How to Call Amsterdam From the USA

When you do not know how to make an international telephone call, it can seem rather confusing. After all, foreign phone numbers seem to be so long in comparison. If you are planning on making a phone call to Amsterdam -- which is the Netherlands' capital city -- from the United States, the process is very simple and quick.

Things You'll Need

Telephone with a long-distance calling plan
Telephone card (if necessary)
Phone number in Amsterdam

Tips For You

1. Make sure that you have a long-distance calling plan or an international calling card. If you do not have long-distance set up on your telephone, you will not be able to dial numbers outside of the United States. One way to get around this is by purchasing an international phone card on the Internet or at your local drugstore. These phone cards are relatively cheap. Buy roughly or just over the amount of minutes that you need to be on the phone to Amsterdam. For example, if you plan to speak for about 45 minutes, purchase a card with 60 minutes on it.
2. Be aware of dialing codes. To make a phone call abroad from the United States, you must dial the international access code, which is 011. Then, research the Netherland's country code. To make a call directly to a nation, it is vital to be aware of its specific country code. In the Netherlands' case, the code is 31. Dial the international country code with the country code immediately following it.
3. Take the "0" away from the start of the city code. The Amsterdam phone number you have begins with "020," as that is the city code. To make international phone calls, it is always necessary to remove the "0" from the beginning of the code first. After you do this, the beginning of the phone number you are going to dial should look like "011 31 20" with the rest of the digits following.
4. Figure out the local time in the Netherlands. The Netherlands is in a totally different time zone than the United States, so avoid being rude and calling at an overly early or late hour. Amsterdam is six hours ahead from the East Coast of the United States and nine hours ahead of the West Coast. Think ahead before making a call to Amsterdam. You do not want to risk waking someone up and dealing with a groggy and unhappy person.
5. Make your phone call. Be sure you have entered your international access code, the country code for the Netherlands and the city code for Amsterdam. Enjoy your call, and maybe you'll pick up a few words in the Dutch language.

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Amsterdam Tourist Attractions & Plazas

Amsterdam is a perfect city to explore, small enough to be manageable and yet large and vibrant enough to provide plenty of interest. Walk the squares, plazas and beside the canals lined with historical buildings; explore the art, the history and the mercantile and maritime tradition. The vibrant nightlife of Amsterdam draws as many visitors as art and history, and you can combine the pleasure with education at attractions that focus on alcohol, drugs and sex.

Art Attractions

• Museumplein plaza, south of the main ring of the canals, is the focus for Amsterdam's best art museum: Rijksmuseum (rijksmuseum.nl), Van Gogh Museum (vangoghmuseum.nl) and Stedelijk Museum (stedelijk.nl). The former, revamped for 10 years and reopened in April 2013, houses a collection of staggering riches, starting with the iconic Night Watch, plenty more Rembrandt, as well as works by Vermeer, Frans Hals, Jan Steen, Jacob van Ruisdael and other artists of the Dutch School. The Van Gogh Museum has a permanent, chronological displays of Vincent's works as well as excellent temporary exhibitions and some of his post-impressionists contemporaries. The Stedelijk collection is unashamedly modern, with works by the Dutch greats including Willem de Kooning and Piet Mondrian, alongside Rosenquist, Warhol and Malevich.

City Squares

• The Dam square sits at the center of modern Amsterdam, a lively plaza packed with pigeons, tourists and street entertainers, as well as a location of the National Memorial, erected to remember the Dutch dead of WW II. The heavy bulk of the Royal Palace, or Koninklijk Palace (paleisamsterdam.nl), dominates the western side of the Dam. Nearby, the Nieuwe Kerk, where Netherlands' royals are customarily inaugurated, holds art exhibitions between the events.

  Clubs, cafes and other entertainment concentrate around Rembrandtplein and Leidseplein, both in the Grachtengordel, or Canal Ring area that surrounds the oldest part of the city.

Cityscape

• After the art treasure-houses, perhaps the biggest attraction of Amsterdam is simply its urban fabric, an enchanting cityscape of tall-gabled houses, high-pinnacled churches and canals spanned by humpback bridges. Walk, cycle or best of all, take a ride on one of the canal buses (canal.nl) for the variety of views. If you fancy a peek at the historical interiors of a grand bourgeois townhouse, visit Museum Van Loon (museumvanloon.nl) or Museum Willet-Holthuysen (willetholthuysen.nl), while Museum Het Rembrandthuis (www.rembrandthuis.nl) will afford an intimate glimpse of life of the great artist. Take in the atmosphere of Begijnhof (begijnhofamsterdam.nl), an unexpected haven of peace in the middle of the city bustle.

History

• Amsterdam Museum (amsterdammuseum.nl) gives a broad and interestingly presented background to any visitor's explorations of the city's past. Dive deeper into The Netherlands' maritime history at Scheepvaartmuseum (hetscheepvaartmuseum.nl), learn about the heritage of the Jewish community at Joods Historisch Museum (jhm.nl) and discover the complex story of Dutch people during the WW II in the excellent Verzetsmuseum Amsterdam (verzetsmuseum.org). For many tourists, the poignant highlight of their Amsterdam tour is a visit to Anne Frank's House (annefrank.org), where the sad story of the young writer brings the tragic reality of the Holocaust vividly to life.

Thrills and Spills

• Many attractions capitalize on the more hedonistic streak in the city's culture. Take your pick from among the beer, celebrated in a high-tech style at the Heineken Experience (heineken.com), the herbal delights explored at the Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum (hashmuseum.com) and the Dutch gin and liqueurs to be sniffed and tasted at the House of Bols (bols.com). In the heart of the Red Light District, the Prostitution Information Centre (pic-amsterdam.com) focuses on the protecting the rights of the sex workers, but also has a mini-museum with a historic brothel room. Tours of the area are offered on Saturdays.

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Trains From Amsterdam to Italy

With the vast and comprehensive train systems throughout Western Europe, traveling between Amsterdam in the Netherlands and Italy by train isn't difficult, only requiring you to choose a route. For the most direct routes to Italy you have two options. You can travel via Paris on high-speed trains or you can travel via Zurich on an overnight sleeper train and a regional Swiss train. The routes will get you to Turin and Milan, respectively, the two northernmost cities in Italy. From there, Italian train service will get you to other parts of Italy.

Paris Route

• Make your way to Amsterdam Central Station and take a Thalys high-speed train to the Paris Nord Station, which will get you to Paris in about three hours. You must then transfer to the Gare de Lyon station, a few miles away via the local RER D interurban trains. From Paris Nord to Gare de Lyon station, it should take roughly 20 minutes. At Gare de Lyon, take a high-speed TGV train, which will take you to the Turin Porta Susa station in about five-and-a-half hours. Turin is the first major city in Italy you'll reach via the Paris train route.

Zurich Route

• Take a City Night Line train, operated by the German rail service, from Amsterdam Central Station to Zurich's main station. The City Night Line offers an overnight train with sleeper compartments, departing in the evening from Amsterdam and arriving in the morning in Zurich. The trip takes about 12 hours. At the Zurich station, you will need to transfer to a Swiss Railways EuroCity train that will get you Milan Central station in three hours and 40 minutes. EuroCity trains are not considered high-speed, but they are modern and comfortable.
• Inter-Country Travel

• Once you have reached Italy, you can use the country's national train service, Trenitalia, or the privately owned Italo service to get to other areas of Italy. Both train services offer high-speed trains throughout Italy, particularly to larger cities, but Trenitalia has far wider service to small towns. Within the major cities, such as Rome, Milan, Naples and Turin, local train and bus service gets you around.

Scenic Routes

• If you are not in a hurry to get to Italy, there are a number of scenic train routes to consider. They may take longer, but you will have a chance to see more of Europe along the way. For example, If you want to see more of Germany, you could take a German Deutsche Bahn train, which will travel through the heart of Germany to get to Munich. From Munich you can transfer to a train that goes through Austria and then to Italy. If you want to see more of France, you could take the Thalys train to Paris, then transfer to a French TGV train that would take you to Marseille in the south of France before reaching Italy.

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