Editing Netherlands (section)

== Get around ==

=== Bike ===
* [[Traveling by bicycle]]is easy and very common both within cities and across the country. There are separate paths for bikes linking cities and villages, as well as directional signs (in red) indicating major bicycle routes. If you are bicycling at night, you must have a white light on the front of your bike (or yourself) and a red light on the back. You can find more info on biking in the netherlands (including routes) in [http://holland.cyclingaroundtheworld.nl/ here]. Renting bikes is possible at most big trainstations (where intercities stop).

=== Train ===
* There is a very well-developed internal train network, and the country's small size means that the major destinations are often within 20 - 80 minutes of each other. The train system is privatised. The biggest railroad company is the [http://www.ns.nl NS], of which the state is the only shareholder. Regional private companies include [http://www.syntus.nl/ Syntus] in the east of the country, [http://www.arriva.nl/ Arriva] which operates mainly in the North and near Dordrecht, [http://www.connexxion.nl/ Connexxion] in the centre and [http://www.veolia-transport.nl/ Veolia] in the South east. Tickets bought at NS vending machines/desks are valid for all trains in the Netherlands, exept high speed trains. With the introduction of the public transport card (ov chip card) most stations don't have service balies anymore. You can buy your tickets at the machines, even international ones. 

* To plan your international train trip, check [https://www.nsinternational.com/en/ NSinternational]. The further you book in advance, the better the price. 

* [http://www.nshispeed.nl/en International high-speed trains] stop at the major cities, and there are direct trains to and from such cities as [[Paris]], [[Brussels]] and [[Cologne]].

=== Bus/metro/trams ===
* If you travel by bus or metro more than once, it is advisable to buy a OV-chipkaart, which is a magnetic card. See this [http://www.ov-chipkaart.nl/?taal=en website] for more information. The card is usable for all public transport in the Netherlands and can be recharged. Check on the website where the closest [https://www.ov-chipkaart.nl/service-and-contact/service-points-finder.htm/ service point] is near you. 

* [http://www.eurolines.com/index.php?id=113&L=0 Eurolines] bus service makes daily trips from Belgium, France, Germany and the UK as well as semi-regular service from Poland and other countries.

* [https://global.flixbus.com/ Flix bus] and [https://www.ouibus.com/ Blabla bus ] operated different routes through the Netherlands all throughout Europe. 

* [https://9292.nl/en/ 9292ov] is a website where you can plan your trip using public transport in the Netherlands. You can also exclude ways you don't like to use for example the tram and it will adjust your trip. It will also give you the price of you trip.

=== Boat ===
* Ferry lines are operated on Hoek van Holland, Rotterdam and IJmuiden.

* The islands in the north are best reachable by this [http://www.rederij-doeksen.nl/ ferryservice]

* In the South-West you can get a ferry from Vlissingen to Breskens. [https://www.westerscheldeferry.nl/ This ferry] is only for cyclists and people by foot nowadays because of the tunnel that has been developed between Vlissingen and Terneuzen for cars.

=== Car ===
* There are a lot of roads of good quality in the Netherlands and no tollways. The speed limit is 100 km/h on freeways during the day (after 19h it's 120), 50 in and 80 outside of cities. The old cities are mostly hard to reach by car, overcrowded and expensive to park in. Don't travel in de [[Randstad]] by car in rushhours, there are allways a lot of trafficjams.

* Due to the small size and relative dense population '''[[hitchhiking]]''' is really easy in the Netherlands. The country is quite friendly to hitchhikers with even special spots in some cities. [http://www.liftershalte.info Lifterhalte ] is a wiki about hitchhiking with a very usefull map with some good hitchhking spots. Some other good spots can be found in [http://www.franknature.nl/hitchhike/hitchhike.htm# here]. Because of the free public transport cards students get, a lot of Dutch are not used to hitchhikers.

=== Air ===
* The Netherlands main airport is Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, a busy international airport with a trainstation conveniently located underground. From Schiphol, travel to locations within the Randstad can be accomplished within 1 hour, and major destinations throughout the country can be reached within 3 hours.

* Some low cost carriers such as Easy Jet, Berlin Air, Sky Europe, Wizz Air and Ryan Air also fly into the airports at Maastricht/Aachen, [http://couchwiki.org/en/Eindhoven Eindhoven] and Rotterdam. Public bus systems connect these airports with the NS stations. Easyjet stopped flying to Maastricht/Aachen but there are several main-carriers flying to Schiphol.