Car parking in Amsterdam

Car parking in Amsterdam is expensive and complicated. In 2019, parking your car in the center of Amsterdam costs €7,50 per hour. The cheapest way to park your car long term, is to park at a Park&Ride. You pay € 8 for the first 24 hours. If you arrive after 10 am, you only pay  €1 for every 24 hours. You need to use public transport from the P&R to get into the city.

Parking in the street in Amsterdam

Parking in the street in Amsterdam is very expensive. It’s also very difficult to find a space to park your car in the street in Amsterdam, especially after 5 o’clock.

Car parking in the street in Amsterdam city centre costs €6 – €7,50 an hour (from 2019). You pay until 12 at night. The further you park from the centre, the cheaper car parking in Amsterdam is. See map:

Parking on Sunday and on official holidays is free, except in the city center and in the southern part of Amsterdam Noord.

Roofed car parks in Amsterdam

There are many car parks in Amsterdam. Just follow the P-signs. Most of the car parks are about the same rate as parking in street in Amsterdam, but some are even more expensive.

How to pay for car parking in Amsterdam

Paying for car parking in the street in Amsterdam is done using the machines in the streets. Preferably, you pay with a Dutch bank card, but as you probably don’t have one, you can use a credit card.

How to pay for car parking? Follow the instruction on the machine (choose your language). First, you enter your license plate number, then choose what ticket you want: hourly (per 5 minutes), day (9.00 to 19.00), evening (19.00 to midnight) or 24 hours (day ticket) or (only in the centre), a Sunday ticket.

You can print the ticket but this is optional. You don’t need to display the ticket in your car. Checks are done automatically: every now and then a car or scooter comes and checks the whole street with a scanner.

TIP: Cheap street parking in Amsterdam

Parking tickets for parking in the streets in Amsterdam are cheaper when you buy a day ticket, an evening ticket, a week, month or annual ticket online. For example: a day parking ticket online is 40% cheaper than paying in the street! The tickets are also valid for international cars, however, the webste is online in Dutch. Buy the parking tickets at: parkeerkaart.amsterdam.nl.

Free parking in Amsterdam

Free parking in Amsterdam is hard to find, as you can see in the map above. Amsterdam Noord is probably your best option as there is a ferry all night long. Outside of the ring (the A10) it’s cheaper to park and Slotermeer (west-Amsterdam) stil has free parking zones. But it’s not advisable to leave a car with a foreign numberplate parked there, as car thieves are still very active.

Another option for free parking in Amsterdam are some areas in Amstelveen. This is a high-class suburb of Amsterdam. From Amstelveen you can reach Amsterdam easily by tram or by bus.

RECOMMENDED READ: Is Amsterdam safe?

Parking fines in Amsterdam

If you don’t pay for parking, you may get a parking fine in Amsterdam of € 38,10.

When you have 5 parking fines (expect one fine per day), your car will get a wheel clamp. You will need to pay all the fines and the wheel clamp (€192) to be released.

Parking fines in Amsterdam for foreigners

When the car is registered in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, England, Estonia, Finland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Austria, Poland, Spain, Sweden or Switzerland, you will also receive a parking fine. It will be in your mail when you are back from your holidays! You will also find a sticker on the car that will explain how to pay the fine in Amsterdam.

If your car is registered in any other country, you will get a wheel clamp after 2 days.

Long stay parking in Amsterdam

Park and Ride (p&r Amsterdam) is the cheapest way for long stay parking in Amsterdam. There are 8 P&R’s in Amsterdam. They are all outside the city centre. The price is very good: you pay €8 for the first 24 hours, then € 1 per 24 hours. If you arrive after 10 am, it’s only € 1,00 per 24 uur. Weekends it’s always only € 1,00 per 24 uur.

You will receive a ticket at the entrance of the car park. You pay when you leave. You can pay with credit card.

BE AWARE: You have to use public transportation to get to the city centre, or the cheap rates don’t count! You get the special P&R public transport tickets at the blue machines (€ 5 euros for 2 people).

1. Long stay parking at Olympic Stadion

For long stay parking in Amsterdam, parking at the old Olympic Stadium is most popular because it is very near to the center. From the car park you are in the city center within 20 minutes.

Directions: Coming from Den Haag/ Leiden on the A4, take the A10. Exit S108.: P&R. Take tram 16 or 24 to go to the centre. This Amsterdam Park & Ride is a most popular p&r, so it’s possible it’s full. Also, be very careful you go first to the special P&R desk (follow the signs). If you enter in a normal car park, you pay the full prices.

2. Only 24 hrs: parking at Amsterdam Rai

Rai is Amsterdam largest conference and convention center. It is easy to reach and public transport is conviently available to take you into the city within minutes by metro. The down side is that the cheap parking rate of this Amsterdam P&R is only valid for 24 hours. After that you pay €25 per day.

RAI lies along the A10 ring of Amsterdam (exit S109). The special rate is not applicable when there are major events at Rai. Check the calendar of events on the Amsterdam RAI website. Entrance open 07:00 to midnight (exit 24 hours a day).

3. Parking at Zeeburg

The cheap parking rate at car park Zeeburg is only applicable if you want to use the public transport to go into the center of the city. From car park Zeeburg you can easily reach the center of Amsterdam by tram 26.

Directions: rom A10, take exit S114. Next to the entrance of the Piet Heintunnel. Report at P+R desk.

4. Long stay parking at Johan Cruijff ArenA

You can park your car underneath the Johan Cruijff football stadium when there are no football matches or other events. Againg: you must use the public transport to travel to the center. If you cannot prove this by showing your public transport chip card, you wil not get the discount.

Directions: Driving from Utrecht on the A9/A2: take exit Ouderkerk. Follow signs P1 and then P+R. Entrance to the right. Enter the car park and turn left to go to the P+R desk. Take metro 54 to go the centre.

5. Only weekends: parking at VU

This Amsterdam P& R is located in the South of Amsterdam, near Amstelveen. The VU is the Amsterdam university and hospital. The P&R special price for parking only counts for the weekend. From Monday, you pay the normal parking fees. You can enter from 07:00 to 22:00 on Saturday & Sunday (exit 24 hours a day). Take tram 5 to go quickly into the centre of the city.

6. P&R Bos en Lommer (Amsterdam West)

You can park maximum of 96 hours at the car park of Bos en Lommer in the West of Amsterdam. From A10 coming from the West: exit S105, drive to S104. Coming from the North: exit S104 (Bos en Lommer). Report at P+R desk first. Entrance from 7 AM to 22.00 hours. Exit 24 hours a day. Take tram 7 or 14 to the centre (get out at Leidseplein or wherever you are staying) or bus 15.

7. P&R Sloterdijk (Amsterdam West)

P+R Sloterdijk is quite popular. If full, go to Bos en Lommer. From A10 take exit S102 (Basisweg) Take the train to Central Station (5 minutes). Tram 12, bus 48 and metro 50 go more or less into the city, but be careful, because final destination is not Central Station, so getting lost is easy.

Check availability of the P&R Amsterdam:

Where to park a motorhome in Amsterdam

If you visit Amsterdam by motorhome, you may park you motorhome in the street for a maximum of 3 days. However, you may not sleep in it! You may also park your car in the P&R Zeeburg I and II. But also there: parking your motorhome is maximum 3 days and no sleeping.

Amsterdam City Camp for motorhomes

There is a special parking for motorhomes in Amsterdam North. It’s called Amsterdam City Camp. It’s open all year round and it’s next to the NDSM, a great location with nice views and good access to the city by (free) ferry.  Be aware that this is not a camping, there are no toilets or showers so for a camper van or VW van, this would be a stay without facilities. It’s not recommended to park your van in Amsterdam North because many were set on fire!

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