Best layover option
 

We will be travelling from Budapest home to the US and must make an overnight layover. Opinions as to the best layover city? Dublin, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Geneva? Trying to make the most of the layover without trying to cram in too much!

What is the nature of the layover and what precisely is that you want to make "most of"? Money, time, duration, some specific attractions, etc. you have not stated on some day of the week you have not specified. Businesses and attractions have closed days.

Value of layover depends what portion of "overnight" you are talking about. 10pm to 6am layover is pretty useless unless you are a late evening clubber.

Is this part of a carrier imposed layover where you have little control of the layover duration and timing? Are they two separate reservations where you are full control of the layover?

I have to agree with greg. How long of a layover are you talking about?

Then figure out how long it takes to get from the airport and return. DON'T FORGET if you leave the airport, you'll have to check in again. Allow yourself plenty of time.

Then what time? Will any attractions be open?

We will be departing Budapest on a Tuesday in the morning and catching a flight to the states around 10:30 a.m. the following morning (wednesday). Therefore, we will probably be in the layover city by 1ish.

We know we won't be able to fully experience the layover city but would love to enjoy some sights and get a good meal and experience another city even if it for a limited time. While we want to minimize travel time and hassle, we are not interested in a generic airport hotel and generic view/experience.

We have read that Amsterdam would be a good option due to the ease of getting around. However, we are looking at alternatives.

The layover options are dictated by price/availability.

I haven't been to the others except Amsterdam. And I agree: Amsterdam is a convenient place to layover for sure - I've done that a few times in Amsterdam. The city itself is OK, not my favorite but not bad. It's not even a requirement that you overnight in Amsterdam itself. You could go to Haarlem for example - still easy access to Schiphol airport by train. If you had more than one night, I'd even suggest a further town away like Delft (still direct train to the airport).

Do I presume you are doing an open-jaw like this?

USA-xxx-BUD
then
AMS/EDI/DUB/GVA-xxx-USA?

Then, did you get "around 10:30am" info by actually looking up flights and confirmed they are within the "price/availability?" Or is this still an unconfirmed wish list?

If I make many many assumptions due to lack of additional stated info, AMS has a lot of attractions and is most likely to have the most choice of flights back home around the target time and is very accessible from the airport. I don't know what kind of meals you are interested in. Dublin and Edinburgh would automatically drop off MY list if good meals meeting "certain subjective personal criteria" are parts of my requirements. In case you have not researched, pretty much anything, including "good meal", would be a hard hit on your budget in Switzerland.

When will you be travelling?
I ask because Schiphol has been struggling with passenger numbers lately causing delays at security and passport control, meaning you need to be at the airport at least 3 hours before departure for a non European flight. They are working on it, opening a temporary terminal and training up more security people but at peak times it can be chaotic and frustrating.

For a 10.30 flight you need to be at the airport by 7.30, especially if you have bags to check, or haven't checked in online, and earlier would be better in those cases, and that means an early start from the city, unless you choose to stay at a hotel near the airport.

But I suspect that is the case no matter which airport you opt for.

I think the OP checked flights already as it was stated those are the final choices based on availability. I don't know why one would think the OP didn't know what they were talking about and what difference does the 10:30 make anyway, the main point is they will be leaving the next morning so they have one afternoon and evening for a city.

I don't think it really matters which one, I'd choose which one I most wanted to see, I imagine there must be some preference. Given the stated issues with how busy AMS is or something, both Dublin and Edinburgh woudl be fine. Dublin airport is smallish and not that far outside the city at all with lots of transfer options. Edinburgh also. Both are only about 10-12 km from city centre, Edinburgh has a tram from the airport as well as airport bus. I didn't find either of those cities any more difficult to get around than Amsterdam, if you are there only one afternoon and evening, you'd want to stay in the center, I presume, to do a little sightseeing.

Personally, I'd probably pick Edinburgh and save Amsterdam for a trip where you have several days, if that is ever a possibility. It's hard for me to believe there are as good flight options from Edinburgh than AMS or Dublin, though, but I suppose anything is possible.

Regarding AMS delay, I went through AMS into Schengen last month, and the passport control queue was one hour long. I have never spent so much time going through the AMS passport control. I thought it was their making. Previously there were many counters to serve non-EU passport holders. I have rarely spent more than 10 minutes. But last month, there were only TWO counters for non-EU and about EIGHT counters for EU residents. The queue for non-EU passport holders went on and on. By the time I was done, the queue has grown even longer.

greg, it's now bad for EU passport holders too. I spent an hour in a line getting into the country when I last returned from Israel.

I think all of them have zippy access to the city center, so I'd pick the one with the best hotel, normally nicest weather for your travel date and most appealing food and drink from your point of view.

Here's one more way I might choose: I don't think it would ever occur to me to pay to go to Geneva as a tourist, so I might see this as an opportunity. Somebody else might be on the fence about ever going to Edinburgh or Dublin, and might think this was a chance to check it out, for a future trip or to write it off the list forever.

Thank you all for your suggestions!