Amsterdam Centraal Station – Central Station
Discover the transport heart of Amsterdam
Amsterdam Central station is the main transport hub of Amsterdam. It is a beautiful gothic building with reflections in the equally impressive Rijksmuseum building. To the rear of the building the River IJ flows by and you can catch the ferries to places like A’DAM Lookout and Eye Film Museum.
Your first view of Amsterdam is likely to be Amsterdam Central. From Schiphol airport it is quite likely that you will use the rail connection to Centraal station, although you can take a private car transfer if you prefer. If you are using the Eurostar this now terminates at Centraal station.
Amsterdam Centraal station is often used as the starting point on maps to help you get around the city. It offers rail links to/from the airport, Eurostar terminals, links to stations throughout the city and to towns and cities across the Netherlands. It also links up the rail, ferry, trams, bus and metro.
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GVB Tickets at Central Station
Once in Central Station you may need tickets for your journey around Amsterdam, the most commonly used is the GVB ticket that gives you access to all of Amsterdam’s public transport.
Amsterdam Centraal train station
Used by over 250,000 passengers every day, Amsterdam Centraal station is the second busiest station in Holland.
The rail services are provided by Nederlandse Spoorwegan (NS) who are the main rail operator in Holland. The station has International and national routes that allow you to travel to many places of local and overseas interest
The building itself is a tourist attraction in its own right. It is a beautiful building with Renaissance/Gothic architecture which has echoes in the world famous Rijksmuseum, being designed by the same architect. As it a place to pick up lots of the public transport for Amsterdam and nearby to the central hotels, you’ll find yourself walking past or milling around the Centraal Station quite often during your stay.
Inside you’ll find cafes, restaurants, ticket office, toilets, luggage lockers, shops, minimarkets, self-service ticket machines, and bike hire/repair facilities.
Amsterdam Centraal Station has 15 platforms which can each take two trains, so it is a large station by any description. As most visitors arrive in Centraal Station, the tourist office is located here and is a good place to at least pick up your free map of the city to help you get around.
Amsterdam Centraal Station is the transport hub of Amsterdam. With rail, metro, tram, bus and ferry operations all accessed here.
Learn about Amsterdam’s Public Transport
With Amsterdam Centraal Station being the main hub of transport in Amsterdam, you’ll want to understand how it all works. Amsterdam Centraal Station allows you to access the metro, buses, trams and ferries and additionall the canal boats to get around locally. The trains will take you further afield too. Learn which cities are close to Amsterdam.
There are night buses that serve the city once the day time service of the metro and trams has finished. There are also night trains leaving from central station to Schiphol Airport, so you can catch any flight, morning or night.
We have dedicated pages all about public transport in Amsterdam and tickets. Use our links below to learn more and pre-book tickets using the GVB 1hr, day or multi-day pass options. We also explore using the anonmyous OV-Chipkaart for longer stays, tourist travel tickets and the I Amsterdam City Card.
Arrivals at Amsterdam Centraal station
Underneath the platforms at Central Station are tunnels. One of these is basically a shopping area. The other tunnels are called the Main, Eastern and Western. These lead to the various railway platforms. Most visitors will exit the station towards the city centre and not towards the river. You might head for the riverside if you intend to use the ferries to access Amsterdam Noord or for the bus station that takes passengers to other Dutch cities from Amsterdam.
As you emerge from Amsterdam Central Station, you’ll realise that Amsterdam is laid out in front of you. There are plenty of hotels virtually opposite the station, so it is just a short trundle across the road to check-in or if further afield, take a tram. The rest of Amsterdam (the historic part at least) is easily walkable and the tram, bus and metro starting at Central Station fan out across the city. The tram station is right in front of the station and is a lovely iconic way to start your exploration.
Amsterdam Centraal station – trains to Paris, Brussels and Cologne
As the major hub of Amsterdam, it is no surprise that this station is also the staging post for rail travel outside of Holland too. There are a few options available.
Brussels is very easy and quick to reach from Amsterdam, taking around 1hr 50 minutes. The Thalys trains get you there fastest, with the NS train being slower at just under three hours, but it might save you some money if you are not in a rush.
The other option is to use the Eurostar. This can get you to Brussels in a similar time to the Thayls trains. The major difference is that the Eurostar runs a lot less frequently so limits your choice of departing times.
If you want to go to Cologne you can leave from Amsterdam Centraal Station and use the jointly run NS and DB ICE International train. This takes around 2 hours 40 minutes.
You can use fast Thalys trains that can take you from Amsterdam to Paris in around 3 hours 20 minutes.
Amsterdam Centraal Ferries
At the back of the station on the riverside are the Amsterdam ferries. These ferries sport the white and blue of the GVB network and will take you across the River IJ for free if you are on foot or on bike.
They are a really useful means of getting to the areas of Amsterdam across the river.
Find out more about the River IJ Ferries.
