Ditto

I think in the last few years I did few boat cruises of AMS with different visitors, all the basic ones are about the same, you can go into the Info center just outside Centraal station on the left hand side and get a ticket for something like 15-20€

8,40€ is the normally price for a r/t, a paper ticket costs 1€ extra and using a foreign card is I think another 0,5€ extra. (or you can also pay with cash at the desk and I think this is also 0,5€ extra, otherwise the machines only accepts coins)

I don't think the Amsterdam Travel Card is worthwhile for a day stopover, you can walk to most places, and even if at the end of the day you are tired and want to take a tram back to Centraal you can buy a single ticket on the tram.

I think between Anna Frank house and the canal tour, with lunch in the middle and walking around a bit your day would be covered, I don't think the Heineken Experience is worth it, if you have some time to spare I personally like The Amsterdam museum - https://www.amsterdammuseum.nl

Last thing, KLM currently recommends arriving to the terminal 3 hours before the flight due to (very) long queues in security and immigration.

cardsqc

And that's why I hedged my statements somewhat with that. I do think it'd be a reasonable place to visit if they could control the crowds better. As it was, you really couldn't get a feel for the size of the rooms or what it would be like to live there. (Although you'd certainly get the claustrophobia feel). Personally I'd also like to see some period authentic furnishings to get an idea of what it would have been like, but I realize they have their reasons for leaving it empty (I just don't happen to agree with it, although the reality is with the number of tourists in there, there wasn't really room for furniture anyways). But the only answer I can think of to fix the issue is to severely limit the number of people allowed in at any given time, which would annoy a lot of people too.

Ditto

It is better either very early or very late, I think maybe 1-1.5 hours before they close they start going around the queue telling people that they might not have a lot of time inside and it is maybe best if they come another day, many people then just leave.

Don't get me wrong, it is still one long line inside the house.. but much better.
Given the "physical restrictions" which cannot be changed there isn't much to do, even if they limit the amount of people inside, it will be hard to backtrack or even stay in the same place without blocking other people.

joshwex90

What is the difference between buying from one website over the other? Is it the same idea?

For me, the benefit of prepayment is two-fold: it avoids the potential credit card issue (even though I do actually have an offline Chip&PIN Israeli card) AND it helps avoid the longer line at the window. If prepaying means I need to wait in that line, then it's probably better that I just use the Israeli credit card and save myself the time.

I noticed when bouncing around the web that it's €8.40 for r/t between AMS and Amsterdam Centraal and then €7.50 for unlimited travel within Amsterdam versus €16 for all-in-one. Is there any difference between these 2 separate options? I don't care one way or the other about 10 cents, and want to above all, avoid the hassle of searching for hard to find kiosks to pick something up OR long lines to speak to a person.

Is it not possible to pay with a phone on public transportation?

And when push comes to shove, how much am I looking at actually paying for the different options assuming I use a foreign card (not cash) and pay online OR pay in person?

In theory, my employer will reimburse me the cost of public transportation, though I'd prefer to save the money if it turns out it's an unnecessary expenditure.

That being said, I don't mind walking around but:

1. How easy is it to buy a ticket for one line, and what's the cost?
2. Is it a set fee for all travel within Amsterdam, or zone/distance-based?
3. Is the cost per line or per time?
4. What about biking - how easy is it to rent bikes (and are they expensive) for one-off stuff?

I'll look more into Heieneken. I had brought it up because a friend just told me they did it and enjoyed, but I'll try to look for more reviews. For RLD, any suggested paths to follow or just stroll around?

If I don't end up doing Heineken, I'll just do a random one based on price. Thanks.

As noted below, I may end up skipping Anne Frank. I could only show up at 15:30 and might wait awhile for a ticket, that it may not be worth it for me.

Would you recommend Amsterdam Museum over Van Gogh?

Seriously?! EL AL recommends 3 hours, and I've never seen someone recommend so long, and that's when checking luggage AND includes their longer security check. My luggage will be checked through. 3 hours seem real? In Europe, I've generally never had an issue showing up significantly closer to the flight.

It's not crazy what you write. I've heard from a number of people that Anne Frank is a "must do" just "because it's important," admitting that it's not the greatest place to visit. Not to compare, but I've been to some major Holocaust museums and have a deep understanding. I just felt, as a Jew, I "should" go, but I've also heard offline I can avoid, so unless I somehow get tickets for a specified timeslot, I think I'll avoid. Thanks.

JBord

If you do Heineken, please come back and post your review. I've avoided it but would love for it to be good for next time I'm there.

RLD - You can walk through the main part of it all on one street, so it just depends on which direction you're going. If you want to go through and get out, go from the train station to Oude Kerk, then if I recall correctly its a left turn one street over to get to the main drag.

joshwex90

Thanks

Also forgot to ask earlier, but related to public transportation, anyone know anything about Tram 2? https://en.gvb.nl/ontdek-amsterdam/t...sche-attractie

UKtravelbear

Amsterdam Museum over Van Gogh.

But my preference would be for the Hermitage and the Portraits of the Golden Age exhibition. The Romanovs is also pretty interesting. A combined ticket to both is €25

Something more unusual would be Museum Our Lord in the Attic

Ditto

The machines at AMS airports accepts foreign credit cards (I think only Visa & Mastercard though), and there are plenty around so you won't have to queue for more than 5 minutes to buy a r/t ticket (for what will presumably be 8,40€+1,00€+0,50€
A one hour ticket is 2,90€ and can be bought on the trams, and you can switch trams/buses within Amsterdam on GVB (some buses are operated by other companies but you are pretty unlikely to need those)

Personally I think the Amsterdam Museum is better, of course if you are into art/Van Gogh then it might be a different story, I like to learn about the places I visit and hence I like the Amsterdam Museum

Take a look at this thread and you would understand why.

That's just a normal tram line that happens to go through some touristy places, nothing special except that.

JBord

Unless something has changed, they only accept chip and pin cards. Unfortunately most US cards are still chip and signature. It's been a year since I've been there, but the machine most certainly did not accept my Visa chip and signature, but the person at the ticket window did .

Ditto

Yes, only Chip & Pin of course, it has been several years now that they do not allow swiping cards anymore in The Netherlands (and the new card machines at POS have no option to swipe even if you want to), though I suppose Chip & Signature might work at a cashier.

JBord

It definitely works with a human cashier.

And I've never had a problem with lines (as others have noted) at AMS to use a cashier. I've always walked right up to an open window. Maybe I've been lucky, who knows.

joshwex90

What's the extra 1.50?

Here I was hoping my SP would help...

UKtravelbear

there is an extra €1 fee for a paper ticket. If you had a opchipcart (may not be quire right) then there would be no paper ticket fee. The 50c is the credit card fee.

Your card issuer may also charge a foreign transaction fee.

:D!

The OV-Chipkaart is a bad deal for most short-term visitors as it costs €7.50 and expires after 5 years. It also requires a minimum of €20 to enter a train station, and I think it is only possible to top up in increments of €5.

Therefore the €8.40 train journey will actually involve an outlay of €32.50 and leave the OP with €16.60 in electronic funds on the card which is nearly impossible for a tourist to reclaim. In order to use any trains again, a further top up of €5 would be required. If more than €1.60 was spent on trams and buses during the day, then the total outlay would rise to €37.50.


I used the Amsterdam Travel ticket for my day trip last week. Like joshwex90 I arrived at about 10am (weekday). Each counter at the Schiphol train station had an individual queue. There were about 10 counters open and the queue length was 0-2 people at each counter. I waited 2 minutes then purchased this for €16 in cash. Most people I observed were also paying in cash.

If you prepay at the discover holland website you collect from a different shop to the normal rail counters (I think you can also buy it there, and maybe with no credit card fee too).

If wanting to travel on Amsterdam (GVB) buses / trams / metro making more than 3 trips that are each more than an hour apart, the €7.50 24-hour pass will be better. So basically decide whether you want this or not and if yes, buy the Amsterdam Travel Ticket, if not buy the single ticket from the discover holland website (which I think will come as a PDF ticket you can put on your phone, although it doesn't say).

Ditto

For SP you probably don't need 3 hours, but as SP I used to arrive to the airport 1hr before and it never took longer than 10-15 minutes to be at the lounge, sadly this seems to no longer be the case and I am now aiming to arrive 2 hours before.