Best Place to Exchange Money in The Hague

01Exchange

Where to change money in The Hague

GWK Travelex runs the exchange counters in The Hague and lists three in the city, two of them at the main railway stations. No commission is advertised, so the cost is in the rate; get the euro figure for your pounds before agreeing.

• GWK Travelex Den Haag Centraal ↗Kon. Julianaplein 35 (2595 AA), in the central station. GWK's branch page shows 09:00-20:00 on weekdays and 10:00-17:00 on Saturdays and Sundays.
• GWK Travelex Den Haag Hollands Spoor ↗Waldorpstraat 19 (2521 CA), at Hollands Spoor, the city's second station. Hours are 10:00-17:00 from Monday to Saturday, with no Sunday opening.
• GWK Travelex Stationsweg 143 ↗A third entry on GWK's list of Dutch branches. Its page publishes no hours, so confirm it is open before relying on it.

02On arrival

Changing money at the airport

The Hague has no airport of its own, so visitors arrive through Schiphol or Rotterdam The Hague Airport (RTM). At Schiphol, the larger, NS trains leave from platforms beneath the terminal, and GWK Travelex lists a branch at Schiphol Plaza. RTM is nearer: bus 33 links the terminal with Meijersplein/Airport, where RandstadRail metro line E carries on to Den Haag Centraal, and RET reckons the trip takes under 40 minutes. RTM's GWK Travelex desk, before security, opens 10:00-17:00 except on Sundays, while its cash machine runs around the clock. HTMC Taxi Centrale runs fixed-fare transfers from both airports and checks your flight on the day you land.

03Cash machines and cards

ATMs and cards in The Hague

A bank card gets you through most of a stay here. The city council says all its on-street parking meters take bank and credit cards, and the official tourism site notes that HTMC drivers accept debit cards, Visa and Mastercard. At NS station gates, your phone and your plastic card count as two separate cards, so tap out with whichever you tapped in with. For euro notes, the two station branches are the handiest counters.

04Getting around

Paying for transport in The Hague

HTM's trams and buses take OVpay. Hold a contactless Maestro, V PAY, Mastercard or Visa card, phone or watch to the reader inside the vehicle as you board and as you get off, using the same one each time. You pay what an OV-chipkaart would, a base fare plus a rate per kilometre. If you forget to tap out, HTM charges €4.00, which it says is nearly always more than the journey; you can correct the trip at ovpay.nl from six hours afterwards, for up to 60 days. For a set price, HTM's day ticket costs €8.60 and its 3-day ticket €22.00, both in the HTM app. Trams 1 and 9 run out to the beach at Scheveningen.

05Local know-how

Good to know

• The Tourist Day Ticket, €17.50 on HTM's site, gives a day of unlimited trams, buses, metro and water buses anywhere in South Holland, handy for a trip to Delft or Rotterdam.
• Tapped in at an NS gate by mistake? NS cancels the journey at no charge if you tap out at the same station within 60 minutes.
• Staying a while? HTM sells the OV-pas, the €6 card that is gradually replacing the OV-chipkaart; you load credit onto it and it is sold at Primera shops and some service points.