Amsterdam City Guide

Public transport

Operator. GVB (Gemeentelijk Vervoerbedrijf) runs the entire local transport network of Amsterdam on behalf of the Vervoerregio Amsterdam, the regional transport authority. Trams, buses, night buses, the five metro lines (50, 51, 52, 53, 54), and the ferries across the IJ and the Noordzeekanaal all fall under one shared fare, so a single ticket, once bought, covers every GVB service within Amsterdam. Anyone traveling further out by rail, say to Schiphol, Zaandam, or Amstelveen, switches to NS trains or regional buses run by other operators such as Connexxion or EBS, which are not covered by the GVB fare. The tram network runs to around 200 kilometers of track with 500 stops, but it does not serve Amsterdam-Noord or Zuidoost, where bus and metro take over instead.

Network. Trams, metro, buses and free ferries across the IJ to Noord.

Modes of transport. Tram · Bus · Night Bus · Metro · Ferry

Operating hours. GVB distinguishes between a daytime network and a night network. There is no single citywide first or last departure time published, as this varies by line and can be checked in the Gappie app. What is officially confirmed is the peak period (spits) on weekdays from 7 am to 9 am and from 4 pm to 6.30 pm, which does not apply outside these hours or on weekends and public holidays. Once the daytime network stops running, the night bus lines take over until the following morning.

Night service. GVB explicitly emphasizes getting passengers to their destination at night too. The night network consists of city N-lines with transfer hubs at Centraal Station, Leidseplein, and Rembrandtplein, plus regional night lines (Streekbus) that run further out to places like Purmerend, Zaandam, Almere, Haarlem, Aalsmeer, or Uithoorn. A single night bus journey is its own product priced at 5.70 euros, and the regular 1-hour ticket for 3.40 euros explicitly does not apply on night buses.

Buying tickets. Paper tickets (chipkaartjes) are available at GVB machines in metro stations, at GVB Service & Tickets branches, and at various tobacco and convenience shops around the city. On the tram, only the conductor at the back of the vehicle sells hourly and day tickets, payable there only by debit or credit card, PIN, or contactless, cash is not accepted. On buses and night buses there is no on-board ticket sales at all. The anonymous OV-chipkaart has no longer been available for purchase since July 1, 2026, but the personal OV-chipkaart with name and photo remains available. The Gappie app lets you buy barcode tickets for 1, 24, 48, 72, 96, or 120 hours, as well as a group day ticket for up to 5 people.

App and payment. With OVpay, you check in and out with the same contactless debit or credit card, smartphone, or smartwatch as with the classic OV-chipkaart, no registration required. It's important to always check in and out with the same payment method, otherwise the trip counts as two separate transactions. According to GVB, paying by bank card is often cheaper than a single ticket, since it's billed by distance rather than at a flat rate, so a ride on tram 2 from Centraal Station to Museumplein costs 1.70 euros this way instead of 3.40 euros for a 1-hour ticket. The free Gappie app is used to buy day and multi-day tickets and for route planning with a touch-swipe planner, and it is only available in Dutch and English.

Which ticket. GVB tiers its time-based tickets as follows (as of 2026). 1-hour ticket 3.40 euros, day ticket (24 hrs) 10.00 euros, multi-day ticket 48 hrs 16.00 euros, 72 hrs 21.50 euros, 96 hrs 27.50 euros, 120 hrs 34.00 euros, 144 hrs 39.00 euros, 168 hrs 43.00 euros. Mathematically, the day ticket pays off from the third ride onward compared to buying individual hourly tickets, since 3 times 3.40 euros (10.20 euros) already exceeds the 10.00 euros of the day ticket. For visitors arriving via Schiphol, the Amsterdam Travel Ticket bundles the train ride to the airport and city transport into one product, 1 day 20.00 euros, 2 days 27.00 euros, 3 days 34.00 euros, while the Amsterdam & Region Travel Ticket extends this to the wider region, 1 day 23.00 euros, 2 days 34.00 euros, 3 days 44.00 euros. A GVB group day ticket for up to 5 people costs 27.00 euros and is only available in the Gappie app. Alternatively, OVpay bills by distance via bank card (base fare 1.16 euros plus 0.217 euros per kilometer), which is especially cheaper than a time-based ticket for individual short rides.

Fare zones. There are no fare zones within Amsterdam, every GVB ticket applies to the entire city on a time basis. Only when paying by bank card or OV-chipkaart credit instead of a fixed ticket is the fare calculated by distance traveled, which mainly affects trips beyond the city limits.

Tip. The ferries behind the main station are free and run around the clock.

Links

• GVB Fares 2026
• GVB Payment Options
• GVB Tourist Information in German
• GVB Line Network Maps
• Amsterdam Travel Ticket
• Network map

Getting there

Main station

Location. Built on artificial islands in the water; the facade deliberately echoes the Rijksmuseum.

Long-distance trains. Amsterdam Centraal is the starting point for international long-distance trains. Eurostar runs direct to London, taking around 4 hours 19 minutes, with prices starting at 39 pounds in standard class. Other international connections, such as to Berlin or Brussels, also run via Amsterdam Centraal, but their exact travel times and frequencies were not officially verified in this research and are therefore not listed here.

Opening hours. Amsterdam Centraal operates around the clock. After the last regular train, night trains run roughly hourly every night between Rotterdam, Den Haag HS, Leiden, Schiphol, Amsterdam Centraal, and Utrecht Centraal, until the daytime timetable takes over in the morning. The Eurostar terminal for London is open weekdays from 5 am to 7 pm.

Airports

Local quirks

• App Only in Dutch and English. The official GVB app Gappie, used to buy day and multi-day tickets and plan routes, is only available in Dutch and English, even though GVB offers its own visitor information pages in German, French, Spanish, and Italian.
• Bank Card Often Cheaper Than a Ticket. Anyone who checks in and out with a contactless debit or credit card via OVpay pays by distance traveled rather than a fixed ticket price. According to GVB, the route from Centraal Station to Museumplein on tram 2 costs 1.70 euros this way, compared with 3.40 euros for the regular 1-hour ticket.

Good to know

Currency

EUR €

Emergency number

112

Plug type

C · F

Time zone

Europe/Amsterdam

Driving

right

Speed limits. built-up areas 50 km/h, outside towns 80 km/h, motorway 100 km/h (6 am–7 pm), up to 130 km/h at night depending on the stretch

During the day, almost all motorways are limited to just 100 km/h, not the higher motorway speed many expect. Only between 7 pm and 6 am does the limit rise to 100, 120, or 130 km/h depending on the stretch, indicated by signs with a time addendum.

Tipping. Service is included. Round up or leave five percent.

Tolls. Motorways are free. Charges apply at the Westerschelde and Kil tunnels.

Access restrictions. Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and other cities have environmental zones, mostly targeting older diesels. Camera-enforced.