Car -, Amsterdam

If you have the opportunity, I suggest getting a GPS as an option if you are renting a car. Worked very well for our trip to Bruges last November. I believe Hertz has GPS as an option, and they are located on Overtoom.
Have a great trip!

I made a huge mistake renting a car for two days in Amsterdam. For a first time visitor the city is a maize and hard to get around in a car and parking is either so hard or so expensive to ever use. The trams are great and the trains get you to almost anything you want to see nearby. Pass the urge to have your own car unless you have a lot of patience and a lot of money

The infrastructure is nowhere so dense as in the Netherlands, options to reach Amsterdam ar therefore very easy. Amsterdam is signposted well in advance and all lead to a circular outer ring, the A10.

Main access roads are the A2 (direction south/east) and A4 (direction Rotterdam/The Hague). The A1 (east) and A9 (west) also connect to the A10 ring.

On the outskirts of Amsterdam at the Amsterdam Arena stadium there is the so called "Transferium". For €5,50 you can park your car for the day and you get 2 free return tickets for the public transport system. You can use a train, bus or metro to head into town. This is option is highly recommended as parking in the citycenter is not only very difficult, unnecessary, it is also very expensive.

For those who do wish to drive further into the city anyways, each exit on the A10 has a so called S code. For Instance.. S110, this code will be available along the route and leads you to a certain point in the citycenter, this makes it easy to find attractions, simply look-up the S code they mention and give it a go.

I drove to Amsterdam twice. Both times I had no problem coming in to town and parking. Both times, it took over 2 hours from leaving the center of the city to clearing the outer ring. The first time I left at 3:30 p.m. The 2nd time I left at 2:30 p.m. Apparently, rush hour starts early.

If I were to do it again, I would take the train.

If you visit Amsterdam for the first time and entering from the East via the A1 highway, there's an information point at the gasstation at Muiden, 10 km before you enter Amsterdam.

If you do want to bring your car into downtown Amsterdam, park for instance at the Waterlooplein parking.

From A10 ring highway follow signs for S100, exit "centrum"; follow P signs.

If you must drive, don't.
But if you do, make sure your car is no bigger than this adorable little thing.

If you know someone who lives here drive...if not this can happen to you, the traffic was stuck here for 5 minutes without an accident, just everyone taking their own right of way.......