idub

Would really appreciate some input. We have a 6 hour layover in Amsterdam and would love to go into the city and perhaps grab some lunch and/or explore for a little while near the Grand Central Station. Is that cutting it too close? Our luggage will already be checked in, so I'm assuming if we get back to the airport one hour before our flight to Barcelona, it will be enough time. If anyone has any suggestions and advise, it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

alanRow

http://tinyurl.com/o7gnf

If it doesn't work go to the English version of the Schiphol website, clock on "airport information", then "transfer"

W9London

It's perfectly do-able, as Schiphol has a very good train link to Amsterdam. Before you hop on a train, you may want to go to the departure gate first to get the boarding passes to your connecting flight.

The train station is connected to the arrivals hall. The trains leave every 15min or so, and takes about 20 minutes to Centraal station.

Depending on the actual flight arrival time and how long it would take to go through the passport control queue, you'll probably have at least 3hrs in central Amsterdam. Taking a tram, walking around the canal and having a quick bite seems all reasonable.

Just check the train time schedule from Centraal to Schiphol before you start exploring the city, so that you won't miss the flight!

tcreath

I agree with W9London; I would definitely go into the city. We had a four hour layer and went into the city for a few hours and really enjoyed ourselves. The train connects the airport with the city; its cheap, fast (I believe 15 minutes?) and they come often. We had more than enough time, and with 6 hours you should be able to have a nice lunch and do some sightseeing with plenty of time to spare.

Good luck!
Tracy

idub

Sounds great! Thanks so much!

lmlweb

Because I didn't know anything about Amsterdam during my layover, I didn't plan on going into the city. However, spending the 7 hour layover in the airport didn't really appeal to me, even though it's a nice airport. There was a tour kiosk that offered tours by the specific hour (ie 3 hours, 6 hours, etc). I took the 3 hour tour which took me to a cheese and clog factory, a drive in the farmland where we saw windmills, stopped at a park wehre a statue of Rembrant was, and then drove around in the city itself. We didn't stop in the city to walk around, as 3 hours is very limited, but we did stop for a photo point, though.

Next time, if I had a layover in Amsterdam for that long, I'd just go into the city myself and just enjoy walking around the city. It's lovely!

FauxSteMarie

As the previous poster said, there are tours that run out of the airport that are geared to people with long layovers.

There is also a small branch of the Rijksmuseum in the Airport that is good for a half hour or so.

The next time I get stuck in Amsterdam with that kind of a layover, I am going to take one of those tours out of the airport. It helps pass the time, if nothing else. The problem for me was that my layover was not quite long enough to make it doable the last time.