|
| |
|
GETTING AROUND |
| |
|
|
| |
Distances are short, and the longest journey you'll ever make - say
from Amsterdam to Maastricht - takes under three hours by train or car.
Urban public transport is similarly efficient and cheap, running on an
easy-to-understand ticketing system that covers the whole country.
Networks link up together neatly, with bus terminals almost always
beside train stations.
Trains
The best way to get around is by train . The system, run by Nederlandse
Spoorwegen (Dutch Railways; www.ns.nl ), is one of Europe's finest:
trains are fast, modern and frequent, fares relatively low, and the
network of lines extremely comprehensive. InterRail and Eurail are both
valid. On production of a passport, you can buy a Holland Rail Pass for
3 days/5 days in a month (¬60/¬90; under-26s pay ¬48/¬72). A Daypass (
Dagkaart ) gives unlimited travel nationwide for 1 day/5 days for
¬35/¬169. An Off-peak Pass ( Dalurenkaart ) costs ¬45 and gives a forty-percent
discount in off-peak hours for a year. Without a pass, reckon on
spending about ¬14 to travel 50km, up to a maximum one-way fare of ¬35.
A day return ( dagretour ), valid for 24hr, costs ten percent less than
two one-ways. With any ticket, you're also free to stop off en route and
continue your journey later that day.
Stations are well equipped and usually have a reasonably priced
restaurant, left-luggage lockers (around ¬2 for 24hr), and a GWK change
office. The NS treintaxi scheme (not valid in Amsterdam, Rotterdam or
The Hague) means you pay ¬3 for a taxi to take you anywhere within the
city limits from your destination train station, within a time span of
15min - very useful for smaller towns. Buy vouchers for treintaxis when
you buy your train ticket. NS publish mounds of information , including
a free intercity timetable.
Buses
For local transport you need to use buses , again very efficient, and
almost always running from ranks of bus stops next to the train station.
Ticketing is simple. The whole country is divided into zones, and you
need buy just one kind of ticket, a strippenkaart , wherever you are.
The bus driver will cancel one strip on your strippenkaart for your
journey plus one for each zone you travel through: two strips will get
you around the centre of most cities, three strips will take you out
into the suburbs, travelling between towns will use up proportionately
more strips. Strippenkaarts are not personal: any number of people can
travel on the same strippenkaart by cancelling the requisite number of
strips each. You can buy 2-, 3- or 8-strip strippenkaarts from bus
drivers, or the better-value 15-strip (¬6) or 45-strip (¬17)
strippenkaarts in advance from train stations, tobacconists, local
public transport offices and some VVVs.
Driving and hitching
The road network is comprehensive. Drive on the right; speed limits are
50kph in built-up areas, 80kph outside and 120kph (or sometimes 100kph)
on motorways. Drivers and passengers are required by law to wear
seatbelts, and penalties for drink-driving are severe. There are no toll
roads, but petrol isn't particularly cheap at around ¬1 a litre. If you
break down, the ANWB (tel 0800/0888) offers repair and breakdown
services to members of foreign motoring organizations and have their own
"tourist membership" (¬84 for two months). Car rental is fairly
expensive: reckon on paying upwards of ¬280 per week with unlimited
mileage - though there are much cheaper weekend deals available.
Hitching is feasible throughout the country: the Dutch are usually well
disposed towards giving lifts. Bear in mind, though, that motorways are
hard to avoid, and that it's only legal to hitch on slip roads or at the
special marked places you'll find on the outskirts of some larger cities,
known as liftplaatsen .
Cycling
If you're not pushed for time, cycling is a lovely way to see the
country. There's a nationwide system of well-signposted cycle paths,
which often divert away from the main roads into the countryside; better
bookshops sell cycling maps. You can rent a bike from all main train
stations for ¬6/day or ¬27/week, plus ID and a ¬50 or ¬100 cash deposit
- halved if you show a treinfiets voucher (obtainable when you buy your
train ticket). The snag is that you must return the bike to the station
from which you rented it, and in high season you may need to book ahead.
You can also rent bikes from outlets in almost any town and village,
some of which may accept a credit card imprint as a deposit. It's
possible to take your bike on trains, but it isn't encouraged (and
forbidden during the rush-hours); a bike ticket costs ¬4.50 one-way, ¬8
return - more for journeys over 80km. Bike theft is big business all
round the country, and in Amsterdam in particular: never leave your bike
unlocked, and don't leave it on the street overnight (even locked). Most
stations have a storage area (around ¬1/day).
|
| |
|
