Arrival and transportation during the conference
Getting to Amsterdam
By train Amsterdam Central Station has direct train connections to Brussels, Paris, London (Thalys/Eurostar), Frankfurt, Berlin, Munich, Prague,Basel, Zurich, Innsbruck and Vienna. International tickets for instance via www.nsinternational.nl, www.eurostar.com, www.bahn.de, www.europeansleeper.eu
By air: The international airport of Amsterdam is Schiphol www.schiphol.nl, IATA airport code AMS. The arrival hall is directly connected to Schiphol train station, which is just a 15 minute train ride away from downtown Amsterdam Central Station. Trains run every 10 minutes from 6:30 till midnight, and at a reduced frequency all through the night. Single fares are circa 5 euros. The train schedule can be consulted at www.ns.nl. Taxis to downtown Amsterdam will cost ca. 50 euros. For downtown destinations, public transport may be quicker.
Public transport in and around Amsterdam
The venue is located just a 10-15 minutes walk from Amsterdam Central Station. Within the city transport mainly runs by trams, and two metro lines, administered by GVB (www.gvb.nl). A transport map can be found at https://www.gvb.nl/en/gvb-maps or consult the GVB app. Note that the airport is reached via train only, departing from Central Station.
Public transport apps for smartphones, download links
Train system: https://www.ns.nl/reisinformatie/ns-app
Metro/tram/bus: https://www.gvb.nl/reisinformatie/gvb-app
Paying for public transport
The Netherlands has an electronic ticketing system, which requires both “checking in” and “checking out” at electronic terminals located at stations. Stations generally have gated access. Schiphol has check in/check out posts on the railway plaza before you take the escalator down to the platforms. Trams and buses have check in/out machines at the doors.
Several modes of payment with which to check in and out are possible. The most convenient are:
o Contactless credit / debit cards – take out your card, and hold in front of reader. Also works with smartphones via Apple Pay / Google Wallet. Check out with the same card as the one you checked in with. You can use the OVpay app www.ovpay.nl to have an overview of your trips. If you forgot to check out you should be able to fix that in the app afterwards, avoiding incurring higher costs.
o Barcoded tickets. Sold separately by NS (train only) and GVB (tram/metro/bus) via their websites and/or apps.
o If you do not wish to use a smartphone, NS ticket machines, kiosks and supermarkets sell anonymous “OV-chip cards” for EUR 7.50. After charging them with a travel balance at an NS or GVB ticket machine / charging station they can be used in all public transport.