Amsterdam Expensive
Try stroopwafels fresh from a market, bitterballen at a brown café, and Indonesian rijsttafel — a Dutch colonial legacy.
Budget travel in Netherlands
What a visitor's money does in Netherlands: every guide rated from very cheap to very expensive, cheapest first, then the things that cost travellers money without buying anything — the ATM, the taxi, the SIM.
Expensive average across 1 guide · 5 is very cheap
Money
Euro (EUR) · 1 EUR = 1.15 USD · 1 EUR = 0.86 GBP
Euro country. Cards (especially contactless) work everywhere, even at market stalls. Cash is rarely needed.
ATMs
Avoid: GWK Travelex, Euronet, airport and Centraal Station machines
Use: Geldmaat (the shared Dutch bank network), ING, ABN AMRO, Rabobank
Dutch banks pooled their machines into Geldmaat — the yellow ones are the ones you want. GWK Travelex is the classic tourist trap here.
Getting around
A short ride in Amsterdam: €12–20 across town — pricey
From the airport: Schiphol to central Amsterdam €45–60, against €5.90 on the train
Under the street-taxi meter, which in Amsterdam is high on purpose.
City by city, cheapest first
The cost rating is this site's own, for a visitor, from the guides' authors and the corrections readers send in. The general rules — the conversion prompt, shoulder season, the airport taxi — are in budget travel tips.
