By car
North Holland is an important region and is approachable from all surrounding provinces. Generally just follow the signs for Amsterdam and you'll easily find your way. The most commonly used routes are:
From Amersfoort and the Eastern Netherlands, take road A1 which enters North Holland in the Gooi and Vecht Region.
From Utrecht and the Southern Netherlands, take road A2 which will bring you straight to Amsterdam.
From South Holland, take road A4 which passes through The Hague, Leiden and on to Amsterdam.
From Flevoland, road A6 goes right in the direction to Amsterdam. It passes through the Noordoostpolder, Lelystad and Almere on to Amsterdam.
From Friesland and the Northern Netherlands, take the A7 which passes the Afsluitdijk over the IJsselmeer to reach the north of the province. It's possible to continue all the whole way south to Amsterdam.
If you're in Flevoland and your destination is the Kop van Noord-Holland, consider driving over N302 which goes from Lelystad to Enkhuizen. This is a quick route over the Markerwaarddijk right through the Markermeer.
By train
Amsterdam and Schiphol Airport can be reached from many international destinations using the NS HiSpeed (http://www.nshispeed.nl/en/) international train service. Daily, seven ICE International trains leave from Frankfurt in Germany that pass through Cologne, Düsseldorf and Duisburg to reach Amsterdam in about four hours. Plenty of intercity trains from Deutsche Bahn connect Berlin with Amsterdam in about six hours. From Belgium, there is a direct intercity train from Brussels and Antwerp to Amsterdam that takes less than two hours to reach. There's a direct connection from Paris to Amsterdam with Thalys that takes a bit more than three hours. Traveling by international train is generally not cheap, but booking earlier does make it cheaper.
If you're coming from other provinces in the Netherlands, the easiest way to visit is to use the Netherlands Railway (http://www.ns.nl/cs/Satel...) service to come over. Generally, it is a reliable, fast and cheap way to get into the province. A one-way trip from Rotterdam costs about 14 euro and takes about one hour, while a trip from The Hague costs about 10 euro and takes about 50 minutes.
By plane
Many visitors to North Holland and the Netherlands wil arrive at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, the fifth busiest airport in Europe. Although it officially belongs to Amsterdam, it is actually located in the reclaimed municipality of Haarlemmermeer below sea level. More information about the airport can be found in the Amsterdam article.
Getting to Amsterdam or anywhere else in North Holland from the airport is as easy as taking the train. Buy a ticket in the main hall, take the escalator below ground floor and wait for your train to arrive. A one-way to Amsterdam costs about 4 euro, to Haarlem 5 euro, to Hilversum 7 euro and to Alkmaar 8 euro. There are also taxis available, but expect to pay at least 50 euro for a trip to Amsterdam, 60 euro for Haarlem, 90 euro for Hilversum and 120 euro to Alkmaar.