Amsterdam will have the eyes of the world trained on it this April 30th as the Netherlands welcomes its first King in over a hundred years. However, with around 800.000 people expected in the city centre alone, transport could become problematic.
Many people may believe that, in line with the festive atmosphere in the city and country on this coming Queen's Day, Amsterdam's public transport shall run free of charge. Unfortunately, this is not the case and revelers will have to pay their way as per usual to use all GVB services.
However, not to be party-poopers, the GVB has announced that it will sell a special event ticket for Queen's Day, allowing the holder to travel on all modes of transport in the city (including Night Buses) during a 24 hour period for five euros.
As Amsterdam will be jam-packed with nationalist fervor on the day itself there will naturally be some restrictions to the normal services offered. Several tram services will have their routes combined, with only tram number 3 and 12 running on their regular routes.
Also, keep an eye out for the special Golden Tram which has been decorated in the style of the Golden Carriage used during the last King's inauguration in 1898.
The bus routes have also been changed, and the vehicles themselves will not be accessible from their normal spot at Central Station, on Stationsplein. Despite all of this though, the metro will stop (with the exception of Station RAI, which will be closed) at all it's normal points and will also run more frequently.
Thanks to the planned procession on the Ij following the inauguration there will be a number of ferry services that will also be affected, particularly directly before, during and after the Royal couple's boat journey.
Not to be left out, Amsterdam Noord has its very own K(r)ingbus which make a circuit of all of the events happening in the North of the city during the day.
For more information on all of the changes to the transport schedule during Queen's Day, click here.