en