Amsterdam public transport for visitors: GVB fares, OVpay and which trams and ferries to use

💡 The Short Version: Pay with a contactless bank card or phone (OVpay): check in and out with the same card. On the GVB, pay-as-you-go is €1.16 plus €0.217 a kilometre, and GVB Max never charges more than €10.50 a day. The GVB Day ticket is €10.00 for 24 hours, and a 1-hour ticket €3.40. The anonymous OV-chipkaart stopped being sold after 1 July 2026. The tram map changed on 29 March 2026, so check the GVB planner before you follow a line from an older guide, and no tram runs to the Anne Frank House’s Westermarkt stop until February 2028. The IJ ferries behind Centraal are free. Fares in force from 1 January 2026, from gvb.nl, 1 October 2026.

Tickets and fares, compared

The GVB runs Amsterdam’s trams, buses, metro and the IJ ferries. Its fares are the same on a bank card, an OV-pas and an OV-chipkaart balance.

• The day ticket against GVB Max: the Day ticket is 50 cents cheaper than the cap. A 5 km ride is €1.16 plus 5 × €0.217, about €2.25, so a card reaches the €10.50 cap after roughly five longer rides. For two or three short rides you need neither.
• Night buses: the 1-hour ticket and GVB Max do not cover them. Pay €5.70 a ride with OVpay.
• Bikes: allowed on the metro and on tram 26 only, not Monday to Friday 07:00 to 09:00 and 16:00 to 18:30. Bikes ride free on the ferries (GVB, 1 October 2026).
• Buying ahead: GetYourGuide’s GVB Public Transport Ticketad is from £8.54 (4.2 stars from 47,408 reviews, read 1 October 2026), against GVB’s own Day ticket at €10.00.

Paying with a bank card (OVpay)

At the GVB reader on a tram, bus or metro gate, tap a contactless debit or credit card, or a phone or watch with one on it. Nothing needs registering (GVB, 1 October 2026).

• Check in and out with the same card every time. A plastic card and the same card on your phone count as two.
• One card, one person. One card does not pay for a group.
• Miss a check-out and the rate is €4, the full rate, which you can correct in your MyGVB OVpay account (GVB, 1 October 2026).
• On a tram with a conductor, the conductor sells 1-hour and Day tickets, and takes a card.

The OV-chipkaart and the OV-pas

The anonymous OV-chipkaart, the card visitors used to buy and top up at a machine, stopped being sold after 1 July 2026, and the card is being phased out by the end of 2027. Existing cards stay valid until then (Treinreiziger, 20 June 2026). Use a bank card or phone instead. The new OV-pas costs €6, is valid for 5 years and needs at least €4 of balance before a GVB trip, which suits a long stay but not a weekend (GVB, 1 October 2026).

Trams, and what changed in 2026

The GVB changed its timetable on 29 March 2026. Tram 3 was abolished after 124 years, tram 25 now runs on to the Flevopark, and tram 24 no longer runs along Ferdinand Bolstraat and Vijzelstraat, so De Pijp’s main road lost its tram (NH Nieuws, 29 March 2026). Older guides and hotel pages still send you down Ferdinand Bolstraat by tram: check the GVB planner for the line you need.

Works that affect trams, from the GVB’s own page, read 1 October 2026 (gvb.nl):

• The Oranje Loper, 2024 to 2027, on Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal, Rozengracht and Marnixstraat and at the Westermarkt, mainly hits trams 13 and 17 and the night buses.
• The Overtoomsesluis bridge is closed from 16 September 2026 to 30 April 2027, which affects trams 1, 12 and 13.
• The works in Oost, at Alexanderplein, Czaar Peterstraat, Linnaeusstraat and Middenweg, run in phases to 2027 and affect trams 1, 7, 14, 19 and 25.
• Tram 26 was extended on 31 August 2026 by three stops to IJburg Strandeiland.

The Anne Frank House. From 15 February 2025 to February 2028 no tram runs to the Westermarkt stop, but one runs to Dam Square, 10 minutes’ walk away. The museum puts the walk from Centraal at 20 minutes (annefrank.org, 1 October 2026).

The metro

The metro has lines 50, 51, 52, 53 and 54. The Noord/Zuid line (52) runs from Noord through Centraal, Vijzelgracht and De Pijp to Zuid. From mid-December 2027 the metro network is rearranged, and lines 50 and 53 become one line (GVB, 24 November 2025). Works close sections for a weekend or a few days: check the GVB planner for the date you travel.

The free ferries behind Centraal

The IJ ferries run from the back of Centraal and are free for pedestrians, cyclists and mopeds (GVB, 1 October 2026).

• F3, Centraal to Buiksloterweg, runs day and night. It is the crossing for the A’DAM Tower and the Eye.
• F4, Centraal to NDSM, is the crossing for the NDSM wharf.
• F2, Centraal to IJplein, and F6 and F7 run from other piers.
• Strikes stop them: the GVB ferries joined the 24-hour strike of 9 September 2026.

Getting to the main sights

The I amsterdam City Card

The I amsterdam City Card’s Total Experience version includes unlimited GVB metro, tram, bus and ferry, from €67 for 24 hours. The Explorer version, with 3, 5 or 7 activities, does not include public transport (iamsterdam.com, 1 October 2026). Neither covers NS trains or Connexxion buses, so it does not cover the Schiphol train or bus 397, or the NS trains on the day trips from Amsterdam.

Strikes

A 24-hour national strike on 9 September 2026 stopped NS trains, Connexxion and EBS buses and the GVB ferries (Rodi, 24 September 2026). Check the GVB app on the day you travel; the NS trains to Haarlem, Delft and The Hague and Rotterdam stop too. On King’s Day trams and buses stop at the edge of the centre, and tram 26 is the way to the cruise terminal: see Amsterdam cruise terminal to the city centre.

For where to sleep, where to stay in Amsterdam compares the areas by how you reach them. For what to book before you go, see what to book before you go in Amsterdam. 3 days in Amsterdam and Amsterdam in one day plan the days round the bookings.