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Public Transit from Haarlem

Hello,

Our family of 5 will be traveling for the first time into Amsterdam soon and I would love any trips you have for public transit usage since we will not be renting a car. We will be staying in Haarlem as our home base and plan to adventure out from there (Amsterdam, Friesland for an ancestry tour, maybe Utrecht or Leiden?). Thank you for sharing any info that could help some newbie travelers!

Posted by
873 posts

The train station in Haarlem is right at the beginning of town (less than 10 min walk to city center). The train will take you directly to Amsterdam Centraal, and from there you take a tram to your destinations around the city of Amsterdam. It's so easy. We just tapped in/out with our credit card.

Haarlem is so charming; you'll love it!

Posted by
6398 posts

We stayed in Haarlem and enjoyed it very much. Public transportation was very easy. If you have interest in the Corrie Ten Boom house, try to get tickets as soon as possible. There is a lovely windmill within walking distance of the main square. Also, if you want to do a canal boat tour in Haarlem, you should book that in advance, too

Posted by
11 posts

Thank you so much for your responses! A quick follow up question I hope you don't mind . . .

  • Regarding the canal tour, do you recommend one in Haarlem vs. Amsterdam?

I will look into tours for the Corrie Ten Boom house - thank you!

Posted by
6398 posts

We enjoyed the canal tour in Amsterdam. I'm sure we would have enjoyed the canal tour in Haarlem if they weren't completely sold out. It might seem redundant to do both, but we find we learn so much about the individual cities and the architecture on the canal tours (We also did them in Delft and Bruges)

Posted by
1577 posts

To help you with public transport, you need to share a bit more information. What are the ages of your children? This is relevant to check if they qualify for some sort of discount.
Also, will each family member have either a credit card or Apple/Google Pay on a phone or watch? You need 5 cards and/or devices to make this work for you. This is needed to determine if you can use OV Pay for your public transport.

Posted by
1577 posts

Ah that’s a shame, your kids are all too old for the special kids ticket. If you’re willing to travel outside peak hours to Friesland, you can save a lots of money with the Off-peak Group ticket; https://www.ns.nl/en/tickets/off-peak-group-ticket?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADPhMsd6UlK2NvBzzVhT72k6S4By3&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-Kf21-rihgMVq5poCR1r5AWmEAAYASAAEgKCifD_BwE

If you want to use the tap in/out way of paying for public transport, each member will need their own card or own device. So if you have Apple/Google Pay on your phone and you have an actual physical credit card, one person can use the Phone to tap in and another person can use the card. Even in the case the Google Pay is set up with the same credit card number. For all details about using your credit card or device to pay for public transport throughout the entire country, see here; https://www.ovpay.nl/en

Posted by
10589 posts

We spent a week in Haarlem and loved it. It’s very easy to go other places by train or bus. We did canal boats in both Amsterdam and Haarlem and preferred Amsterdam.

Posted by
5563 posts

The Corrie ten Boom house books up 6-8 months out. The info in the RS Guide is out of date.
When is your trip? We were just there in April 2024, and I also loved Haarlem.
I enjoyed canal cruises in each Dutch city I visited. Each captain has a different knowledge set and unique stories. And- it's a rest for the feet.
Have a great trip.