Andaz Amsterdam: Part 1 – From Schipol to Reception

by MilesFromBlighty 4 Comments

It is some years (3 to be exact) since I last visited Amsterdam and so I did a little research before I arrived on the best way to get from Schipol Airport to the new Andaz. There seemed to be several options – train to Central Station and then the tram, train to one of the suburban stations and then the tram or the bus from Schipol to quite close to the hotel. Whichever way I chose would result in a 10-15 minute walk from the appropriate stop to the hotel Reception.

I also noticed that Amsterdam had changed how it’s ticketing worked. In the old days you would buy a ticket good for about 5 or 7 trips on the tram and a single ticket for the train. They seem to have moved to a scheme where by you use an electronic card which is pre-loaded with credit. Having searched for the single ticket machine for the train I obtained one of these tickets – which seem like an Oyster but with significant differences. These are a warning to those new to this like me – There is a EUR7 deposit and you must have EUR20 on the card as a credit before getting on the train – even though the train fare to Central Station is much less than that. This means an up front cost of EUR 27.

You can obtain the card from the train ticket desks, which I noticed for the first time ever, were fully manned.

So, I decided to get the bus as it is much cheaper than the train/tram combination and I wanted to try out my new card.

The bus from Schipol to Leidesplein is the 197 which runs every 15-20 minutes, but only every 30 minutes on Sunday. The 197 leaves from Stop B9 on the first island.

a group of people standing outside of a building

a yellow sign with black text

There are signs showing times of the next buses and any delays at the bus stop.

a screen shot of a computerIf you want to pay cash, as many did, you have to buy your ticket from the driver (EUR2.74). If you have the ticket above, you can access by any door, swiping in on the readers just inside the doors.

people sitting on a busThe bus takes 25 minutes to the last stop and from there it is about a 15 minute walk to the hotel Reception at 587 Prinsengracht.

 

Comments

  2. Are you sure that a train ticket from Schiphol on an ordinary train doesn’t already include the tram? Also it looked to me like there is a tram stop just 2 or 3 blocks from the Andaz with 3 lines coming from Central Station. So I figure it is less than 5 minutes walk from the tram. But I haven’t been there yet.

    One thing that would be useful is if there were a single prepaid card that could be used on all the transit systems that use the Euro, they could just debit the card. Instead of every system having its own proprietary card.

  3. @Carl – It’s about a 10 minute from the tram and I am pretty sure the train does not include the tram.
    If Europe was one country there might be a hope, or if they used the new contactless credit/debit cards instead of their own card it would be better.

  4. Well I do know that in cities like FRA, MUC & ZRH the train fare from the airport includes local transit (U-Bahn, Tram, Bus). All the transit fares are from zone to zone, regardless of provider, and the city limits are all one zone. In MUC you can buy a daypass for 1 Euro more than the 1-way fare from the airport.

    I am surprised that AMS wouldn’t have the same sort of transport association for the region.

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