Practical Information for visiting Holland

Coverage is comprehensive and fast across the whole country, including the countryside and the islands, on the main networks (KPN, Vodafone, Odido). EU visitors roam on their domestic allowance; others can buy a prepaid SIM in any phone shop or supermarket.

Free Wi-Fi is normal in cafés, hotels and stations, and most intercity trains carry it. There is nothing here that needs planning around.

The Netherlands is a safe country and visitors face very little serious risk. The problems are ordinary ones, concentrated in the busiest places.

• Pickpocketing in Amsterdam's centre, on crowded trams and around Centraal Station. Routine care is enough.
• Bicycle traffic is the most likely way a visitor actually gets hurt. Look both ways before crossing a bike lane, and treat it as a road, because it is one.
• Bicycle theft is endemic. Use both locks, secure the frame to something fixed, and never leave a hire bike unlocked for a moment.
• Drug-related street dealing is illegal and the product is unregulated and sometimes dangerous. This is different in kind from the licensed premises, and it is the one genuine risk in the Amsterdam centre.
• Canal edges are unfenced almost everywhere, and people do fall in, overwhelmingly at night and after drinking.

Healthcare is excellent and the system is straightforward for visitors. EU nationals with a valid EHIC or GHIC are treated on the same terms as residents; everyone else should carry travel health insurance, as care is billed directly.

The general practitioner -- huisarts -- is the gateway to the system rather than the hospital, and out-of-hours care goes through a huisartsenpost rather than an emergency department. Turning up at a hospital with something minor will generally get you redirected.

Pharmacies are apotheken; a drogist sells toiletries and simple remedies but not prescription medicines. Tap water is excellent throughout.

There are no particular health risks. The seasonal considerations are wind chill on the coast in winter, which is sharper than the temperature suggests, and tick-borne disease in the wooded east and the dunes, where checking after a walk is sensible.

Cannabis is tolerated, not legal, and the distinction matters. Use, possession and trade remain technically illegal under the Opium Act; what exists is a long-standing policy of tolerance -- gedoogbeleid -- covering possession of small amounts, with roughly five grams treated as personal use. Licensed premises may sell it while production is nearly always prosecuted, which is the system's acknowledged contradiction. Some cities restrict public consumption in named areas, and hard drugs are suppressed in earnest.

Carry ID. From the age of fourteen, anyone may be asked by police or other officials to show a valid identity document, and the rule applies to visitors: a passport, or an EU or EEA passport or identity card. It is an obligation to show rather than to carry, and officials may not ask without giving a reason -- but since you have to be able to produce it, in practice it travels with you. A photograph of the document is not a document.

Cycling has rules and they are enforced. Working lights after dark are the one visitors are most often fined for; riding on the footway is not permitted. If you are unsure of a rule, watch what everyone else is doing, because they are all doing the same thing.

Sex work is legal and regulated in licensed premises. Photographing people working in the windows is prohibited, deeply resented and enforced by the people concerned.

Social etiquette is straightforward: be on time, split the bill without ceremony, and say what you mean. Dutch directness is not rudeness, and answering it in kind is the expected courtesy.

Emergency number: 112, free from any phone, for police, fire and ambulance. Operators speak English.

Non-urgent police: 0900-8844, for reporting theft or lost property. A formal report is required for most insurance claims and can often be started online.

Out-of-hours medical care goes through a huisartsenpost rather than a hospital emergency department -- call before attending.

Lost passport: contact your own embassy or consulate, most of which are in The Hague rather than in Amsterdam, which surprises people. The Hague is the seat of government and of the diplomatic corps.