Schiphol Airport routinely ranks as one of the finest in the world so you could do a lot worse than being trapped there for a couple hours. Obviously you’ll leave your luggage behind, so if you can waltz through Customs into the big shopping area at Schiphol Airport quickly, read on and you can judge the risk/reward for yourself. If your flight lands early or the Customs lines look empty, you can actually have a meaningful visit even if you have to be back at the airport exactly two hours later. With a 3-hour layover you might play it by ear. The city is close and easy to reach from the airport, but racing into town only to have to race right back to the airport is probably not worth the possible heart attack or the strong possibility of missing your outbound flight. If your layover is scheduled for 3 hours or less you are probably trapped at the airport, since leaving the terminal means going through Customs on the way out and security on the way back in. Check out the main travel guide for some of the most popular options. You can pretty much pick any one thing you want (including one of the big museums) and you should still have time to walk around the city a bit.

So with this in mind, if your layover is six hours or more the sky’s the limit for your city trip. And it takes a bit north of 30 minutes from walking back into Centraal Station in Amsterdam until you are in the security line back at Schiphol. Once you walk off your plane and into Schiphol you can usually be in the city in around 45 minutes, or even less if things go smoothly for you.

Get a map and get oriented in Amsterdam.

Something to consider in the airport itself.

Below you’ll find, in order of appearance, the following topics: This subject has quite a few different aspects to it, and not all of them will apply to everyone. The great news is that Amsterdam is one of the very few cities in the world where even a short layover can be turned into a fascinating, albeit brief, look at the heart of town. As popular as Amsterdam is as a destination, it seems to be just as popular as a place to change planes in the middle of a long journey, especially if your flight to Amsterdam is on either KLM or Northwest.

The layover amsterdam