Amsterdam Tram Lines & Tickets: How It Works for Visitors
The Amsterdam tram is run by GVB and is the fastest way around the centre — tap a contactless card or phone (OVpay) when you board and again when you leave, or ride unlimited on a GVB day ticket (€10 for 24h) or an I amsterdam City Card.
The Amsterdam tram is the city’s main surface transport: a dense network of blue-and-white GVB trams that thread through the centre and reach almost every major sight, with most lines starting from or passing through Amsterdam Centraal. For first-time visitors a few lines cover nearly everything — the museums, the canal belt, Leidseplein, the Jordaan and De Pijp — and it is faster than a taxi in traffic and far less effort than walking the whole city.
Paying is refreshingly simple in 2026. The cheapest way for a few short hops is to tap a contactless bank card or phone straight onto the reader — the system called OVpay — which charges €1.16 to board plus €0.217 per kilometre and caps your GVB spending at €10.50 a day. If you ride a lot, a GVB day ticket (€10 for 24 hours of unlimited tram, bus and metro) or an I amsterdam City Card is better value. This guide covers the lines worth knowing, every ticket option, the hours, and exactly how to tap in and out so you are never fined.
Which tram lines matter for sightseeing
A handful of lines cover nearly everything a first-time visitor wants to see, and almost all of them start from or pass through Amsterdam Centraal. Trams 2 and 12 are the classic museum run, dropping you beside the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum on Museumplein, while lines 5, 14, 17 and 24 fan out across the canal belt, the Jordaan, Leidseplein and De Pijp. One thing to know: the tram does not cross the IJ to Amsterdam Noord — for that you take the free GVB ferry behind Centraal instead.
- Tram 2 — Centraal to Museumplein (Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh, Moco) and Leidseplein
- Tram 12 — loops the south, also serving the museum quarter and De Pijp
- Tram 5 — Centraal through the centre toward the Zuid/RAI district
- Tram 14 — east–west across the centre, handy for Waterlooplein and the Jordaan
- Trams 17 & 24 — useful cross-town links to Westermarkt (near the Anne Frank House) and De Pijp
- Free GVB ferries — depart behind Centraal across the IJ to Noord (Buiksloterweg, NDSM, IJplein); no ticket, bikes allowed
OVpay: paying with a contactless card or phone
The simplest way to pay is to tap a contactless bank card, phone or smartwatch on the card reader — the OVpay system — with nothing to buy in advance and no app to install. The GVB Max daily cap keeps everything you spend on GVB with one card to €10.50, so heavy OVpay travel never costs more than a day ticket. Use one card per traveller and hold it on its own; Visa, Mastercard and Maestro work, American Express does not. For the exact per-kilometre fares and how OVpay compares to a day ticket, see the tickets & fares guide.
GVB tickets and city cards: which to choose
If you ride more than two or three times a day, a fixed-price GVB ticket beats paying per trip: all GVB day and multi-day tickets give unlimited tram, bus and metro across the city, counted from your first check-in (children 4–11 pay €5, under-4s free). Since 2023 drivers no longer sell tickets on board, so buy online, from a GVB machine or at a Tickets & Info point near Centraal. If you already hold an I amsterdam City Card it includes GVB travel, and for trips out of town the Amsterdam & Region Travel Ticket covers the wider network that plain GVB tickets do not.
- 1-hour single — €3.40 (valid on all GVB tram, bus and metro, including transfers)
- GVB day ticket — €10 for 24h, rising to €43 for 7 days (~€6.15/day)
Getting from Schiphol Airport to the centre
A standard GVB tram ticket does not cover the airport, so plan that first leg separately. The fastest option is the train from Schiphol to Amsterdam Centraal — about 17–20 minutes — where you step straight onto your tram. The Airport Express bus 397 (handy for the museum quarter) and official taxis are alternatives, neither covered by a GVB ticket. The full breakdown of times, fares and where to board is in the Schiphol Airport guide.
Hours, frequency and where to wait
Trams run from roughly 06:00 until about 00:30, with core lines arriving every 5–10 minutes in the daytime and every 10–15 minutes in the evening. After the trams stop, a network of GVB night buses covers the main routes, so a late night out is not a problem — a single night-bus journey is €5.70 if you pay separately, though it is included in GVB day tickets.
Stops are clearly marked with the line numbers that call there and a real-time display showing the next departures. Board through any door with a card reader, and press the on-board stop button before your stop so the driver knows to halt. On busy central lines there is no need to flag the tram down — it pulls in automatically.
How to tap in and out (and avoid fines)
Hold your contactless card, phone or ticket flat against the pink-and-grey reader until it beeps and shows a green light — that is your tap in. When you reach your stop, tap the same card again on a reader before you step off to tap out. Forgetting to tap out triggers a €4 penalty fare, and travelling without a valid check-in counts as fare evasion, which since October 2025 carries a €70 fine plus the fare.
A few habits keep it painless: use the same payment method for the whole trip, hold one card at a time, and always wait for the green light rather than assuming it worked. If you are paying with OVpay, the daily cap means you never overpay even if you forget how many trips you have taken — but you must still tap out each time.
OVpay pay-per-ride vs a GVB day ticket (one busy sightseeing day)
| Trips that day | OVpay contactless | GVB 24h day ticket |
|---|---|---|
| 2 short tram rides | approx. €6–7 | €10.00 |
| 4 tram rides | approx. €10.50 (capped) | €10.00 |
| 6+ rides (tram/metro) | €10.50 (capped) | €10.00 |
| Best choice | 1–2 trips only | 3+ trips a day |
