How to travel to Amsterdam cheap or on a budget?
Taking a trip to Amsterdam or any other place can get very expensive, the good thing is no matter your next travel destination may be it can happen for cheap.
Visiting Amsterdam for almost 2 days we quickly learned is more expensive then other places we visited but there are ways you can cut back to help make any trip for a lot less. Great ways to cut back when traveling is through other form of transportation, using points/miles for Hotel & Airplane tickets and finding ways to get free money. Let’s go more into detail how you can save and make this trip more affordable.
What is Amsterdam weather like?
You probably heard or seen many great pictures about Amsterdam and probably you may be considering visiting but on a budget. Weather is key when planning your trip, is a good thing to know what to expect so you can plan accordingly. If you plan to visit during the summer season but you wonder if it might be too hot or humid, I notice is one of the best times to go. During our trip in the month of July the weather was beautiful and pleasant to walk all day. During the Spring time you can expect 55°F – 70°F weather, while in the Fall and Winter can range from 40°F up to 60°F. Going based on the average high weather throughout the year you can see it has a great weather to visit any time that is possible for you.
What are the best affordable transportation in Amsterdam?
Moving around from the airport to your destination can easily add up. We spent $75 for a cab from the airport to our hotel (luckily it was night time and no traffic) if not the cab driver let us know it could have been around $130 that is crazy to hear just for one way cab price. Right away we knew we had to find ways that are affordable so, I would share what worked for us and made our trip more affordable.
Everywhere you look there is a sea of people riding bikes, this could be an affordable way to get around. Shop around because renting a bike can get pricey especially if you have a large number of people on your trip.
- Bike Rental – price range from 8 up to 17 per day (you can also add theft insurance)
- Train Ticket – price ranges from 8 one way up to 15 roundtrips per person
- City Card – price range from 24 hrs (€59) – 72 hrs (€74)
- the city card covers Amsterdam museums, canal cruise, and public transportation
Amsterdam affordable Hotel stay
Checking on hotel stay can help you save a lot depending on how near the hotel is from the airport and the city. Another way you can save on hotel is booking ahead of time and traveling on a time that is not high season. For example, we traveled and visited Amsterdam for almost 2 days, the trip was booked during high season in the month of July to be exact. I couldn’t believe how high hotel stays were specially for a family of 4, selecting a hotel a little further away from the city and airport total for 2 nights and 4 people came out to $701. Hotel prices can range due to getting very cheap prices to more known hotel names. The price will vary if you prefer to stay in a hotel name you know to stay near the city or airport.
Checking quickly for the ending week in July I saw a price for $370 for 2 nights and 4 people in Leiden while the same search was done for the Amsterdam section and the price was $561
How did we save on our Hotel stay?
Planning a trip last minute can get a little stressful but if you have some miles and points is when the planning felt a lot smoother. Of course at first, we checked all of our options which included near the airport and further away. The prices were very high, just like a shared above how much our hotel stay was for which included 2 nights for 4 people. Luckily we had some points from our Holiday Inn account, that helped us save $701 (that is a lot of saving which I am so happy we had those miles saved for a while now). Once we check out on our last day our bill total was $20 that was for taxes for each night not bad at all. What would I recommend? See if this is something you want to start applying to, is good to plan ahead and choose the right cards for you based on the locations you wish to visit. Since we had stayed at a few Holiday Inn on past Italy trips we knew it was best getting the IHG Rewards Club Premier Credit Card (New) which helped us save $700 on one trip that was booked last minute.
How to save on Museums and Site Seeing?
Amsterdam has is a natural charm, from the canals the structures the river and flowers you can quickly see what the city has to offer but you will like to enjoy more than is natural beauty. That being said most museums, locations can get pricey especially when traveling with a large number of people.
- One way you can save is booking your museum visit ahead of time some places can help you save if booked online.
- Another way you can save is like I mentioned earlier Citi Card, this card covers a nice list of Museums and Canal Cruise
- City Card – price range from 24 hrs (€59) – 72 hrs (€74) the city card covers Amsterdam museums, canal cruise, and public transportation
- There are many places you can go to that are FREE, it will share some history or an iconic part of Amsterdam for example
- Vondelpark, Dam Square, Anne Frank Statue, Iamsterdam sign, Amsterdam City Archives, Rijksmuseum Garden or search an area you would like to visit and see what the cost might be.
How to save on plane ticket to Amsterdam?
Traveling around the world or state to state can cost you a few hundred dollars each way. Sometimes you may find a last minute deal or a package deal but you have to purchase right away and for specific days given. But if you want to plan a trip to Amsterdam you can save a lot if you plan it ahead of time. Like I mentioned earlier we booked this trip on a very short time but have a few points on certain account made our trip very affordable. Our flight was from Florida to Venice, Italy we then booked a flight from Venice, Italy to Amsterdam (which only took 1 1/2 hr flight) and it was all using points. We had points in our account from Air France (KLM) and searching on there award flights we saw a great offer using points.
Flight from Venice to Amsterdam came out to 44,000 points (one way – 4 passengers) we did pay for taxes $28.19 each = $112.76
If we paid for one way using the same airline and flight the price would have been $403 each person with a total price of $1611. Now how can you save on your flight?
- Almost Free Flight Ticket – on an earlier tip I share about credit cards, these are essential if you would like to get free or close to free Hotel & Flight purchases. Those 2 can be the most expensive part when planning your vacation but applying on a few credit cards we have been able to fly for FREE, on a previous post I shared how we accumulated points and which credit cards we applied for. Starting with a great credit card if you want to keep it simple, I suggest Chase Sapphire, this credit card offers so much besides the Bonus Points. When looking for airline and hotel deals we use Chase Sapphire portal it offers a range of listings many to choose from. If you find a good deal you can pay with your points or cash, you can see a quick glimpse on how to book a trip with the Chase portal since is very easy to follow.
