Amsterdam is a historical city, with many small street and a lot of traffic. Almost everywhere in the city you have to pay for parking your car. Additionally, it is most of the time a challenge to find yourself a parking spot. This is why you see many people traveling by bike or with the public transport in Amsterdam. Besides these options there are great alternative to travel by car in Amsterdam. You will find these Amsterdam car solutions on this page. Lastly, a fun fact. The Netherlands has the best infrastructure of the entire world. Nevertheless, this fact is a bit hard to belief when you drive through Amsterdam.

Our mission is definitely not to scare you, but to inform and prepare you well for your visit to Amsterdam by car. Just take your time when you are crossing the streets. Some Amsterdammers drive through the red light (aka: Amsterdams green). The city is not that big, this said, you can get by car everywhere in Amsterdam in less then 30 minutes.

Amsterdam Parking

We do like to inform you that there are several options traveling by car through Amsterdam. With the options we like to let you know how you can save money and time.

We a suggest you to keep the following options below in mind for parking and traveling by car within the city:

• The cheapest way to park is with: P+R in Amsterdam
• Check out the parking rates
• Car2go: get immediately access to a car near you and have free parking in the city
• Ask your hotel if parking is included in the price.

Park plus ride (P+R) in Amsterdam

Park + Ride (P+R) is the best way to save a whole lot of money on your parking expenses. In our opinion this is the best option, when you plan to be for half a day or more in Amsterdam’s city centre by car. The idea is simple: these parking spots are located at the outskirts of Amsterdam. They are always nearby the motorways and have an outstanding public transport connection to the city centre.

How much does P+R cost in Amsterdam

You only pay €1, – or €8, – per 24 hours of parking. The maximum amount of hours that you are allowed to park at P+R is 96 hours (see the expectations at your P+R). So if you do to plan to go by car for half a day or more, you can safe an incredible amount of money by using P+R.

Depending on your arrival time, these are the prices for P+R:

1. You have to arrive during weekdays before 10:00 am: then it will cost you€8 for the first 24 hours, For the next 24 hours you have to pay €1
2. Arrive on weekdays after 10:00: it will cost you €1 per 24 hours
3. Arriving in the weekend: it will cost you €1 per 24 hours

The following simple rules are mandatory to follow up for P+R and get the discount parking:

Read the rules well to make sure you get the discount. Bellow the rules you will find a map with all the P+R locations and the routes for the public transport.

How to be qualified for the discounted P+R parking?

• You have to travel into the zone (see map below) of Amsterdam’s city centre by using your OV-chipkaart or a P+R GVB card. Note: that you have to purchase your public transport within a hour after parking your car.
• Secondly, when you come back at the P+R payment machines, it checks if you only travelled in the city centre zone. Note: you won’t get the discount if this is not the case. Which means that when your last check-in was outside the  city centre zone with public transport, you will not get the discounted rates and have to pay the regular prices. The amount of the regular prices lays between €1.40 up to €3.50 per hour.
• When you leave the P+R by car, it is very important that you pay your P+R fee within the next hour. Probably you already know the reason. Otherwise you won’t get the discount prices.

Summary of P+R conditions

1. Make sure you only travel in the city centre zones by public transport. Take a look at the P+R map above.
2. Don’t forget to check in and out with your public transport card.
3. Use public transport on your return to the P+R were you parked your car.
4. To pay the P+R is mandatory to get your P+R discount.

Like we told you earlier our mission is to help you and get the best out of your staying in Amsterdam. If you doubt, that you probably can’t measure up to the conditions above, then you pay the regular parking rates.

Thingstodoinamsterdam.com tip: Take a screenshot of the infographic below to make share you cary the right information with you:

Parking rates in Amsterdam

Everywhere in between the highway circle of the A10 you have to pay parking expenses. Additionally, outside the cirkel of the A10 paying for parking is mandatory. The rates cost less outside the area’s of highway A10. These are the following area’s: Slotervaart, Buitenveldert, Plein 40-45, IJburg, Osdoper-plein, Noord, Amsterdamse Poort and in the area of the Arena station. The map below provides an overview of the parking prices. Note: these average prices, to provide you a quick overview. With the table below the image, you can find the accurate prices.

The schedule below shows you the parking rates in and around Amsterdam. Just look at the prices and use Google maps to show the locations of the parking spaces.

Source: parken-Amsterdam.com