Mail & Shipping in Amsterdam

For mail destined for outside the local area, use the overige bestemmingen slot in mailboxes. The national postal service's logo is PTT POST (white letters on a red oblong). The Dutch mail system can be slower than you'd expect, so allow about 10 days for mail to and from the United States and Canada and up to a week to and from the United Kingdom. For postal information within the Netherlands call 0800/0417.

Postal Rates

Airmail letters to the United States and Canada cost EUR 0.81 for the first 20 grams and EUR 1.62 up to 50 grams. Always make sure that your stamps have a blue "priority" sign on them, or write "priority" in big, clear letters to the side of the address. Postcards cost a universal EUR 0.54, no matter where they are destined to go. Letters (for the first 20 grams) to the United Kingdom, as well as to any other EU country, cost EUR 0.65. Letters sent within the Netherlands cost EUR 0.39 for the first 20 grams. You can buy postzegels (stamps) with postcards from tobacconists, the post office, the VVV, and souvenir shops.

Receiving Mail

Correspondence can be addressed to you care of the Dutch post office. Letters should be addressed to your name, followed by "Poste Restante" on the next line, then the address of the main post office or the one nearest you in Amsterdam. The main office is Postkantoor, Oosterdokskd 3, 1011AD Amsterdam, near Centraal Station. You can collect it from the post office by showing your passport or photo-bearing ID. American Express also has a general delivery service. There is no charge for cardholders, holders of American Express traveler's checks, or for those who booked the vacation with American Express.