Is the Netherlands Expensive to Visit? Step-By-Step Travel Costs

Written by Ross Jones in Uncategorized

The Netherlands can truly feel like a storybook setting with its beautiful landscapes and quaint dwelling situated along canals. Everyone should visit The Netherlands once in their lifetime, and they should use this guide to do it in the smartest way possible!

Is the Netherlands expensive to visit? Step-by-step travel costs will vary greatly depending on the quality of service or product you desire in each expense. An approximate daily budget per person based on each travel style goes as follows:

  Accommodations Transportation Food Budget Activities Total Daily Cost
Backpacking Traveler €20-70 €5-10 €15-25 €10-15 €50-120
Average Traveler €50-200 €10-20 €25-100 €25-100 €110-420
Luxury Traveler   €200-500 €20-50 €100-200 €100-200 €420-950

As you can see, many factors come into play when planning a budget. This guide will cover all the must-knows for your Netherlands getaway, including affordable accommodation, transportation tips, meal budget recommendations, free activities, and all the best travel hacks.

Is the Netherlands Expensive to Visit? Step-By-Step Travel Costs

First, it is important to point out that the euro is currently worth $1.11 in USD. So, you won’t need to worry too much about the euro to dollar conversion rate. It’s quite forgiving, and if you are an American, you may not feel that you’re spending much more than you would at home. 

Going over budget should be expected to prevent overspending, so if a day’s overall game plan and budget appears to cost around $170, plan for it to cost $200. Rounding up will help you to stay within budget and work within your means more fluidly.  

It is difficult to say what is expensive or not because everyone has their definition of expensive.

You can see from the above graph that you can spend between €50 to nearly €1,000 per day, depending on what you are seeking to do and how lavishly you are planning to travel. You could spend €5 in a day if you only plan to enjoy a sandwich in the park and choose free activities, or you could take private tours the entire day with 5-star meals that can quickly add up.

Accommodation Budget

NPR.Org stated in 2018 that 20 million tourists visit Amsterdam each year, so, for this article, the focus on pricing will be based on travel in Amsterdam. Keep in mind that prices will greatly fluctuate because of the time of the year, with summer and peak travel times being sometimes double and triple the cost of the colder seasons to visit.

Therefore, if you are looking for a way to save money during a trip to the Netherlands, traveling during the colder seasons is worth considering if you can manage a chillier trip since everything will be cheaper, there will be shorter lines and fewer crowds, and you have more of a chance to enjoy the city!

For accommodation in Amsterdam, the average pricing you should budget for are as follows:

Backpacker

Most backpackers will be staying in a Hostel where you’re sharing a room with many other people. You can budget around:

Average Traveler

Most travelers will want an Airbnb or hotel with clean sheets and a private bathroom. Not all European locations will be able to offer you a private bathroom, but it will certainly be more private than a hostel. For an average hotel, you can budget an estimate of:

Luxury Traveler

If you are traveling in style and want a super-host on Airbnb or luxury hotel in Amsterdam, you can have it! But it’ll cost a pretty penny. An average accommodation estimate for a luxury traveler is:

Accommodation Resources

Some of the best accommodation resources that you can use while traveling in the Netherlands are:

  • Airbnb – use this link for $45 off your first booking.
  • Booking.com – a reputable site known for getting the lowest booking rate.
  • Hotels Combined – will compare all sites like Expedia, Booking.com, etc. to give you the best rate.
  • Momondo – similar to Skyscanner, use it to compare flight prices.
  • Hostel World – the best site for shopping hostels.
  • Honey App – download this to your computer for every online shopping purchase, travel-related or not. It’s a free app that searches the internet for all promotional and discount codes for you on every purchase.

Transportation Budget

The beautiful thing about the Netherlands is the versatile transportation options that are offered, and in Amsterdam especially, you will have plenty of options.

Nederlander transportation may come in the form of a bus, tram, underground rail, walking, or the most popular option of bicycling. Amsterdam is called the most bike-friendly city in the world, and the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) stated in 2015 that, “[out of] 442,693 households (850,000 residents) in Amsterdam, 847,000

[residents]

owned bicycles.”

Perhaps they are on to something and know the best way to see their canals. There is no doubt that you should ride through the canals on a bicycle at least once in your lifetime!

Here are the best resources to utilize for any transportation method you choose to take:

  • The I Amsterdam Card– This card tops the transportation list because you can pick it up right when you are passing through the Central train station, which is where most travelers inevitably pass through while in The Netherlands. You can purchase it online beforehand or pick it up when you arrive, and it includes the following benefits:
  • Unlimited Amsterdam tram use
  • Unlimited Amsterdam bus use
  • Unlimited Amsterdam ferry use
  • Free entry into over 70 museums
  • A 60-minute cruise through the canals
  • Bike rental for 24 hours

The price for a 24-hour I Amsterdam Card is €65 as of January of 2020.

  • OV-ChipKaart– This is what the locals use to get around and will be essential if you plan to remain in the Netherlands for any prolonged duration. It will work for all trains, buses, trams, and underground metros, making it ideal if you want an affordable and digital means of getting around. It will cost around €8, and you will see vending machines with the name listed in airports, metro, and bus stations.
  • Rail Europe– Trains are a very affordable way to travel through Europe. The typical train ticket will be between $20-400 depending on what class you’d like, but it is easy to go to Paris, Rome, Barcelona, or other European cities for under €50 per ticket, depending on the time of year. Plus, Rail Europe will send you an adorable faux-leather case after ticket purchase to keep all your travel documents in!
  • Trains – You can use Rail Europe or the main website for Amsterdam, NS Online. Many train trips that are close to each other will only cost around €5.
  • Taxis – Avoid them as they are very overpriced in the city, especially. Uber is available here, or you can take the healthier options of walking or biking. Most things will be nearby, and you’ll be taking in the sights anyway!
  • Bike Rental – Here are theBest Bike Rentals in Amsterdam, according to Yelp and user ratings.
  • Buses – Bus travel is very affordable, but the dilemma is that if you only have a few days in Amsterdam, sitting on buses going back and forth to the countryside can absorb a lot of your time. If you are going short distances, the bus can be great.
  • Car Rental – This is not recommended because it is very expensive, and you need anInternational Driving Permit.
  • BlaBlaCar – This is the most popular ride-share program in Europe and allows you to ride with people in exchange for gas money. It’s similar to Uber but with a less professional connotation. Many travelers feel it’s the best way to get to know people and make life-long friends, but always be safe and read reviews.
  • Rome 2 Rio – You must utilize this app if you are a global traveler. It allows you to search a starting location and ending destination, such as Paris to Brazil, and it will offer you every form of transportation and route to get from point A to B, as long as it’s listed on the internet. This will give you access to all bus routes, train schedules, prices, and compare the fastest routes, cheapest routes, and most scenic routes to your destination. This app is a gamechanger.

Food Budget

The Netherlands is well-known for mimicking other cuisines and offering a bit of everything. It is less distinct than Mexican or Italian food, but there are plenty of native-Dutch dishes to sample on your explorations!

Like accommodations, your food budget will be entirely up to you and how much you want to spend. To give you the bread-and-butter (pun intended) for each option you may consider, here is a daily food budget for each type of traveler:

Backpacker

Eating around Europe is cheaper than many believe. You can eat a full belly of food for about €15 a day.

A breakdown of your food budget as a backpacker will look like this:

  • Breakfast – €5 pastry or sausage plate with eggs, easy to find street food that is between €3-10, and a coffee which will run you about €1. (Total = €9-16)
  • Lunch – Street food which again will run you between €3-10, let’s add in a beer or a side of fries for €5, with a service charge of €3 for safe measure. (Total = €11-18)
  • Dinner – There are so many options to try for dinner. You can usually find a café meal for under €15 and have a beer plus service charge for under €5. (Total €20)

Total Estimated Budget for three meals and a few drinks on a backpacker’s budget = €40-54

Average Traveler

Since most people will fall under this category, it means you’re traveling because you have money to travel — but you’re not going to do every private tour and try every Michelin-star dinner available. Most of the tourist population will fall into this category, and you cannot take these trips every month. It’s something special, and you want to do it right.

A breakdown of your food budget as the average traveler will look like something like this:

  • Breakfast – You can budget like the backpacking traveler. You may want to enjoy a €5 pastry, a €1-3 coffee, but perhaps instead of street food, you want to dine at a café along the canals. This can be between €8-20, with a subsequent surcharge of around 10-20%. You can budget around €20 per person for breakfast as a normal traveler. (Total €20)
  • Lunch – If you’re still full from breakfast, you may have a smaller lunch. However, you may choose to have a beer or stop for a snack between your tours. Budget fairly for your day, and make it a consistent figure. (Total €20)
  • Dinner – Dinner is where you should have a little fun. You may want an appetizer for the table (around €10-20), an entrée (around €10-20) and a bottle of wine (around €10-20). You can estimate €30-60 per person for a nice dinner that a standard traveler would enjoy in Amsterdam.  (Total €30-60)

Total Estimated Budget for three meals and a few drinks on an average budget = €70-100

Luxury Traveler

It is very easy to enjoy luxury in Amsterdam because the city is not known for being cheap. You could easily go through €1,000 a day on food and alcohol alone if you are catering to a group, so budget accordingly if you are looking for an elite experience.

A breakdown of your food budget as the luxury traveler will look like something like this:

  • Breakfast – there are 4-5-star rated breakfast spots that will surprisingly be quite affordable. You can get a dish like Eggs Benedict with hash browns for around €20, and a cocktail like a bloody Mary for around €10. Budget any extras and service charge for an extra €10. (Total: €40)
  • Lunch – You may be snacking between museum tours, grabbing craft beers at local bars, or wine tasting around The Netherlands. It is easy to spend €100 on lunch, so let’s budget around half of that to be on the safe side. (Total €50)
  • Dinner –There are stunning 5-star restaurants around Amsterdam, and you can plan for a 5-7 course meal with a variety of flavors to be around €75-300. Wine pairings are often available with the menu for around €30-300. (Total €105-600)

Don’t be frightened by the €600 mark. You can easily enjoy a similar gourmet meal for around 100-euros. You can choose to splurge only once on this trip. You’ve come all this way and deserve to spoil yourself a little!

Total Estimated Budget for three meals and a few drinks on a luxury budget = €195-690

It may seem difficult to spend €700 on food and alcohol in a day, but it’s very possible to do in a bustling city where prices are sometimes double the cost of rural or suburban areas.

Popular Amsterdam Cafés & Restaurants  

You can’t discuss the prices without finding out the best food places to try. There are thousands of cafés, chains, and restaurants around Amsterdam. Some highly-rated fan-favorites for each traveler type are:

More Budget-Friendly

Breakfast:

Lunch:

Dinner:

Fast-Food-Like Chains:

Less Budget-Friendly

Breakfast:

Lunch:

Dinner:

Activities Budget

Amsterdam is home to some of the best art museums and cultural experiences in the world. You will want to budget for your daily activities and choose perhaps 1-2 activities per day. Budgeting your time for more than this can get very busy and have you running from appointment to appointment. Take it easy on yourself since this is a vacation, after all.

Some of the key spots you’ll want to add to your itinerary include:

You could easily budget between €40-150 per person per day on activities but be careful not to overbook yourself. Multiply that daily cost by a weeklong trip and a family of 4, and you’ve got a total of €1,120-4,200.

Free Things to Do in The Netherlands

Not all activities come at a price. There are activities that you can enjoy for free, as well. A few favorite free activities you can take part in during your stay are:

  • Ride a bike through the canals.
  • Free rooftop access and views at the NEMO Museum.
  • Take a free ferry ride – this is by Central Station and will be along the IJ River.
  • See the world’s only floating flower market (address: Singel 630 to 600. 1017 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands).
  • Sit in a park, and people watch. Vondelpark is one of the largest and most popular parks in the city. They offer free theater performances during Summer.
  • Take the Free Walking Tour offered by SANDEMAN’s. It meets every hour on the hour in the morning time. The meeting point is in front of the Church Oude Kerk.
  • Explore the local markets and galleries like Nieuwe Spiegelstraat.
  • Free jazz is played every Tuesday at 10 p.m. so that you can dance around with your partner! This activity is located at Piet Heinkade 3, 1019 BR.
  • Go to the beach. Some choices are Zandvoort aan Zee, IJmiuden aan Zee, and Bloemendaal aan Zee.
  • See the free gardens of the Rijksmuseum (National Museum).
  • Get lost in the red-light district.
  • Get lost in Dam Square.
  • Get lost in the Jordan District.
  • Admire windmills.
  • Admire tulips.
  • Kiss on the Skinny Bridge, a very beautiful piece of history from 1672.

Cheapest Time to Travel to The Netherlands

Some key times during the year and what to keep in mind for each before booking a trip to the Netherlands include:

  • Spring – April and May will be the best times to see the Tulips of Lisse, which disappear quite quickly and will be gone by the summer months. This is a moderately affordable season, and you can find some great deals before June. It is also prime weather and great for photo-ops.
  • Summer – June to late August will be mayhem. Expect higher prices, longer lines, busier tourism, and being much more patient if you plan to take tours or see the main attractions. Hotels nearly double their rates, and you may see some food establishments raise prices during this season or eliminate happy hour.
  • Fall – Travel sites are low on sales during this time and want to sell more. They will offer some special rates to entice you to travel during a slower time of year. You will also have moderate temperatures if traveling early in the season, shorter lines, and fewer crowds overall.
  • Winter – This is the cheapest time of year to travel unless you are flying right around Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, or New Years Day. Besides these couple of weeks, winter is when sales are the slowest and rates plummet. The weather can be quite severe during this time, so expect freezing temperatures around 32°F (0°C). The winters are also known for being damp, so pack waterproof and heavy-duty apparel.

No time is the wrong time to be in the Netherlands. Ask yourself which suits your needs, budget, and must-do’s, and schedule appropriately.

Final Travel Tips for The Netherlands

So, is Amsterdam expensive? Yes and no. You can have the exact kind of trip you desire and spend as little or as much as you prefer. Some parting words of wisdom to get the most out of your travels (since you’ve stuck around this long) include:

  • Purchase Travel Insurance! A great site for this is World Nomads. You never know what may happen, and it’s always better to cover yourself since no one else will.
  • If you’re trying to travel cheap, watch your alcohol consumption. You can drink to your heart’s content, but prepare for it to eat up much of your budget, especially if you are staying in Amsterdam.
  • Stay slightly outside of Amsterdam. You may have to travel 30 minutes to and from Amsterdam on the tram, but it may be worth it to cut your accommodation cost in half.
  • If you hate crowds, avoid summer. You will save money, and the best times to go are April/May for the tulips or September/October when it’s too early in fall to be freezing. Each of these times will be the most moderate temperatures and prices.
  • Book your vacation on weekdays. Thiscould cut the price of flights and accommodations that are booked from Friday through Sunday nearly in half.
  • Book using a Groupon Getaway. Search under air-inclusive flights and don’t get too attached to one amazing deal because there are always some common staples that will be regenerated on the site. Amsterdam is one of those, and you can often find amazing rates of $599 per person for a 5-day hotel stay in the heart of Amsterdam, including airfare!
  • Book far in advance. The best times to book your trip will be about 9-12 months before (when rates are low because there are lots of tickets available), and the second-best time to book will be less than 2 weeks out from the trip (when they are trying to sell the last-minute tickets). This goes for airfare, cruises, and more. Use it as your general rule of thumb and plan early if you want to be sure that all your accommodations are set. If you wait until the last 2 weeks, many things will not live up to your expectations. Therefore, you’ll have to be more flexible if booking late.  
  • Walk. As much as you can, walk. This will be the cheapest and best way to see the city, as well as the healthiest. Between this or riding a bike, you will see more of the city, notice the little details, and feel like you’ve actually gotten to experience the Netherlands.

In Conclusion

Hopefully, this guide has been helpful to you and offered you at least one resource you can utilize for future travels! Remember that how much you spend in the Netherlands is entirely up to you and the experience that you want to have. Save money in the areas you are willing to compromise so that you can spend more money on the things that you want to do! But no matter what — enjoy the Netherlands and be sure to have a stroopwafel!

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