Netherlands

Travel guide

Amsterdam

Amsterdam Central Station

No matter how you get to Amsterdam, it doesn’t matter if you do it by train from the airport or from another city, by car or by boat; in any case, hardly one will leave Amsterdam without first having seen the Central Station. Its strategic location and architecture prevent it from going unnoticed.

The birth of the train in the 19th century and the progressive adoption by the different European countries forced the local government of Amsterdam to adapt if they wanted to continue being an important crossroads, as when in the 17th century it was the first commercial power of the world.

Building a train station on the outskirts of the city would have been the easiest thing, but it was not very practical. Therefore, the most complex option was chosen: the old port of Amsterdam was right in front of the city and it was decided to move it to the northwest, creating new docks and leaving the old space to create three artificial islands on which it would be built the new Amsterdam Central Station. The work lasted from 1881 to 1889 and was commissioned by the architect Adolf Leonard van Gendt, while the design of the building was commissioned to the architect Pierre Cuypers.

Given the instability of the ground on which the station sits, it was necessary to create a foundation made up of more than 8,600 wooden piles. On this platform the great building that we can see today, in a Dutch neo-Renaissance style, was built. Probably, to art lovers who have visited the Rijksmuseum or National Museum of Amsterdam, dedicated to art, crafts and history, it may seem that the museum and the station are very similar. This is because both buildings were designed by the same architect: Pierre Cuypers.

Cuypers wanted to give the building a "new city gate" character, represented thanks to the tower-flanked façade, crowning everything with symbols of the Dutch Royal Family, which had its own entrance at the end of the building's right wing.

Nowadays

Amsterdam Central Station, or Station Amsterdam Centraal in Dutch, is the most important passenger train station in the Netherlands. 250,000 to 300,000 passengers use it daily, both national and international.

It is the place by which most tourists arrive to the Dutch capital, either thanks to the trains that connect the airport with the city, or from other cities in the country, or from abroad, such as Brussels or Paris.

The city of Amsterdam is configured in concentric channels whose ends usually end precisely in the area where the station is located, so it would be difficult not to see it, being perfectly a point of reference to guide us.

The station is perfectly connected, right in the center. All the tram lines and several metro and bus lines pass through this station. In addition, its platforms for roads are protected from inclement weather by monumental steel and glass vaults, the last of these ships being in fact a bus station that connects Amsterdam with nearby cities and towns.

If we arrive to Amsterdam through the Central Station, just in front of the entrance, we find a tourist information office (open Monday to Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sundays until 4:00 p.m.) to answer questions, take some maps or information brochure and receive tips to enjoy our first moments in Amsterdam. Going just a little further, we will find some tourist boat docks to take a leisurely stroll and get a panoramic view of what awaits us in our stay in the "Venice of the North".

Tarjetas GVB y Travel Ticket

Muévete por Ámsterdam

Location of the Amsterdam Central Station

How to get to Amsterdam Central Station

    Metro

    • Parada: Nieuwmarkt metro station

    Tranvía

    • Parada: Dam