8 hours in amsterdam
 

we have about 8 hours in amsterdam (i know, not enough!). we arrive from boston at noon towards the end of june and need to board another flight around 9 pm. what should we do? floriade, dinner suggestions, van gogh-gaugain? (middle aged married couple!)<BR>thanks in advance for the suggestions.

I would take the train from Schipol to Centraal Station and then take a canal tour. You'll get a great overview of Amsterdam. The tours leave from out in front of the station. Then just wander until you take the train back. The train takes only 20 minutes.

We did this 2 years ago, same time of year. Take the train from the airport to the city center. Right out front you can take a boat on an hour tour of Amsterdam on the canals to get an overview of the city. We then walked to the Pancake resturant and ate outside and people watched. Walked from there to Ann Franks house. Although the line looked really long, it moved fast. It was very interesting and we di this instead of an art museum, because of time constraints and we can see famous art in almost any city, including our own, but there is only one Ann Frank house anywhere. We still had time to walk back to the train station to see more of Amsterdam and plenty of time to get back to the Airport. Have fun.

I second the vote for the Anne Frank House.

No better airport in the world to wind up with 8 hours than AMS. As people have said, you can go into the city by train in 20 minutes, walk/tram around and see a lot of the place, before training back to Schipol. I'd see the area around Leidespleain and the area around Rembrandt'splein, also the main street--Damrak and the Jordaan district. I'd do a good lunch (although Amsterdam isn't a foodie paradise--suggest Dynasty, a chinese restaurant not too far from Leidesplein) rather than try to do dinner at a nice place since by then you should be thinking about getting the train back. Considering the 20 minute ride, you'll probably want to leave about an extra hour or even hour and a half since Schipol is pretty big on security.

They also have city tours that you can take from the airport. Took one last year. Was brief but gave you a good idea of the city. Just remember when you return, you have to clear immigration/customs.