Left luggage at Amsterdam Centraal

This post is another anoraky one, so unless you are visiting Amsterdam and have luggage, I’d move along to another blog entry..!

I thought some of you might like to know how the left luggage service works now. Although the station is being redeveloped, there is still a big left luggage area and a security guy on duty at the entrance. There is no traditional service though, you have to use lockers and the automated system.

If you read this blog you will know of my luggage issues, so my first mission this morning was working out how to use this facility. I’m spelling this out as I found very little detail about this online. For those that have used these machines before I know its so simple, but as there are no real instructions there, I’m going to recap for first timers like me.

1) The first thing you do is find an empty locker – it will have a green flag on the door (red means its being used). There are two sizes, I found the bigger ones further down the passageway on the left. Big ones are about 90x40x60 cms – I have guessed those dimensions, but my bag is 90cms long and it fitted in fine.

2) Put your luggage in the locker and close the door – it will lock straightaway, but don’t panic!

3) Very close to your locker will be a ticket machine – as you have just closed your locker door, the number of your locker (its printed on the locker door) will appear on the LCD screen (with multi language options).

4) The deal is that you pay a flat fee for the first 24 hours, and a supplement after this time up to a maximum of 72 hours. This means its as simple as putting in your chip & pin type credit card, entering the PIN, and it charges you and issues your ticket. The large lockers are E 12.70 today. I didn’t see the price of the small ones.

5) When you collect your luggage you insert your ticket back in the machine (it has a bar code) and hey presto, your locker door opens.

6) Bear in mind that once opened you have to pay for another 24 hours to re-lock it.

7) The machines don’t take cash, but I hear you can buy a token card elsewhere in the station. There are lots of helpful information people about in the station concourse who are also massively multi lingual

8) The man guarding the room doesn’t look like he is going to help anyone. I may be wrong, as I guess if you lost your ticket he is the man who would have to sort it all out. If you have any problems I suggest you get someone who is leaving their own luggage to help you.

9) if you can’t find the left luggage facility, as you enter from the front of the station turn right and head to the East side – it’s clearly signed but it is behind the ticket barriers. I didn’t find the barriers working ( maybe its just in rush hour?). Anyway, someone would let you through..

I hope that’s helpful – possibly the only guide to the luggage machines at Amsterdam Centraal on the web!

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad