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-   -   Layover in Amsterdam (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/layover-in-amsterdam-1461154/)

casey54111 Jul 30th, 2017 06:03 PM

Layover in Amsterdam
 
I will have a six hour layover in Amsterdam and want to see the Ann Frank House. Do you think this is enough time to get to the house, tour museum, and get back to the airport? I plan on buying my tickets in advance and leaving our bags in a locker at the airport.

janisj Jul 30th, 2017 06:05 PM

When is your trip? The tickets sell out far ahead . . .

casey54111 Jul 30th, 2017 06:34 PM

October 20th is the day I will be in Amsterdam. I know tickets go on sale two months in advance so hoping to buy them August 20th.

greg Jul 30th, 2017 06:48 PM

What kind of layover?

Schengen to Schengen
Non-Schengen to Schengen
Schengen to non-Schengen
non-Schengen to non-Schengen

casey54111 Jul 31st, 2017 04:39 AM

I fly from Krakow to Amsterdam to Detroit.

hetismij2 Jul 31st, 2017 04:56 AM

Personally I wouldn't do it. That is the start of a school holiday in the Netherlands, which could increase traffic considerably.
It would take you a minimum of an hour to deplane and get to the Anne Frankhuis, and then to get through security and passport control at Schiphol and be at your gate in time for boarding you need to allow two hours at least. Boarding starts early so they can push away on time and avoid fines. So basically that leaves you a maximum of two hours to see the museum and get back to the station. The slightest glitch - plane late landing, train delays, and you are in trouble.

greg Jul 31st, 2017 06:09 AM

I presume you are doing AMS-DTW on DL139, the last of the four Delta direct flights of the day leaving AMS around 3pm?

You also can do a risk visit if you are willing to throw away your Anne Frank House ticket and city transportation cost. You only do this if everything is working out. Plane on time, could get to Amsterdam quickly, etc.
You set a deadline time limit for leaving AMS. If you cannot leave AMS by that time, you abandon.
If you are late getting into Amsterdam, you abandon and turn back.
Set time to leave the museum.
I don't know if they routinely do this, but I was able to get into the Anne Frank House ahead of my printed time.
Also if you don't have a chip and pin credit card, you need to hit one of the many places that sell train ticket to Amsterdam Centraal. Besides the train ticket window, which tends have a long queue, tourist info offices also sell train tickets.
Don't bother with a taxi. The surface traffic going there is terrible.
While the Connexxion bus 197 https://www.connexxion.nl/amsterdam-...t-express/1241 would have been an option if you had time, it takes 50 minutes even if on schedule but it also gets bogged down by traffic. One merit of Connexxion bus 197 over train would have been that you can pay the bus driver using cash. No need to find a place to buy train ticket.

You even don't want to bother with the locker at AMS. They are not everywhere and unless you know exactly where it is and it does not require a detour, it will slow you down. Check luggage except for the essential and hit the town with the carry-on items you arrived in AMS. You are heading home. There should be little risk with your checked luggage arriving late in DTW.

In the future, if you want to do this, your choice would have been to do KRK-AMS the day before, visit Amsterdam, stay over night in Amsterdam and fly home the next day morning on DL133 or DL135 or DL137; or arrive AMS in the evening, stay over, and visit Amsterdam in the morning and fly home on DL139. You have to play with the itinerary to see if you can do this without adding to the airfare. Sometimes this is considered layover without additional cost, sometimes this is considered a stopover with a major cost increase. You are swapping last night hotel stay at your actual destination with one night in Amsterdam.

Here is the best case timing. You can easily incur delays.
45 min Off plane, travel from AMS on train to Amsterdam Centraal.
15 min walk Amsterdam Centraal to Anne Frank House. Fast walk.
1 hour at Anne Frank House
1 hour from Anne Frank House to AMS.
3 hours ahead at AMS to complete security check and passport control.

The AMS passport control has been very bogged down the last time I went through AMS.

menachem Jul 31st, 2017 07:11 AM

You don't have time. Passport control and security checks + getting out of the airport, to Amsterdam and back again, getting to AF house and heading back, would give you perhaps 60 - 90 minutes for a rushed visit. Not worth it.

rs899 Jul 31st, 2017 08:03 AM

No, very risky at best. You could certainly take the train in and wander around, but you will have no time there.

janisj Jul 31st, 2017 08:10 AM

>>I don't know if they routinely do this, but I was able to get into the Anne Frank House ahead of my printed time.<<

I was let in early but could only visit the cafe and look at some wall exhibits -- was not allowed into the house itself until a couple of minutes before my allotted time.


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