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Europe's steepest tourist tax, tap-in transport, and a six-week tulip season
Amsterdam has spent several years making itself deliberately more expensive to visit, and 2026 was the year two changes landed together: the country's highest tourist tax on top of a VAT rise on hotel stays. The rest of the trip is easier than it has ever been. Transport is a matter of tapping a bank card, and the tulip season has fixed, published dates.
Amsterdam's tourist tax is 12.5% of the room rate
The city applies 12.5% to overnight stays, and the council has approved a path upward: 16% next year, then a percentage point a year until it reaches 20%.1
Hotel VAT more than doubled on 1 January 2026
VAT on overnight accommodation, covering hotels, B&Bs and hostels, went from 9% to 21% on 1 January 2026, including on bookings paid for before that date, and it stacks on top of the local tourist tax.8
Rates are set municipality by municipality
Dutch tourist tax is a local levy: each municipality sets either a fixed amount per person per night or a percentage of the overnight cost, and adjusts it annually.2
Our take: check whether a quoted room rate includes the tourist tax before comparing prices. Many Amsterdam listings still show it as a separate line added at checkout, and 12.5% on top of 21% VAT is not a rounding error. Haarlem, Utrecht and Leiden are 15–35 minutes away by train and materially cheaper.
Keukenhof 2027: 18 March to 9 May
The bulb garden opens daily 08:00–19:00, with the entrance closing at 18:15. Tickets for the season go on sale from mid-October on the garden's own site.3
The tulip window is short and fixed
Keukenhof's roughly eight-week season is the practical calendar for a flower trip; the surrounding bulb fields bloom on the same clock.3
Our take: mid-April is the reliable middle of the bloom, and the last week of the season is the quietest. Go on a weekday morning; the garden's car park and the Schiphol bus are both worst on weekend afternoons.
Tap in with a bank card
OVpay lets you check in and out on trains, metro, tram and bus with a contactless bank card or phone, so a short visit needs no separate transit card.4
Check out as well as in
Dutch public transport charges by the journey, so failing to tap out at the end leaves you paying a maximum fare for the trip.4
Our take: use the same card and device for every tap of a journey. Mixing a phone on the way in with a physical card on the way out reads as two incomplete trips and gets billed as two maximum fares.
EES is live at Schiphol and other external borders
Since 10 April 2026 non-EU travellers are registered with facial image and fingerprints on entry, replacing the passport stamp and tracking short-stay limits automatically.5
ETIAS is not in operation
Applications are not being collected; the EU will announce the start date in advance.6
112 for emergencies
Free from fixed and mobile phones anywhere in the EU, reaching police, ambulance and fire brigade.7
Bike lanes are roads, not pavement
The red asphalt lanes carry fast, dense traffic with right of way over pedestrians in most situations. Stepping into one to take a photo is the most common visitor mistake in Amsterdam.
The Netherlands is one of the best-covered countries in Europe, and almost everything you touch as a visitor, from OVpay journeys and NS train times to museum slots and Keukenhof tickets, assumes a live connection. The practical risk is not coverage but battery: a day of cycling with navigation running drains a phone fast, and your transport payment is on that phone. Carry a power bank, and keep a contactless bank card as a backup way to tap in.
12.5% of the overnight price in 2026, with rises already approved: 16% next year, then a point a year towards 20%. Since 1 January 2026, accommodation also carries 21% VAT instead of the previous 9%, so the combined tax load on an Amsterdam room is substantial.1,8
Not for a short visit. OVpay accepts a contactless bank card or phone for check-in and check-out on trains, metro, tram and bus. Just remember to tap out at the end of every journey, and use the same card or device for both taps.4
The 2027 season runs 18 March to 9 May, daily 08:00 to 19:00 with last entry at 18:15; tickets go on sale from mid-October. Mid-April is the safest bet for peak bloom, and a weekday morning is by far the calmest time to arrive.3
Every price, date and rule above is taken from the operator, museum, city or ministry that sets it, and was checked against that source on August 31, 2026. Lines marked "Our take" are our own recommendation, not a sourced fact. Fares, fees and opening hours change — confirm anything your trip depends on before you book.