If you intend to stay in the Netherlands for at least a while. There are two cards which I recommend that you get, and of course the site is partially in Dutch:
(1) Museum Card: I used to think that if you were under 26. Which is the standard for being “young” and “In school”, you would be entitled to student discounts. Not very true in the Netherlands because not everywhere believes in that. And the two most famous museums in Amsterdam, namely the Van Gogh Museum or the Rijksmuseum, cost 10EUR per entry, which is already 20EUR. Now, the museum card on the other hand costs about 22.50EUR and its valid for a year. Which is awesome because almost all museums in the Netherlands accept this card. (Even if you are post 26 you can get the card for 39.95EUR/year)
Alternatively, if you were only visiting Amsterdam, you could just buy the I amsterdam Card. Its not as cheap – 38EUR for 24 hours, but it saves you alot of hassle figuring out the public transport and what is a strippenkart, the paper thing to chop for different zones). And well, there is this “free” canal cruise and some extra stuff.
I would still recommend the museum card nonetheless, especially if you had a plan to travel Netherlands in two weeks or something like that.
(2) NS Voordeelurenabonnement Card: This is a suggestion more for interns. Because as said, if you are a student in a Dutch institute, you are able to choose to travel on the trains free on either weekends or weekdays. Which makes it great for students, but not so great for students of non-dutch institutes, because the trains ain’t exactly very cheap. So comes the NS Voordeelurenabonnement Card to the rescue.
The NS Card gives you 40% discount on all trains after 9am. It costs about 55EUR/year but it does save you a considerable amount especially since four other people get that discount along with you. For times when I’ve reached Schipol airport alone from a very long flight, it is nice to at least pay less to get to where I want to go.
(3) Albert Heijn Bonus Card: No! Serious! I’m just joking here…
