Amsterdam Tram

Tram · Amsterdam · GVB

16 lines · 184 stations · 85 interchanges

Every line drawn through its stations. Tap a line in the legend to hide or show it.

Lines

Quick facts

Operator
GVB runs Amsterdam's trams, metro, buses, and ferries.
Payment
Use OVpay: tap in and tap out with the same contactless card, phone wallet, or OV card.
This is the same visitor habit as NS trains and the metro. Do not mix phone and physical card on the same journey.
OVpayContactless
Visitor use
Trams do the canal ring, museum quarter, De Pijp, Oud-West, station approaches, and the short hops that keep Amsterdam pleasant.
Fast rail layer
Use NS trains and Metro 52 for the fast jumps, use trams for the visible city.
Amsterdam MetroSurface transit

Mike’s notes

Amsterdam is tram-first for most visitor movement. The metro matters, especially Line 52, and NS trains are the fast regional layer, but the tram is how you keep the canal city above ground.

Use trams for short hops through the canal ring, museum quarter, De Pijp, Oud-West, and the station approaches. They are slower than trains and that is partly the point. You see the city, you stay oriented, and you avoid turning every movement into a tunnel.

Payment is easy now: tap in, tap out, same card or device. Amsterdam punishes overthinking less than almost any other European transit city.

Short history

  1. 1900

    Electric tram era

    Amsterdam's electric trams become the surface transit layer that still defines how the canal city moves.

  2. Today

    OVpay city

    Bank-card tap-in/tap-out makes the tram easy for visitors without buying a separate transit card.

Sources and references (3)
  1. GVB
  2. OVpay
  3. Amsterdam guide