Things to Know Before Using Public Transport in Amsterdam
Luckily for travelers and locals, public transportation is excellent in Amsterdam. Still, there are a few things that are helpful to know before you use public transit in this city for the first time.
I’ve only visited Amsterdam once—and then I only visited for four days. So I know I didn’t even scrape the surface when it comes to taking public transportation in Amsterdam. That said, there were a few key things that I wish I would have known before arriving in the Netherlands and taking public trains, trams, and ferries.
As a first-time traveler to Amsterdam—and to the Netherlands in general—I made a few mistakes and got confused by a few parts of public transport in Amsterdam. So if it’s your first time traveling to Amsterdam, and especially if Amsterdam is one of the first major European cities you’ve visited, you might find the points on my list below to be useful.
Again, take what I say with a grain of salt, because I only visited the Netherlands very briefly. That said, maybe you’ll find it helpful to have an outsider’s perspective.
Here are the top four things I wish I would have known before using public transportation in Amsterdam.
1. Consider getting an Amsterdam Travel Ticket.
If you’re planning on using public transportation multiple times while in Amsterdam, you should consider purchasing the Amsterdam Travel Ticket.
When I visited Amsterdam, I bought a three-day Amsterdam Travel Ticket for 28 euros total, and it covered my transportation on the train to and from the airport as well as trams, busses, metros, and ferries operated by GVB. For my trip, this covered all of the public transport I needed to get around the city of Amsterdam. This was a great way to save money while getting around this major city efficiently.
Before purchasing, be sure to do your own research to see if the Amsterdam Travel Ticket is right for you and your trip. For up-to-date information on pricing and what exactly is included, click here.
2. There are lots of trains that run to and from the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.
This one may seem obvious, but to someone who had yet to see such a bustling public transit system in a major European city, the number of trains going to different destinations from the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport surprised me a bit. Trains take passengers from the airport to several nearby Dutch cities.
Likely as a result of my inexperience with complex public transit systems, I got confused, and I accidentally hopped onto the wrong train—which brings me to my next point…
3. The train that takes passengers from the airport to the center of Amsterdam is called “Amsterdam Centraal.”
Again, this one might seem obvious.
That said, you should note that many of the trains have the word “Centraal” displayed. (Maybe you already figure this out, but centraal means central.) If you’re heading to central Amsterdam, you want the train that specifically says Amsterdam Centraal, because there are others that include the word centraal paired the names of with other cities. That was my initial mistake when I hopped onto the wrong train.
4. Some trains have silent cars.
One more important thing to know about trains in the Netherlands is that some have silent cars, where passengers are meant to make as little noise as possible while traveling. You’ll be able to tell which cars are silent cars, because the word “silent” or “silence” will be displayed on the window.
So there you have my tips on using Amsterdam public transit—based on my very limited experience in Amsterdam.
If you’re not familiar navigating cities with major public transportation systems, I hope you find these tips to be useful to help you use public transport in Amsterdam. And if all of these tips were obvious to you, I hope you found the stories of my trial-and-error approach to be entertaining.
Travel safely!
