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Many people have asked how expensive it would be to come to
Amsterdam. Many have not traveled to Europe and are
fearful that it is way too expensive to visit, so below I discuss the costs and
options of coming to visit us in Amsterdam. I will go through the costs starting with the most expensive
and working my way down.
#1 Airfare
Flying to Amsterdam from Omaha is reasonably easy with
direct flights departing from Chicago, Detroit, and Minneapolis making the
first leg super easy and short.
Delta and United have been the most competitive out of Omaha for as long
as Jackie and an I have been traveling internationally from there. A great resource is Kayak.com for
checking flight costs. Flight
costs will depend a lot on when you come.
High Season $1,200
to $1,400
Amsterdam’s high season is from June to September and flights
from Omaha will likely cost $1,200 to $1,400 per person. Benefits to coming at this time
is great weather, Amsterdam average highs ranges from 67.5 to 71.8 during these
months, there are lots of events going on and very long days. Amsterdam is far more north than Omaha
which means on the longest day of the year, June 21st, Omaha gets 15
hour and 9 minutes of daylight, while Amsterdam get 16 hours and 45
minutes. This gives plenty
of time to take photos and walk the many great neighborhoods of Amsterdam.
The drawbacks are that you will be fighting crowds at the
best museums, competing with tour groups, and hotel costs will be much
higher.
Shoulder Season
<$1,200
Flights can be had from Omaha for less than $1,200 and
possibly under $1,000 from March to May and October. Weather is nice; days’ lengths are not as extreme so you get
a bit of day and night on your trip.
The crowds are not as bad and both give you some seasonal color. October for the trees changing colors,
and from March to May is Tulip season.
Want to ride a bike through Tulip fields? Come in the spring!
Low Season < $1,000 and potential for $800 or less.
I have seen tickets as cheap as $765 to Amsterdam from Omaha
in December. Weather is not as
extreme as Nebraska, but it can get wet and windy. If you hit it right it could be in the 50s or it could be
cold and the canals of Amsterdam have iced over giving a rare opportunity to
participate with the Dutch in their favorite sport, ice-skating. The big draw for winter is (other
than over New Years) the city is relatively quiet so you can have the museums
to yourself, you have cheaper hotels, and you have winter Dutch food that
includes stampot, kruidnoten (my favoite, crispy ginger cookies dipped in good
quality European chocolate), and Oliebollen (oil balls) Dutch doughnuts stuffed
with raisins and dusted with powered sugar sold on the streets from October to
New Years Day.
The main drawback is daylight. Obviously in a reverse of summer, Omaha gets 9 hours and 13
minutes of sunlight on the shortest day of the year but in Amsterdam gets a
measly 7 hours and 41 minutes (and it is usually cloudy).
#2 Hotel Costs
There are many hotel and B&B options in Amsterdam. We can suggest a few that will cost you
somewhere from $125 to $200 a night, but depending on quality this could adjust
up a ton. The hotel that is across the street from us starts at 450 Euro a
night.
A place to sleep is always going to go neck-and-neck with
the cost of the flight depending on how long you are away on a trip. These will definitely be the number #1
and #2 costs for a trip. So one of
the best options for coming to Amsterdam is to stay with us. A place to stay for free makes an
international trip WAY cheaper.
We do not have a big apartment - it only has one bedroom -
but due to the fact that our bed’s mattresses took 2 months to build we have
two really comfortable additional mattresses that put together make a king sized
bed we can set up in the main room (and can easily be broken down and put up
each day). We also have two
bathrooms, so you would have your own toilet and sink. So as long as you can deal with our two
cats and sharing a shower, you’re more then welcome to stay with us.
#3 Sites
These are my favorite museums in Amsterdam along with their
costs.
49
1
|
Amsterdams Historisch Museum
|
History
|
€ 10.00
|
2
|
Van Gogh Museum
|
Art
|
€ 15.00
|
3
|
Rijksmuseum
|
Art
|
€ 14.00
|
4
|
Anne Frank House
|
History
|
€ 9.00
|
5
|
Museum Het Rembrandthuis
|
Art/Hostory
|
€ 10.00
|
6
|
Museum Amstelkring, Ons' Lieve Heer Op Solder
|
Church/History
|
€ 8.00
|
7
|
Museum Geelvinck-Hinlope
|
Historic Home
|
€ 8.00
|
8
|
Museum Van Loon
|
Historic Home
|
€ 8.00
|
9
|
Willet-Holthuysen Museum
|
Historic Home
|
€ 8.00
|
10
|
Oude Kerk
|
Church
|
€ 5.00
|
11
|
De Nieuwe Kerk
|
Church
|
€ 15.00
|
You could reasonably hit all of these in a 4-5 day window
and it would cost you 110 Euro to go to all of them. Luckily the Dutch have a museum card that is good for a year
to go to all these museums plus a ton more, and costs 49.90 Euro. So if you want to go to these, a museum
card would cost less than half the original price.
#4 Local Transport
Other than walking, which you will do a lot of, the best way
to cover longer distances in Amsterdam is by Tram or Bicycle.
Bicycle
Amsterdam is one of the great bike cities of the world, if
not the best. Every street either
has its own bike lane, bikeway on the sidewalks, or is a minor street and can
be easily shared with cars. In
fact, there are as many bikes in Amsterdam as there are people. Everyone rides them - kids, old people,
men in 3000 Euro business suits - it’s part of the culture. Riding a bike in Amsterdam may be one
of the highlights of a trip here.
You can rent a bike for a day for around 10 Euro or for a week for
around 50 Euro. The rental
will include two locks, but no helmet.
(No one wears helmets here since the bike speeds are not fast, cars are
scared of bicyclists, and many precautions are put in place to keep bicyclists
safe.)
Tram
The cheapest tram ticket is a one-hour pass that will cost
you 2.70 Euro. You will
likely need at least two of these a day. GVB, the local tram, bus, and subway company sells day
passes for 1 to 7 days in duration. If you get the 7 day pass it costs 31 Euro, but you will
break even if you ride it 1.6 times a day during the course of the trip, making
it easy to just jump on and off trams as often as you like.
You can do one or the other, or a combination of both.
The only other local transport cost is getting from the
airport to the Central Train station, which costs 3.40 Euro.
#5 Other Activities
Boat Trip – Big Tourist Boats
Amsterdam is a city of canals, and a great way to see the
city from a different angle is by boat.
Amsterdam has many competing boat companies that charge as little as 9 Euro
per person. These are glass-topped
boats so no worry of getting wet, but they are bigger so they will not go down
smaller canals.
Boat Trip – Small Open-Top Boats
An alternative to the big tourist boats is a tour put on by
Boom Chicago. This is a
great alternative to those who have heard of the “St Nicholaas Boat Club” a
very popular boat conservation company that used to do tours, but due to legal
troubles are no longer doing them.
The boats seat 10 people, go out only once a day, are open-topped, so
you might get wet, but they are more personable and can go down smaller
canals. They cost 15 Euro, and the
tour lasts 75 minutes. In the
spirit of the “St Nicholaas Boat Club” bringing food, beer, and “something to
smoke” to share with fellow passengers is welcomed.
Boom Chicago
Boom Chicago may not be as well known as SNL, Second City or
Upright Citizens Brigade, but they are a quite good skit and improv group
located in Amsterdam. Past group
members include Seth Meyers and Jason Sudeikis of SNL and Jordan Peele of Key
and Peele to name a few. Most
shows are 15 to 20 Euros.
#6 Food and Drink
Eating out in Amsterdam can be expensive. A casual meal at a sit down restaurant
that would be a rough equivalent of Chili’s will run you 25 Euro a person
without any drinks. Dutch food
isn’t amazing (with some exceptions); probably the most interesting meal in an Amsterdam
restaurant will be Indonesian food.
Indonesia was once a colony of the Dutch, and its food is now part of
the Dutch food tradition, so it may be of interest to try. The best way to try it is getting a
Rijstaffel (rice table) which is a sampling of 6-12 Indonesian dishes served
with rice. There are 5-6
well-known restaurants in Amsterdam that service this and it will cost 18 to 40
Euros for one person.
Cheaper alternative for eating out would include:
La Place, which has high quality pre-prepared soups,
sandwiches, and pastas to take away or eat in for reasonable prices and one location
is on the top floor of the main library overlooking downtown.
FEBO is a vending machine fast food restaurant. You put in a Euro and a half and you
get a croquet filled with gravy and meat, a breaded cheese pastry, or a
hamburger (cheap and tasty, if not overly healthy).
Wok to Walk, an Amsterdam Asian noodle chain. Pick your noodle or rice, pick your
meat and toppings, pick a sauce, and watch the cook prepare it for you. Speedy and only 8-10 Euros depending on
how many toppings you choose.
French Fries!
You will see stands all around downtown, but we have our favorite and
this treat will set you back 3.50 Euro or so for fries and your sauce of
choice, whether it is a classic like Mayo, or other excellent choices like
peanut sauce, curry ketchup or “Andaluse”.
Self-Catering
Cheese, oh glorious Dutch cheese. After being here nearly 6 months I’m now starting to
understand the many types of Gouda available here and their wonderful
qualities. Amsterdam has several
outstanding cheese stores where you could stock up on cheese for as little as 3
Euro for a half pound. Who doesn’t
like cheese and crackers for a meal?
If you’re staying with us… or even if your not, the Dutch
have great basic ingredients for cooking: great meat, great veg, great fruit,
so feel free to use the kitchen.
We also have all kinds of cheese slicing tools.
Drink
Beer rules in the Netherlands. Wine is simply a sideshow and can be expensive, but if you
stay away from the more touristy shops a good bottle of wine can be had for
8-12 Euros.
Beer seems cheap here. Not sure what you will be charged in a pub, but a 6 pack of
high end Dutch beer in bottles will set you back 4-10 Euros.
Sweets
No trip to Amsterdam is complete without Dutch sweets. A hot stroopwaffel, little pancakes, chocolate
spread, butter cookies, cakes, are all necessary! Most sweets are cheap and will not impact the budget
too much.
Conclusion
Obviously food and drink are very dependent on individual
requirements, but if you were trying to do the trip on the cheap and pack most
of your meals, you can still try great Dutch cheese and Dutch beer and you
could probably get by on less then 20-25 Euros a day. If you want to pack a few, eat at Wok to Walk, and get
Rijstaffel once, you could easily do it on 35 Euro or less. If your going to eat all your meals
out, 50 Euro is the absolute minimum for food and drinks and that would still
require eating at places like Wok to Walk for lunches.
#7 Extra Curricular
Yes soft drugs are legal in Amsterdam and the
Netherlands. A lot of people come
to Amsterdam just for these, others it’s just another Dutch experience. Whatever your take, here is some
prices.
Gram of Marijuana – 8-13 Euros
Gram of Hash – 10-14 Euros
Magic Truffles 1 serving (mushrooms are illegal) – 13-17.5 Euros
#8 Side Trips
3-5 days is a good amount of time for a quick trip to
Amsterdam, but there are also some great short trips. Dutch cities like Leiden, Haarlem, Utrecht, Gouda, the Hague,
and Rotterdam are all less then 45 minutes by train and no train ticket will
cost you more than 25 Euro round trip. Many of the museums in these cities will also take the
Museum card; all these cities are great for a stroll. So any additional side day trip will cost you an extra 25 Euro
or less.
Conclusion
Based on the above information, an individual could come to
Amsterdam and stay with us on the cheap for as little as $1,100 for 5 days,
$1,500 for moderate spending and still staying with us, or around $3,000 if
coming at peak time and staying at a hotel.
Trip Costs
|
Cheap
|
Mix
|
High End
|
Flights
|
$800
|
$1,100
|
$1,300
|
Hotels
|
Free
|
Free
|
$900
|
Sites
|
$67
|
$67
|
$67
|
Transport
|
$32
|
$32
|
$32
|
Other Activities
|
$12
|
$47
|
$47
|
Food and Drink
|
$134
|
$235
|
$335
|
Total
|
$1,045
|
$1,480
|
$2,681
|
When we travel we try to maximize the number of days gone
with the number of days used for vacation. So we would most often leave after work on a Friday from
Omaha, which would have one arriving in Amsterdam Saturday morning. If you left the following weekend on a
Sunday on a late morning flight, you would be back in Omaha by Sunday
afternoon. That gives you 8 total
days on the ground in Europe.
Amsterdam probably doesn’t need that much time by itself, but it is a
great town to stay and relax in, and if you have a free place to stay, see more
of the Netherlands using Amsterdam as a home base.
Here is another chart with the cost of staying 8 days, and
taking several day trips. Many
smaller towns can be combined with bigger, especially in the summer when you
have lots of daylight.
Trip Costs
|
Cheap
|
Mix
|
High End
|
Flights
|
$800
|
$1,100
|
$1,300
|
Hotels
|
Free
|
Free
|
$1,440
|
Sites
|
$67
|
$67
|
$67
|
Transport
|
$50
|
$50
|
$50
|
Other Activities
|
$12
|
$47
|
$47
|
Food and Drink
|
$214
|
$375
|
$536
|
Utrecht / Amersfoort
|
$50
|
$50
|
$50
|
Haarlem/Leiden
|
$50
|
$50
|
$50
|
Gouda/Rotterdam
|
$50
|
$50
|
$50
|
Delft/the Hague
|
$50
|
$50
|
$50
|
Total
|
$1,343
|
$1,839
|
$3,640
|
I will add another post on suggested additional trips to combine
easily with Amsterdam for a quick 10 day trip that would be a great starting
trip for anyone who has never been to Europe. So watch for that!
