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Need advice on transportation issues in Amsterdam

I am heading for Amsterdam in mid-May. I will be spending 4 nights in the city (de Pijp neighborhood) then will take the train to Gent for two nights, then back to Amsterdam for another 4 nights in de Pijp.

The first half of my stay I will be spending in the city itself, visiting museums, sightseeing, dining, etc. The second half (after Belgium), I will be taking day trips - north of Amsterdam, possibly Utrecht, Delft, Leiden and den Hague and Harlaam. For that period, I will probably get the Amsterdam & Region Travel Ticket.

However, I'm trying to figure out what to do about the first half. Originally, I had planned on using TripKey and that is no longer an option. It's been 8 years since I've last been to Europe - I used to travel every couple of years and would walk everyplace. However, grandchildren arrived and I've been spending most vacations with family. Now I'm 63 and while I'm reasonably active, I'm not sure I'll have the stamina to keep up the walking pace that I used to have. So I guess what I'm asking is this - I'd like to be able to walk around as much as possible, but will probably need to rely on a couple of trams, buses or metro trains each day. I would prefer not to have to get the OV-chipkaart, which sounds somewhat cumbersome - is there some other option? I heard about the OV paper ticket, but I'm not sure how that works - or what the cost is.

Any advice would be appreciated - thanks so much!
Mardee

Posted by
19630 posts

You can get a GVB 4-day ticket for Amsterdam for 22.50 EUR, does not cover transportation from the airport into town. Just buy a separate ticket for that.
I don't think the Amsterdam & Regions ticket covers Utrecht, Delft, Leiden, den Haag. Get separate return tickets for these trips. They are south of Amsterdam anyway.

Posted by
143 posts

"I don't think the Amsterdam & Regions ticket covers Utrecht, Delft, Leiden, den Haag. Get separate return tickets for these trips. They are south of Amsterdam anyway."
Correct, take a look at the map on https://www.iamsterdam.com/en/plan-your-trip/getting-around/public-transport/region-day-ticket for validity of ARTT.

"I heard about the OV paper ticket, but I'm not sure how that works - or what the cost is."
The GVB pass is a paper ov-card, just like single or return tickets for the train. The cost depends on the ticket. For all ov-chipcards (btw "ov" means public transport in Dutch):
train/metro: check in when entering the station, check out when leaving the station
bus/tram: check in when entering the vehicle, check out when leaving the vehicle

Drivers do not accept cash.

Tickets for the train can be bought from the yellow ticket machines. There is a one euro surcharge for the paper ticket. On ns.nl you can buy online tickets (which have to be printed or loaded into the NS app) without a surcharge (and nowadays pay by credit card). As these online tickets need a travel date (and your name and dob) and cant be changed afterwards, they are a bit more inflexible than buying a ticket at the station
Amsterdam Centraal - Utrecht: return 16.20 euros
Amsterdam Centraal - Leiden: return 19.20 euros
Amsterdam - Haarlem: return 9.30 euros

You can plan your trips (door tot door) via 9292.nl/en or use ns.nl/en for travel by train.

Posted by
6227 posts

Thanks to both of you! That was very helpful and the 4 day GVB ticket sounds exactly like what I need. I did know that the regional ticket does not cover those cities, but I figure it will be useful for Harlaam and traveling north from AMS. And I have the 9292 on my phone (along with the Schiphol app and a host of others). :)

I found the 4-day ticket on the GVB website and it looks like I can buy it at Schiphol at AKO or the tourist office. But I also saw something about an Amsterdam Travel Ticket - https://www.schiphol.nl/en/page/amsterdam-travel-ticket. It's not the Regional ticket but is 3 days for €26 - obviously more expensive for less days, but I'm curious about the difference between the two. Is it just that the travel ticket adds in transportation from Schiphol to the city? That does not seem very cost effective so I was trying to figure out what the Travel Ticket has (besides airport transport) that the GVB ticket does not.

Also, one other quick question - do the four days on the 4-day GVB ticket begin tolling at midnight (0:00) or when you first use the card? It's unclear on the GVB site.

Thanks again! I am really looking forward to this trip!

Posted by
6227 posts

Never mind - I did some more digging and found this page - Which public transport ticket best suits your plans? - on the GVB site that compares all the various public transport tickets. It includes prices, info on coverage and also gave me details about the time period on the multi-day GVB ticket (24 hours from the time of first usage).

Thanks again for your help!