There are countless ways to get to Amsterdam! That means there are no excuses for not visiting us.
For all of you planning a fun trip to Amsterdam in the near future, we’ve created the ultimate guide to getting to us!
This list encompasses all the means of transport you’re likely to use: flying, railway, buses and traveling by boat or ferry.
Flying to Amsterdam (or the Netherlands)
The geographical position of the Netherlands makes it perfect for travelling to it by plane. Several passenger airports and a vast number of airlines connect the country to the whole world. If you’re travelling to Amsterdam for the first time, we would suggest picking a carrier that arrives to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. If you don’t mind spending some time travelling to and from the airport (and enjoying the perfectly engineered Dutch landscapes along the way), pick the airline that flies to Eindhoven or Rotterdam/Den Haag.
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport
This is the primary international airport in the Netherlands. It’s the fifth busiest airport in Europe and it also gets rather crafty when dealing with your luggage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3XN-2OCME4
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport has six runways and hosts about 90 airlines flying to around 300 different destinations.
Schiphol is the hub for KLM (the Royal Dutch Airlines) and its affiliate KLM Cityhopper, as well as for Corendon Dutch Airlines, Martinair Cargo, Transavia and TUI Airlines Netherlands. The airport is also a European hub for Delta Air Lines and as a base for EasyJet and Vueling.
KLM connects Amsterdam to a huge number of world metropolises and is a go-to carrier if you’re looking for a long-distance flights. Tokyo, New York, Beijing and Moscow are just some of the cities among its destinations. KLM is the oldest airline in the world still operating under its original name: it was founded in 1919.
Easy Jet is a suggested choice if you’re looking for a cheap flight to and from the United Kingdom – London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, and Bristol, as well as Northern Ireland, since easyJet also flies from Belfast to Amsterdam and the other way round.
Transavia is a Dutch low-cost airline that flies from Schiphol to some nice vacation destinations like Lisbon, Gran Canaria, Pisa and Seville. It also flies from Amsterdam to Athens and Thessaloniki in Greece.
With TUI Airlines you can fly to Amsterdam all the way from Miami!
Getting to Schiphol
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is located about 20 kilometres from Amsterdam. That means you can reach it in half an hour (or less!) from the city center.
How to get to Schiphol by train
There’s a train station located directly underneath the airport. That means Schiphol can be easily reached by train. The airport is connected to Amsterdam Central railway station in the city center (Dutch: Amsterdam Centraal), as well as Amsterdam South (Amsterdam Zuid) and the conference center Amsterdam RAI. Departures are very frequent and all the announcements in the trains stopping at Schiphol are given in English.
If you’re traveling from Schiphol to Amsterdam, you can buy the tickets at the ticket office in the airport’s main hall. There are also yellow ticket machines near the baggage claims. The machines accept credit cards with a 50 cent surcharge, Dutch debit cards, and some of them also accept coins. At the ticket office you can also buy the Amsterdam Travel Ticket, which includes return train travel between Schiphol and Amsterdam, plus free public public transport in the city.
How to get to Schiphol by bus
The bus line number 197, operated by Conexxion, departing from the bus station Elandsgracht takes you to the airport every 15 minutes. The round trip ticket costs 10 euros.
The same company also operates the Schiphol Hotel Shuttle.
Eindhoven Airport
Eindhoven Airport is the second largest airport in the Netherlands. It is located around 4 kilometers from Eindhoven. It is planned that the airport will expand to approximately 43 thousand aircraft movements and 5.5 million passengers by 2020. So it’s gonna get even more important!
Airlines operating the flights to and from this airport include Corendon, Luxair, TUI Netherlands, Vueling and WizzAir. Ryanair flies to Dublin and Manchester, and Jetairfly can take you all the way to Morocco!
How to get from the Eindhoven Airport to Amsterdam
In front of the airport, take a bus number 400 or 401 – either of them will take you to the Eindhoven train station. From there, there’s at least one train to Amsterdam per hour. Dutch intercity trains are comfortable double-deckers equipped with free WiFi. The journey usually takes around an hour and a half.
You can also book various shuttle services, but it is advised to do it in advance.
Rotterdam The Hague Airport
Rotterdam The Hague Airport serves, well… Rotterdam and the Hague. It’s located around 5 kilometres from Rotterdam and is a third largest airport in the Netherlands.
British Airways and CityJet fly from Rotterdam Den Haag to London while Flybe operates a line to Birmingham and Manchester. Other carriers include Jetairfly, Corendon, Turkish airlines and Dutch Transavia. The airport features scheduled flights to European metropolitan and leisure destinations, such as Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Rhodes and Antalya.
How to get from Rotterdam The Hague airport to Amsterdam
The airport is served by bus line 33. This line connects the Rotterdam Central train station, the airport, and the Meijersplein station.
You can take the bus from the airport to Rotterdam Central and then hop on a train to Amsterdam. You can also take the bus to the Meijersplein station and change to metro line E. The metro takes you to Den Haag Central or Rotterdam Central. Then you can change to another train taking you to Amsterdam.
Sounds complicated? Don’t worry, it’s not that bad. But you can always contact us to see how can we help with your transfer!
Other airports in the Netherlands
You’re far less likely to end up flying to one of the smaller airports (especially if it’s your first time in the Netherlands), but other Dutch airports worth mentioning are Maastricht Aachen Airport and Groningen Airport Eelde.
Maastricht Aachen Airport is located in the south of the Netherlands, serving the Dutch city of Maastricht and Aachen in Germany. This airport is the second largest cargo hub in the Netherlands. Passenger lines available from this airport are not many: Corendon flies to Antalya, Ryanair flies to Alicante, Wizz Air flies to Budapest and Katowice and Vueling takes you to Barcelona.
Groningen Airport Eelde is in the northeast of the Netherlands. From this airport Flybe operates a line to London. Other carriers flying from this airport are TUI, Transavia, Corendon and WizzAir.
These airports are further away from Amsterdam. We suggest using the Dutch travel planning service 9292 to explore the transfer options.
Traveling to Amsterdam by train
If you’ve read the whole section about getting to and from various airports in the Netherlands, you can also conclude that we’re the big fans of the Dutch railway.
The most of the long distance travel by public transport in the Netherlands is done by rail. The main passenger carrier is called Nederlandse Spoorwegen, meaning Dutch Railways and abbreviated NS. Be careful, their night service is limited. Their IC trains are two class double deckers with free internet on board, and they’re also quite fast, so getting from one part of the country to another is a breeze.
Amsterdam Central railway station. Flickr / Johnathan
Amsterdam Centraal station hosting several international trains as well: French high-speed operator Thalys, intercity trains to Brussels, Antwerp, Berlin, Basel (Switzerland) and Vienna. There are also several regional cross border connections.
With Eurostar you can get from London to Amsterdam for as little as 50€ one-way. The trip takes less than five hours. Eurostar takes you to Brussels when you change to the Thalys’ train to Amsterdam.
Train stations in Amsterdam
The city has 9 train stations.
Amsterdam Centraal is in the center of the city. It’s on a 10 minutes walking distance from the Dam square. In front of the station you can catch trams and metro, and in the back – regional busses and free ferries that take you to Amsterdam North.
Amsterdam Muidepoort is in the Amsterdam East (Amsterdam Oost). Amsterdam Amstel is the station next to the modern business towers at the bank of the Amstel river.
Amsterdam Sloterdijk is a major railway junction situated to the west of Amsterdam Centraal. It’s on a railway lines to Haarlem and Schiphol Airport. In the northwest of Amsterdam you’ll find the Lelylaan Station.
At the south of the city there are two stations: Amsterdam RAI is where you’re supposed to get off if you’re going to the RAI Convention Centre. Amsterdam Zuid (which means Amsterdam South) is near the World Trade Center. Today it’s the heart of the modern Zuidas business district . It is also the gateway for the VU University campus located just south of the station.
In Southeast, there are two neighboring stations – Duivendrecht and Amsterdam Bijlmer Station. These stations are at the opposite sides of Amsterdam ArenA, but Bijlmer Station also neighbors to Heineken Music Hall and the Villa Arena shopping mall.
Traveling to Amsterdam by boat
The Dutch have been a sea-faring nation for centuries, Amsterdam still has millions of visitors arriving by boat each year.
The passenger terminal in Amsterdam. Flickr / Hugo
The Passenger terminal in Amsterdam is a striking building with a 600 meter long quay, large reception halls, touring car terminals and an underground parking. The tram number 26 stops right in front of it – the stop is called Muziekgebouw.
Ferries from Newcastle stop at the port of IJmuiden at the outskirts of the city. IJmuiden is located at the mouth of the North Sea Canal to Amsterdam. The company operating the ferries, DFDS Seaways, also provides a coach service that gets you to the Amsterdam Centraal railway station.
Stena Line operates a ferry from Harwich (in Essex, England) to Hoek van Holland (the Hook of Holland). Hoek van Holland is a town in the municipality of Rotterdam. A ferry service to eastern England has been operating from the Hook since 1893, with only the two World Wars interrupting it. The rail links between Hoek van Holland and Amsterdam are excellent and the journey will take you about one hour and 45 minutes.
There’s also a ferry connecting Rotterdam to Hull in Yorkshire. The ferry terminal is in Rotterdam’s Europoort. The line is operated by P&0, which also offers a coach service between Rotterdam Europoort and Rotterdam Central railway station. The tickets need to be booked in advance. From Rotterdam Centraal you can easily come to Amsterdam by train or using a transfer service.
How you’re going to get around Amsterdam once you get there mainly depends on the length of your stay, but also on the things you’re here to experience. Amsterdam’s main public transport operator is GVB. At the tourist information office in front of the Amsterdam Centraal you can buy the I Amsterdam City Card – a combined ticket for Amsterdam’s museums and public transport valid for a day, two or three. NS and GVB together offer the Amsterdam Travel Ticket.
If you want to do something completely Dutch and experience the city like a local, rent a bike! Biking around the canals is the best way to see the magnificent historic waterways.
Traveling to Amsterdam by bus
In case trains, buses and boats are not enough, there are also multiple coach lines driving to and from Amsterdam.
Megabus offers low cost fares from London to Amsterdam and other way round, stopping in France and Belgium on the way. The buses board on a ferry to cross to Great Britain and that’s included in the price. Megabus stops at Sloterdijk and Park&Ride Zeeburg. You can take the train get to and from Sloterdijk. Zeeburg is connected to the Amsterdam Centraal by the tram line 26.
Amsterdam Sloterdijk is also a terminal for OUIBUS and Flixbus. OUIBUS is a French operator serving Aix-en-Provence, Amsterdam, Brussels, Genoa, Lille, London, Lyon, Marseille, Milan, Nice, Paris, Paris Charles de Gaulle airport and Turin. Flixbus operates between Amsterdam and a variety of German towns and cities, as well as Copenhagen, Brussels, Prague and Milan!
Eurolines is based at station Duivendrecht. Eurolines can take you to Amsterdam from London, Hythe, Dover and Gillingham but also from various cities in 18 other countries! Except at the Duivendrecht station, they have an office in the center of Amsterdam, at Rokin 38A.
We hope this guide was useful. We worked hard to bring all the info together, but it is possible that there’s something we have overlooked. If you have anything to add, drop us a line on Facebook or Twitter!
The ultimate guide to traveling to Amsterdam
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