Centraal Station
Centraal Station
4.5
Points of Interest & LandmarksArchitectural BuildingsPublic Transportation Systems
About
Completed in 1889 and located in the heart of town, this neo-Renaissance rail station was designed by P.J.H. Cuypers, the same person who designed the famous Rijksmuseum.
Suggest edits to improve what we show.
Improve this listing
Tours & experiences
Explore different ways to experience this place.
What is Travellers’ Choice?
Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
Top ways to experience Centraal Station
The area
Address
Neighbourhood: Centrum
Amsterdam’s buzzing hub, with its sprawling network of tram rails and a seemingly constant flow of tourists and commuters, yields convenient access to some of the best sightseeing, shopping, and street life in Europe. Closest at hand are the Royal Palace, the quaint shops of Haalremmerdijk, the pedestrianized zones Kalverstraat and Dam Square with popular neighborhoods such as the Red Light District, and the Canal Ring hardly more than a moment’s stroll away. With the well-connected Centraal Station as Centrum’s base, it's easy to travel farther afield via one of the city’s iconic trams.
How to get there
  • Amsterdam Centraal • 2 min walk
  • Amsterdam Centraal Station • 2 min walk
Reach out directly
See what travellers are saying
  • craig1086
    Atlanta, Georgia920 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Ground Zero for Amsterdam
    Amsterdam Centraal is the travel hub of Amsterdam. Here is a good place to base or use as a meeting point, because so many trains, trams, and buses come in at Centraal station. At minimum, you can take the NS intercity train from Schiphol airport to here. It’s a beautifully designed building with two floors, and it is easy to find your way around. Staff at the card machines helped us find our way when we got turned around. There are a lot of restaurants, coffee shops, and little shops inside where you can grab food & drinks as you’re traveling through. Taxis & Uber can be received on the bottom floor by the ferry dock, and the GVB trams are available as you exit the facility.
    Visited March 2023
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 27 March 2023
  • Adrian M
    Northwood, New Hampshire32 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    The Station
    Centrally located in the downtown section of Amsterdam great location to book a hotel nearby to access this station for local and regional public transport. Lots of small shops and food places in it as well. Can be a bit confusing because of the 3-4 different types of transport but overall convenient and easy enough to use with a little patience .
    Visited April 2023
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 23 April 2023
  • FamilyW149
    Manchester, United Kingdom29 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Big, busy, but very user-friendly
    This is how a capital city's main station should be! Fully integrated (trains, ferries, trams and buses all very close together), plenty of food options if you need them, a big left luggage area (admittedly expensive), well signposted and staff on-hand to help if you need it. All my journeys into and out of the station this weekend (and there were lots!) were precisely on time too
    Visited April 2023
    Written 1 May 2023
  • docrogers423
    Cleveland, Tennessee21 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Cluster of modes of transporation
    First of all, be careful and stay out of the bicycle paths - you will get hit. What a great way to experience city living than utilizing Centraal Station. Travel by Ferry, Bicycle, Tram, train or subway. Everything in one place. Confusing at first but does get easier.
    Visited May 2023
    Written 19 May 2023
  • John H
    Regina, Canada3 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Interesting place to visit
    The rail system is very efficient and fast. Central Station is the hub for Amsterdam and works very well. It would have been nice to have more maps of the shops, facilities, services and platforms posted in the station. It is large enough to make it difficult to find where things are if one is not a local.
    Visited May 2023
    Written 27 May 2023
  • Leonhkny
    Hong Kong, China14,495 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Encompassing central station
    The huge, encompassing central station of Amsterdam is the transport hub and de facto center of the Dutch capital. The building itself is lovely and well-maintained. It is also the terminus of most trams lines and train routes. Easy to navigate and convenient for tourists.
    Visited June 2023
    Written 4 June 2023
  • JaakkoTapio
    Helsinki, Finland657 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Old & modern ticket tecnics
    As located in historical place & building, it's nice to have a modern technology by tickets (self service or service office). They use RFID- tech based tickets and automatic controls. Easy to find right directions towards public transports.
    Visited March 2023
    Travelled on business
    Written 6 June 2023
  • Bill
    Cooperstown, New York183 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Central To Public Transport
    Catch the tram or train or ferry from Central Ststion to all points. Within this vast transport center lives a multi shop mall. Trams to various routes in the city accept prepaid cards purchased at kiosks, or swipe your credit card as you enter the chosen team BUT don’t forget to swipe again as you step off. Clear signs and maps and Dutch/English audio announcements on the trams ensure you’ll know your stop.
    Visited May 2023
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 6 June 2023
  • Amy T
    Bridgeport, West Virginia518 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Great starting point for Amsterdam
    This is a great place to start your visit of Amsterdam. The free ferry which takes you to the North side of the city is located here, as well as a location where the trams start and stop. Centrally located and easy to navigate.
    Visited May 2023
    Travelled solo
    Written 3 July 2023
  • Xamot Tomax
    Fort Wayne, Indiana6,058 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Easily travelable
    If you’re in Amsterdam, most likely you’ll stop in Central Station. This is a heavily used station transporting the masses on either domestic or international trains. It’s very easy to navigate through. If you do have an issue, there are information booths that can answer your questions and direct you to where you need to go. They have several small restaurants and convenient stores.
    Visited December 2022
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 4 July 2023
These reviews are the subjective opinion of Tripadvisor members and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Popular mentions

We perform checks on reviews.
Tripadvisor’s approach to reviews
Before posting, each Tripadvisor review goes through an automated tracking system, which collects information, answering the following questions: how, what, where and when. If the system detects something that potentially contradicts our community guidelines, the review is not published.
When the system detects a problem, a review may be automatically rejected, sent to the reviewer for validation, or manually reviewed by our team of content specialists, who work 24/7 to maintain the quality of the reviews on our site.
Our team checks each review posted on the site disputed by our community as not meeting our community guidelines.
Learn more about our review moderation.
4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles17,840 reviews
Excellent
8,326
Very good
7,212
Average
1,930
Poor
244
Terrible
128

Yilei2014
Tucson, AZ71 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2023 • Family
We got there pretty late in the afternoon. It was dark already when we took a train from airport hotel to downtown. We can feel the Christmas atmosphere. Tourist boat in the canal is running. A public event was ongoing near the Centraal on Palestine human right. It is such a vibrant city.
Written 5 March 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

David S
Geneva, Switzerland7 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2023 • Friends
It's good to visit with friends. It's looks beautiful in the night as the lights reflect off the water. The air is also fresh and refreshing alongside the river. You can visit with friends at night and have drinks along side the shore.
Written 4 March 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Cara Hall
Birmingham, UK14 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2024 • Family
Easily the most beautiful train station we’ve ever seen, it was the most impressive building in Amsterdam! The transport there is also really good, all trains labelled on a screen and on time.
Written 2 March 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Swedishtomcat
Diss, UK3,566 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2024 • Couples
Looks mightily impressive with its long and arched roof, but from a passenger’s perspective it isn’t user-friendly. There doesn’t seem to be much train information displayed. There are bottlenecks getting off the platform to the concourse with escalators not always working. If you like filthy train exteriors then this is a dirty train spotters paradise.
Written 29 February 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Harrison D
4 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2024 • Family
Really pretty railway station, steeped in history. Great for the history nerd, train spotter or anyone who is fascinated in architecture. Has an array of shops, toilets, and the concourse is busy but always moving due to the open space
Written 27 February 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Haris
406 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2024 • Friends
The building is so nice and old as many others in Amsterdam. As other big cities the central station has shops, restaurants, supermarkets and if you want to go to Rotterdam, Maastricht, Delft etc you will go there for sure.
Written 9 February 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Odyseey
New York City, NY53 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2024 • Business
Magnificent building at the heart of Amsterdam you can walk right out to the busiest parts of Amsterdam where pot or weed is prevalent
Written 1 February 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

abigael2028
Brussels, Belgium11 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2024 • Solo
The most rude, lacking empathy, unhelpful and unprofessional personnel I ever had the misfortune to interact with at a railway station. And to the personnel at the International Desk: resign and go find a job you might actually like or at least be passably good at!
Written 27 January 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Vadim
Murmansk, Russia26,794 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2023 • Solo
On this visit, like the previous one, I went straight from the train station to the Rijksmuseum and experienced deja vu. These buildings are so similar. This is not surprising, because they were built by one architect Pierre Cuypers, and in parallel. The municipality chose the places for construction from two options. The second was Leidenplein. The current building, built in 1889, separated the city from the harbor, which many did not like, because it contradicted the history and spirit of Amsterdam. Now, instead of ships from the Dutch West Indies, America and Japan, trains arrived here. At the same time, the station itself was built on an artificial island of 8,700 piles, which is not surprising for the Netherlands. There are 6 platforms at the station from which 150 thousand passengers leave and arrive daily (in 2019 there were 213 thousand). At the same time, Amsterdam station is only the second in the country in terms of traffic, second only to Utrecht. Needless to say, the station is very convenient inside: cafes, shops, escalators. Everything is like at all major railway stations in the country. ..
Written 24 January 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

tezpil
Portsmouth, UK4,651 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Sept 2023 • Couples
Lovely iconic building in central Amsterdam. A good point for bus and train connections. Nice to view across the water. There's plenty of shops, eateries and luggage storage and plenty of information boards. A modern hub in an old shell.
Written 16 January 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Showing results 1-10 of 8,883
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
Is this your Tripadvisor listing?
Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.
Claim your listing

CENTRAAL STATION: All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)

Frequently Asked Questions about Centraal Station

According to Tripadvisor travellers, these are the best ways to experience Centraal Station:



Attractions near Centraal Station: View all attractions near Centraal Station on Tripadvisor