Driving To Amsterdam Info

RcR

Hello all, so my OH and i are planning to drive to Amsterdam for a 3 night trip in April. Getting to dover and across the channel will be ok but as this will be our first time driving to Amsterdam (and europe for that matter, although we have driven in the USA) I'm just after some info/advice from others that have taken this trip before, like is the route clearly sign posted? are there toll roads along the way? etc etc and anything else we may not have thought of.
Also after browsing a few hotels it seems the ones with parking are quite limited, so i was wondering if there is a secure carpark where we could leave our car for the 3 nights and travel to a hotel via public transport and what kind of price would we be looking at?

Thanks all

pompeyrich

According to ViaMichelin there are no tolls, around 230 miles with 216 of those on Motorways. Amsterdam will not be signposted around Calais, put youre route in and the site will show you where to head for, signs at junctions etc and even speed cameras, although these are shown as "dangerous stretches of road" in France!!

Can't help with Parking as never been to Amsterdam, but I understand it is very cycle/tram friendly so probably would be best to park up somwhere and use public transport.

John259

Have you considered the coast road? Obviously slower than the motorway but probably far more interesting.

How about staying some way out of Amsterdam and using public transport to get into the city each day?

sjg666

RcR wrote: »

Hello all, so my OH and i are planning to drive to Amsterdam for a 3 night trip in April. Getting to dover and across the channel will be ok but as this will be our first time driving to Amsterdam (and europe for that matter, although we have driven in the USA) I'm just after some info/advice from others that have taken this trip before, like is the route clearly sign posted? are there toll roads along the way? etc etc and anything else we may not have thought of.
Also after browsing a few hotels it seems the ones with parking are quite limited, so i was wondering if there is a secure carpark where we could leave our car for the 3 nights and travel to a hotel via public transport and what kind of price would we be looking at?

Thanks all

Hi, me and my OH drive to Holland every year and the drive is really easy and the roads are very nice too. Routes are clearly signposted, the only thing we did was manage to miss the "Welcome to Holland" sign as it's much much smaller than the previous "Welcome to Belgium" one (but obviously that's not a problem at all - I just find it's nice to know which country you're in!). No toll roads either. I've got a sat nav which is about 8 years old and that also has no problems with getting us to places either.

I don't know about parking as we only drove into Amsterdam itself once and we chose to park in the multi-storey next to the Heineken Museum which we knew would be expensive being near a tourist spot but I wanted to be sure we'd be able to find the car again!

Don't forget that driving in Europe you need to have things like high-viz vests (not allowed to be in the boot - have to be easily accessible in the event of a breakdown), spare bulbs, first aid kid, beam converters for your headlights (as driving on the other side of the road), warning triangle, GB sticker (if you don't have the GB Europe flag down one of your numberplates), I'm also not sure if you still need to have a breathalyser for France or not but for the sake of £5 we usually pack one just to be sure.


If you plan to do quite a lot of the touristy things in Amsterdam check these out, some good discounts to be had! http://www.hollandpass.com

AlexMac

I did this drive many years ago, and hadn't discovered viamichelin.com then, nor its excellent journey planner/drivetime calculator, so I was a little surprised how far it seemed and how long it took from the Dover ferries.

Having said that, even then, it was an excellent easy drive, and you have already experienced driving on the 'wrong', sorry I mean right -hand side of the road in the States, so that's no problem.

But... as the car is a liability in cities, why not at least consider the altenatives- the train is much less hassle than flying, always relaxing and will take comparable, or less time from London or Ebbsfleet in Kent? Probably price-neutral or cheaper too? http://www.seat61.com/Netherlands.htm#How much does it cost

Just a tought

RcR

pompeyrich wrote: »

According to viamichelin there are no tolls, around 230 miles with 216 of those on Motorways. Amsterdam will not be signposted around Calais, put youre route in and the site will show you where to head for, signs at junctions etc and even speed cameras, although these are shown as "dangerous stretches of road" in France!!

Can't help with Parking as never been to Amsterdam, but I understand it is very cycle/tram friendly so probably would be best to park up somwhere and use public transport.

Handy site, thank you for the info

RcR

John259 wrote: »

Have you considered the coast road? Obviously slower than the motorway but probably far more interesting.

How about staying some way out of Amsterdam and using public transport to get into the city each day?

Yes we did consider going the coast route, but i think in the end we just want to get there, maybe on the way back if i can persuade the OH , and we probably will end up staying slightly outside Amsterdam city center mainly because the hotels are cheaper and the public transport is apparently very good. im looking into maybe leaving the car at a park and ride for the whole time that we are there.

RcR

sjg666 wrote: »

Hi, me and my OH drive to Holland every year and the drive is really easy and the roads are very nice too. Routes are clearly signposted, the only thing we did was manage to miss the "Welcome to Holland" sign as it's much much smaller than the previous "Welcome to Belgium" one (but obviously that's not a problem at all - I just find it's nice to know which country you're in!). No toll roads either. I've got a sat nav which is about 8 years old and that also has no problems with getting us to places either.

I don't know about parking as we only drove into Amsterdam itself once and we chose to park in the multi-storey next to the Heineken Museum which we knew would be expensive being near a tourist spot but I wanted to be sure we'd be able to find the car again!

Don't forget that driving in Europe you need to have things like high-viz vests (not allowed to be in the boot - have to be easily accessible in the event of a breakdown), spare bulbs, first aid kid, beam converters for your headlights (as driving on the other side of the road), warning triangle, GB sticker (if you don't have the GB Europe flag down one of your numberplates), I'm also not sure if you still need to have a breathalyser for France or not but for the sake of £5 we usually pack one just to be sure.


If you plan to do quite a lot of the touristy things in Amsterdam check these out, some good discounts to be had!

Interesting, did you have to update your satnav for europe or was it pre loaded? we have 2 sat navs i'll have to look and see if any of them have europe on them, not sure how though. We probably wont park in the city center im hoping to park up in a park and ride for the whole time we are there and just use public transport to get about, it seems like a good idea in my mind anyway. :rotfl:
Yea ive heard about all the bits you have to have in the car to drive through europe i'll have to get my hands on some over the coming days.

RcR

AlexMac wrote: »

I did this drive many years ago, and hadn't discovered viamichelin.com then, nor its excellent journey planner/drivetime calculator, so I was a little surprised how far it seemed and how long it took from the Dover ferries.

Having said that, even then, it was an excellent easy drive, and you have already experienced driving on the 'wrong', sorry I mean right -hand side of the road in the States, so that's no problem.

But... as the car is a liability in cities, why not at least consider the altenatives- the train is much less hassle than flying, always relaxing and will take comparable, or less time from London or Ebbsfleet in Kent? Probably price-neutral or cheaper too? much does it cost

Just a tought

We did consider getting there by other means but in the end we kind of see it as an adventure and it kind of worked out cheaper. As i say we are hoping to leave the car in a park and ride and forget about it till we go home, at least im hoping is possible to do that?!

skitler

RcR wrote: »

Hello all, so my OH and i are planning to drive to Amsterdam for a 3 night trip in April. Getting to dover and across the channel will be ok but as this will be our first time driving to Amsterdam (and europe for that matter, although we have driven in the USA) I'm just after some info/advice from others that have taken this trip before, like is the route clearly sign posted? are there toll roads along the way? etc etc and anything else we may not have thought of.
Also after browsing a few hotels it seems the ones with parking are quite limited, so i was wondering if there is a secure carpark where we could leave our car for the 3 nights and travel to a hotel via public transport and what kind of price would we be looking at?

Thanks all

ive done it many times, as posted route is easy on the mway.
no tolls. best with sat nav as the names are unfamiliar .


don't forget to drive on the right, gb sticker, headlight beam adjusters, spare bulbs for the car, hi vis jackets, warning triangle, breakdown cover. everything compulsory to have should be on aa/rac site.


parking in Amsterdam is a nightmare and they will tow you away just like any other city, parking is very expensive in the city. id say your best bet may be to leave the car at schipol airport on the car park as youll pass it on way in and get the train in to Amsterdam which will bring you to the center at the end of damrak, the main street or straat as there known, and use the very good transport system while there.


bon voyage.:j

Mrs_Soup

Did it once and it was fine except for going through Antwerp in the rush hour which was challenging. We stayed in a hotel on the outskirts which had parking so we just left the car there and took the tram into the city as the walk to the tram stop was only a short walk away. Can't remember the name of the hotel though.