Amsterdam's park and ride service - all you need to know

Beat the hefty parking fees and hectic streets of Amsterdam with our 10 steps to the park and ride system

We travelled to Amsterdam with our car, via ferry (full review here).

Handy? Well, yes, especially for the next part of our journey. But drivers are warned to avoid taking cars into Amsterdam city centre itself. It is difficult for tourists to navigate, has a high volume of trams and bicycles, scant parking spaces and hefty parking fees.

Thankfully, there are park and ride (P+R) options – seven good value car parks on the edge of the city.

Follow our 10-step guide to using them.

Step 1

Find a park and ride site, they are marked from the motorways. The biggest and most popular is Olympic Stadium. The junction signs will tell you if the P+R is full (Vol means full in Dutch, Vrij mean free).
You can’t book in advance.

Step 2

Enter the car park and take a normal ticket.

Step 3

Park up and find one of the blue park and ride machines. Buy the number of transport tickets you need (one per person – each ticket costs around 2/3 euros).

Step 4

Find public transport into the city centre straight away. You only have an hour after parking to reach the city centre.

IMPORTANT – You can only use the blue and white GVB trams or buses.

Tickets are not valid on other options like the metro or red buses.

Step 5

When you enter the tram/bus you MUST tap your ticket (everybody’s tickets) on the small, black, circular machine next to the door.

Step 6

Ride to your city centre stop and when you exit you MUST tap the card on the exit to register it.

Step 7

Put that card away for the remainder of your Amsterdam visit. It is useless until your return journey to park and ride – but don’t lose it!

Step 8

When leaving the city to get your car, repeat the process – tap in with your original blue card when boarding and then tap out when you arrive to collect your car.

Step 9

Return to the special park and ride machine in the car park.

Put your car park ticket in first. A huge price comes up. Don’t panic.

Step 10

Then scan your blue transport card and if you have followed the steps above your fee goes down to potentially as low as 1 euro per day.

In conclusion

This is the cheapest way to take a car to Amsterdam but it is fiddly and complicated so take care to follow these steps and you will save possibly hundreds of euros to spend on your holiday.

Read about how to navigate Amsterdam with kids here: Our full guide to getting around Amsterdam with children

And here are our tips on what to do with children in the city: Amsterdam’s top attractions and activities for children