Most visitors to Amsterdam no longer need an OV-chipkaart at all.
Tap in and out with a contactless bank card or phone through OVpay, and you are charged the same fare on GVB trams, buses and metro and on NS trains.
The yellow card still works and is still sold, and it is being replaced over time by the OV-pas.
What follows is what everything actually costs, so you can work out whether tapping or a day ticket is cheaper for your trip.
What Travel Costs In Amsterdam
Pay-as-you-go on GVB is a boarding fee of €1.16 plus 21.7 cents for every kilometre you travel.
Children from four to eleven and passengers of 65 and over pay a reduced 77 cents to board and 14.3 cents a kilometre.
A three-kilometre tram ride therefore costs about €1.81, which is the number to hold in your head when you look at the passes.
The GVB day ticket is €10 for 24 hours and €5 for a child, so it only pays for itself past five or six journeys.
A single one-hour GVB ticket is €3.40, and a night bus journey is €5.70.
The multi-day GVB tickets run €16 for two days, €21.50 for three, €27.50 for four, €34 for five, €39 for six and €43 for seven.
Those cover GVB only, which is the trap: they are not valid on NS trains or on the regional buses that reach the airport.
The 1.5-hour Bus Tram Metro ticket was withdrawn at the start of 2026, so do not go looking for it.
Tickets That Include The Airport And The Region
The Amsterdam Travel Ticket costs €20 for one day, €27 for two and €34 for three, and it includes the Schiphol connection as well as GVB.
The Amsterdam & Region Travel Ticket is €23, €34 and €44 for the same durations and stretches to Haarlem, Zandvoort, Volendam and the wider region.
If you are driving in, the GVB P+R ticket is the one that matters: €6 for one or two people, €7 for three, €8.50 for four and €9.50 for five, covering the return journey into the city from a park-and-ride.
Groups travelling together can take the GVB group day ticket at €27, bought through the GVB app.
Anyone staying longer looks at monthly products instead, where GVB Vrij gives unlimited city travel for €129 a month.
How Tapping Actually Works
Check in when you board and check out when you leave, every single time, on trams, buses, metro and trains.
Use the same card or the same phone for both taps, because the system matches them as a pair.
Forgetting to check out means the maximum fare is deducted rather than the distance you actually travelled.
That is the most common and most expensive mistake visitors make, and it happens most often on crowded trams where people leave by the middle door without looking for a reader.
If it happens, start the refund with the operator you rode with while the journey is still recent.
Your ride history sits in the GVB app for city travel and the NS app for trains, and in your OV-chipkaart account if you are using the card.
An anonymous OV-chipkaart needs enough stored credit before you board, topped up at a station machine or an NS ticket machine.
Trains, Schiphol, And Travel Beyond The City
OVpay works on NS, so you can tap into a train at Amsterdam Centraal, ride to Utrecht or Rotterdam, and tap out at the far end without buying anything.
That is what has made day trips out of Amsterdam simple.
For Schiphol, the NS intercity between the airport and Centraal is the fastest route and takes about a quarter of an hour.
Bus 397 is the better option if you are staying near Leidseplein, Museumplein or the Rijksmuseum, because it drops you there rather than at the station.
Once outside Amsterdam you will meet regional operators such as Connexxion, and OVpay works on their vehicles too.
When A Card Still Beats A Bank Card
An anonymous OV-chipkaart earns its place when you want travel spending kept off your bank card, when you prefer to load cash, or when a foreign card behaves unreliably on Dutch readers.
It is bought at machines and service points at Amsterdam Centraal and Schiphol.
A personal OV-chipkaart is a resident’s product rather than a visitor’s, because it is what carries NS subscriptions, Kids Vrij and student travel rights.
If you are moving here rather than visiting, that is the point at which the OV-pas transition starts to matter.
For a short stay you can ignore all of it and simply tap.
Practical updates on the city arrive daily in the Essentially Amsterdam newsletter.
Frequently Asked Questions
The two decisions worth getting right are which card you tap with and whether a pass beats paying per ride.
What is an OV-chipkaart and how does it work on public transport in Amsterdam?
It is a reusable smart card for Dutch public transport that you load with credit and tap on the readers to check in and out.
The fare comes off the balance based on the distance you travelled, at the same rates as OVpay.
Can tourists buy and use an OV-chipkaart in the Netherlands?
Yes, an anonymous card is sold to anyone and works on trams, buses, metro and trains across the country.
Most visitors now skip it, because a contactless bank card does the same job at the same price with nothing to buy or return.
Where can I buy an OV-chipkaart in Amsterdam?
Machines and service points at Amsterdam Centraal and at Schiphol are the easiest places, and larger stations across the country sell them too.
You need to load credit before your first journey, because the card arrives empty.
How do I check in and check out correctly on trams, buses, and the metro?
Hold the card or phone against the reader when you board and again when you get off, and wait for the beep and the green light.
A missed check-out costs you the maximum fare rather than the actual one.
Should I choose pay-as-you-go or a day ticket in Amsterdam?
At €1.16 to board plus 21.7 cents a kilometre, a typical short tram ride is under €2, so the €10 day ticket needs five or six journeys before it wins.
Buy the day ticket if you are hopping on and off all day; tap your bank card if you are walking most of the time.
Which app is best for planning routes and checking times in Amsterdam?
The GVB app is the better one inside the city, with live departure times for trams, buses, metro and the IJ ferries.
The NS app is the one to use the moment a train is involved, because it covers the whole national network.
