Speaking of the Netherlands, the first thing that comes to mind is the windmill. Are you interested in the windmills here? In fact, it’s not just windmills. However, if you are interested, I have a well-organized strategy here.
Visa
I got a three-year multiple-entry French visa last year, and Mr. Yueban applied for it separately. Because of the 16-day trip, 5 nights in the Netherlands and 10 nights in France (the last night was on the plane), although I entered the Netherlands first, France was the main destination with a longer stay. I should apply for a French visa. The visa application was submitted on April 22, and I got the visa in one working day. I successfully got a two-year multiple-entry visa.
Tickets
Amsterdam to Paris departure, booked on Air France official website. Because Air France acquired KLM a few years ago and became the Air France-KLM Group, it is very convenient to purchase Netherlands + France open jaw tickets. However, considering that KLM’s Beijing-Amsterdam flight was during the day, it would be boring to spend 10 hours on the plane during the day and waste a day. I chose the Beijing-Paris night flight with a better time, and from Paris to Amsterdam. Because I booked the tickets only one month in advance, and it was the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, the round-trip ticket was 7,000+ yuan. So, don’t ask me, a student who spontaneously decided to travel, about the strategy for cheap tickets.
Transportation
Public transportation in the Netherlands is very convenient, so we chose public buses in the Netherlands.
About ov-chipkaart
(1) This is a public transportation recharge card. The card fee is 2.5 euros, the deposit is 7.5 euros, totaling 10 euros, which cannot be refunded; in addition to these 10 euros, the recharged amount that is not used can be refunded at the train station counter when leaving the Netherlands. After the refund, the empty card can be kept and is valid for 5 years. The card is not named and can be transferred.
(2) ov-chipkarrt can be purchased and recharged at the train station counter or automatic ticket machine. If you buy it from the automatic ticket machine, there are two types of machines. One only has a double-headed arrow logo with NS, and the other has a double-headed arrow logo and also says ov-chipkarrt houder. The former can buy ov-chipkarrt and recharge it, the latter cannot buy it, only recharge it after buying the card. In addition, a 0.5 euro handling fee is charged for each recharge at the machine, while there is no handling fee at the counter (but you need to queue up…).
(3) When you travel with ov-chipkarrt, you need to check in when you enter the station/get on the bus, and check out when you leave the station/get off the bus. The machine will make a “bi” sound when you check in, indicating success, and a “bi~bi~” sound when you check out. If you take the bus, the card balance should be more than 4 euros. If you take the train, it should be more than 20 euros. Check in at the same station and then check out within 60 minutes, no fee will be charged.
(4) When taking the train, you only need to swipe the card at the entrance and exit, no need to swipe again when changing trains; If you take buses, trams, water buses, etc., you need to swipe the card every time you get on and off.
(5) Some stations have no gates and you can enter and exit without swiping. Don’t forget to swipe your card because someone will really check tickets on the bus and use a machine to read ov-chipkarrt to see if you have swiped it.
Bus inquiry – 9292 app
A must-have app for Dutch public transportation inquiries. It can query trains, buses, water buses, and all kinds of public transportation, with information such as stations and real-time operating conditions. It’s very practical.
How to set English:
After setting, exit the app and enter again. Note that you must completely exit and then re-enter, leaving it running in the background and then re-entering will not work.
In addition to the 9292 app, Google Maps’ route planning function is also very useful in the Netherlands.
Phone Card
If you only go to one country, the most convenient and economical way is to buy a pay-as-you-go phone card locally after getting off the plane. However, this time we were in two countries, the Netherlands and France, so we still chose a 28-day 30-country roaming phone card from Vodafone Germany on Taobao. It provides 2G high-speed data, and after using up the high-speed data, it will automatically switch to low-speed data. Low-speed data is fine for sending WeChat messages and browsing Moments, but Google Maps is a bit slow for navigation.
Overall, the mobile network signal in the Netherlands is good. There were few cases of no signal in the countryside like Giethoorn and Kinderdijk and on the train, maybe because it’s the most densely populated country in Europe, and the base stations are also dense.
Finally, a reminder that if you use the guided tour app in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the Mauritshuis in The Hague, be sure to connect to the museum’s wifi. It consumes a lot of data without wifi, don’t ask me how I know.
This article is from a user submission and does not represent the views of Trip Footsteps. If you repost it, please indicate the source: https://www.tripfootsteps.com/travel-guides/china-travel-guides/31822.html
