Allow me to save you some money and some mild outrage in the same breath. Every day, thousands of tourists arrive in Amsterdam and immediately get talked into buying a multi-day GVB travel pass at the airport or station, often thirty or forty euros for "unlimited" travel. And every day, I want to gently take them by the shoulders and say: darling, you almost certainly do not need that.
The thing nobody tells you
Here's the secret hiding in plain sight on every tram, bus, and metro in the city: you can just tap your contactless bank card. Your regular credit card, your debit card, even your phone or smartwatch. Tap when you board, tap when you get off, and the system charges you only for the trip you actually took. It's called OVpay, and it works on all GVB trams, buses, and metros, plus trains and other transit across the whole country.
No pass to buy. No machine to queue at. No app to download. No plastic card to lose in your coat pocket and find next winter. You walk on, you tap, you go. That's it.
Why this is so much cheaper
The math is brutally simple, and it's why those passes irritate me. A single pay-as-you-go fare is a small base charge plus a per-kilometer rate, typically just a couple of euros for a normal ride across town. Unless you are genuinely riding public transport six or seven times a day, every day, the unlimited pass almost never pays for itself.
Most visitors walk far more than they expect, because central Amsterdam is tiny and gorgeous on foot. You'll take maybe a couple of trams a day, if that. Tapping your card for those few rides will cost you a fraction of a multi-day pass. I've watched friends "save money" with a 72-hour ticket and then walk everywhere anyway because the city is so walkable. The pass just sat there, smug and unused.
I'll say it: the pass is a bit of a scam
I love this city with my whole heart, but I'll be honest, pushing pre-paid passes on tourists who'd be better off tapping their own card feels like a polite little hustle. The passes are marketed hard right where you're tired, jet-lagged, and easy to upsell. The pay-as-you-go option, which is cheaper for almost everyone, is barely advertised at all. Funny how that works.
How to actually do it
A few practical notes from someone who taps every day:
- Use one card per person. Don't tap two people through on the same card on the metro; the system needs each traveler on their own card.
- Always tap off when you leave, especially on trains and the metro. Forget, and you may be charged a higher default fare.
- A phone wallet works fine, so Apple Pay or Google Pay is perfectly accepted.
- Check in and out at the metro gates and on the tram poles, the little card readers near the doors.
The bottom line
Unless you have a very specific, transit-heavy itinerary, skip the pass entirely. Bring the contactless card you already own, tap on and off, and keep the difference for a stroopwafel or three. Amsterdam is best experienced on foot anyway, and now you can ride the trams like a local: casually, cheaply, and without ever standing in that ticket queue again.