Photo by Adrien Olichon on Unsplash
Photos by Eirik Skarstein, Clarisa Ravasotti, Azhar J and Max van den Oetelaar on Unsplash
A resident walks through Zuidoost, which is the half of Amsterdam that the canal photographs never show. I amsterdam on YouTube
Best time to visit all of Netherlands
April to May, September
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 88mm in Nov
Where it is
52.37°N, 4.90°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Visit the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum
- Take a canal boat tour
- Explore the Jordaan neighborhood
- See Anne Frank House
- Cycle through Vondelpark
- Visit the Albert Cuyp Market
Amsterdam travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Netherlands
ExpensiveEuro country. Cards (especially contactless) work everywhere, even at market stalls. Cash is rarely needed.
ATMs & cards
Use ING, ABN AMRO, or Rabobank ATMs. GWK Travelex ATMs at the airport and station are fine but charge a small fee.
Avoid these
- GWK Travelex
- Euronet
- airport and Centraal Station machines
Use these instead
- 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.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Netherlands
Reasonably safeWatch for bikes — they have right of way and move fast. Don’t walk in bike lanes (marked in red).
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (7 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- De Wallen — the red-light district late at night, for drunk crowds and pickpockets
- Anyone selling drugs in the street — it is not what they say it is, and this is where people are hurt
- Bicycles, which are the genuine hazard: look right before stepping into a lane
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Netherlands visa rules
No visa needed
Freedom of movement — no time limit, and no visa. Bring a passport or national ID card.
Other passports
No visa neededup to 90 days
90 days within any 180-day period, counted across the whole Schengen area, not per country. ETIAS, a paid online authorisation, is being introduced for these passports — check the official link for whether it applies to your travel dates.
Visa required in advance€90 (Schengen short-stay visa)
A Schengen short-stay visa is applied for before travel, at the consulate of your main destination.
How to get it: Apply at the consulate or visa centre of the country you will spend most time in, typically 15 working days ahead and no more than six months before travel.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Netherlands
Excellent and cheapRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
Getting treated
EU/EEA and Swiss visitors are treated on the same terms as residents with an EHIC or GHIC card; UK visitors use a GHIC. Everyone else pays, and travel insurance is worth having for the repatriation cover rather than the treatment. A huisarts (GP) is the first stop for anything not life-threatening; walk-in A&E without a referral is discouraged.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
GoodTry stroopwafels fresh from a market, bitterballen at a brown café, and Indonesian rijsttafel — a Dutch colonial legacy.
Nightlife
Brown cafés for the local version, a large and organised club scene for the other, and a red-light district that is mostly other visitors looking at it.
- Jordaan — brown cafés, and the Amsterdam people mean
- Leidseplein — and Rembrandtplein, for the mainstream night
- De Pijp — bars, and the best of the eating
- Amsterdam Noord — and Westerpark, for the warehouse clubs
Closing: Bars 03:00, clubs 05:00 at the weekend.
A beer in a bar: €5–7
Photographing anyone in the windows is not tolerated, and the ban on smoking cannabis in the street in the centre is enforced.
Getting around
Easy and cheap- UberWorks here
- BoltWorks here
- From the airport
- Schiphol to central Amsterdam €45–60, against €5.90 on the train
- Against a taxi
- Under the street-taxi meter, which in Amsterdam is high on purpose.
Time zone and your working day
Europe/Amsterdam — 6 hours ahead of you
2 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–11:00 your time, 15:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 03:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 03:00–11:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Netherlands
What these numbers mean
Home broadband — Fast. Several people on calls at once, large uploads, 4K. Broadband here runs at 1.5× the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fast. Enough to work from a cafe or a beach on a hotspot all day. Mobile runs at 1.7× the global median of 109 Mbps.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested: see the stays in Amsterdam.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Netherlands, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Dutch
- HelloHalloHA-lo
- PleaseAlsjeblieftAL-shuh-bleeft
- Thank youDank je weldank yuh VEL
- Yes / NoJa / Neeya / nay
4 more phrases
- Excuse mePardonpar-DON
- How much is it?Hoeveel kost het?HOO-vayl kost het
- The bill, pleaseDe rekening, alsjeblieftduh RAY-kuh-ning
- Cheers!Proost!prohst
Practically everyone speaks excellent English and will switch the moment they hear an accent. Trying anyway is still appreciated.
Religion
No majority faith
One of the most secular countries in the world — over half the population reports no religion. Churches are often now cafés, bookshops or concert halls.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Be direct — Dutch bluntness is meant as honesty, not rudeness, and indirectness confuses people
- Look right before stepping anywhere near a bike lane
- Split the bill; going Dutch is genuinely the default
- Book restaurants ahead, even midweek
Don't
- Do not walk in the red cycle lanes — cyclists will not slow down and are not being rude
- Do not photograph people in the Red Light District; phones have been thrown in the canal for it
- Do not expect flattery or small talk before business
- Do not call the whole country Holland — that is two provinces of it
Where to stay in Amsterdam
All stays in Amsterdam
Or search the sites with the rest of Amsterdam's rentals on them:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Schiphol AMS
17 minfrom the airport· 11 km as the crow flies
Direct train to Centraal, 17 min.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
