All legal AMS cabs have meters. Which is most of them. However, the charges from the meter can vary subtly - most reliable companies charges drop after 15km, others don't. Some also appear to run a little fast. Some have higher charges altogehter - they're required to display these, but it's pretty hard to interpret what that means in terms of a ride to the airport.

And there's different ways of heading to Schiphol. If you're in Dam, you can head out to Jan van Galenstraat, and down the motorway. Nice and fast, EUR35. Or, you could head out past Central Station, round to the tunnel, down past Waterlooplein and Amstel station... Not so fast, EUR50.

If you get in a decent taxi, it'll cost you EUR35. Look for taxis with 'TCA' 'Schiphol Taxi' or 'Verkuyl', among others. If there's no Centrale on the taxi sign, it's battered, or it's 'TBA' or 'Flash', I'd look for another one. If you want to be sure of reliable service, call one of the Centralen (look at the receipt you got on the way in if it was decent) - I use the biggest one, TCA, who have always been good - 020 6777777 I think. They all speak English. Another way to be sure, if you're going to use taxis a lot while in Amsterdam, is to get yourself a 'pet' taxi driver for your stay. Even in a Centrale, they're all owner-operators, so some are quite keen to go direct to someone who is using plenty of taxis (saving the Centrale commission) and giving you a discount rate. You can usually tell if they're honest and reliable, and this can be a nice way of doing things.

It's not just the Krasnapolsky that's affected by it. I don't have a list of those that are and those that aren't, I'm afraid. Which hotel are you staying at?


[This message has been edited by stut (edited 05-28-2003).]