Amsterdam Airport Layover Guide - Get out of Schiphol Airport

Amsterdam is one of the few cities in the world where a layover of a few hours can turn into a real look at the heart of town. Schiphol is KLM's home airport, so plenty of people change planes here, and the city center is a 15-minute train ride from the terminal. If your connection is long enough, you'd be crazy to spend it in the departure lounge.

The catch is timing. Leaving the airport means passport control on the way out (unless you arrived from another Schengen country) and security on the way back in, and both can be slow. Here's how to work out if you can pull it off, and what to do with the time once you're in the city.

Is your layover long enough?

From the time you walk off the plane, figure on 45 minutes to an hour to reach Amsterdam Centraal if things go smoothly. Coming back, allow about 30 minutes from walking into Centraal Station until you're standing in the security line at Schiphol, and then work backward from Schiphol's own advice: it asks passengers to arrive two hours before a Schengen flight and three hours before a non-Schengen flight.

• Under 6 hours: stay put. Once you add the trip in, the passport lines and that three-hour buffer, there's nothing left.
• 6 to 8 hours: doable for a canal cruise and a walk around the old center, as long as your flight landed on time and the passport line was short.
• 8 hours or more: you've got time to pick one big thing, like a museum, and still wander a bit.
• Overnight or a full day: treat it as a short visit. The hotels near Schiphol page covers places to sleep close to the terminal.

Those are stricter numbers than this page used to give. Schiphol security queues got notoriously long after 2022, and since April 2026 non-EU travelers also have to register at passport control under the EU's new Entry/Exit System, which takes fingerprints and a photo the first time you cross. Expect it to add time, especially when several long-haul flights land together. ETIAS, the EU's planned online travel authorization, was still not in force as of September 2026.

Before you plan any of this, check two things. First, you need to be allowed into the Schengen area: if your passport needs a Schengen visa, a transit stamp won't cover a trip into town. The Amsterdam visa page has the details. Second, if you're on separate tickets or your bags aren't checked through, sort your luggage out first. Schiphol has lockers and a staffed luggage depot.

If you're stuck at the airport

Schiphol is a decent place to be stuck. There's a big shopping and food area (Schiphol Plaza) outside customs, and the Holland Boulevard airside has more shops, lounges and places to sit.

One thing that has changed: this page used to send people to the small free Rijksmuseum annex airside. That exhibition closed in 2025, and the Rijksmuseum no longer lists a Schiphol location on its site, so don't build a short layover around it.

Getting into the city by train

The train station is right under the airport, and it's the fastest and cheapest way in. Walk out of customs into Schiphol Plaza and follow the signs for the trains; the ticket machines and the escalators down to the platforms are right there.

According to NS, eight Sprinter trains an hour run from Schiphol to Amsterdam Centraal via Sloterdijk and Lelylaan, and the trip takes about 17 minutes. Intercity trains run the route too. Check the departure boards for the next train to Amsterdam Centraal and get on whichever comes first.

Paying for the train

• Tap your own card. The easiest option. Tap a contactless debit or credit card (or your phone) on the card reader at the platform entrance, then tap the same card at the gates at Centraal. This is the OVpay system, and it charges you the normal single fare.
• Buy an e-ticket in the NS app or on ns.nl. A second-class single to Amsterdam is listed from about €5.50 as of 2026.
• Buy at the machine. Paper-style single-use tickets carry a €1.60 surcharge on top of the fare, so this is the priciest way to do it.

The old advice to buy a same-day return at the ticket windows no longer applies. Tapping in and out each way is simpler, and you won't be stuck with a return half if your plans change. Whatever you do, always tap in and tap out with the same card, or you'll be charged a much bigger fare. Our airport to Centraal Station guide covers buses and taxis too.

Getting back

Walk into Centraal Station, look at the big departure boards for a train showing Schiphol Airport, tap in at the gates and head up to the platform. There's usually a train within 10 minutes during the day. Trains keep running late into the night, but after about 1 a.m. the service drops to roughly one an hour, so check the NS app if you're cutting it close.

Getting your bearings at Centraal Station

Amsterdam's layout is confusing the first time, since the canals curve around in rings. Your phone's map will do the job now, but a little orientation helps.

Walk out the front of Centraal Station and everything you care about is in front of you. The river IJ is behind the station. Slightly to your left is the oldest part of the city, including the Red Light District. Straight ahead is Damrak, the main street that runs to Dam Square. Slightly to your right and running parallel is the pedestrian shopping street Nieuwendijk, which turns into Kalverstraat past Dam Square. The Centraal Station area guide goes into more depth.

What to do with a few hours

Take a canal cruise first

If my best friend had a short layover here and it was their first time in the city, I'd tell them to do a one-hour canal cruise before anything else. Amsterdam might be the only city other than Venice that looks better from the water, and a cruise covers a lot of ground in a short time.

The docks are right across the street from the front of Centraal Station, along Prins Hendrikkade and Damrak, so you can be talking to a ticket seller within five minutes of leaving the station. Prices have gone up a lot since the days of €7 cruises. As of 2026, LOVERS, whose boats leave from opposite the station, sells its classic one-hour cruise for €15.50 online against a €20 list price, and the other big operators charge similar amounts. Booking online is usually cheaper than paying at the counter. More on the options in our canal cruise guide.

Walk a loop through the old center

With a map on your phone and an hour or so, you can walk a loop that takes in three of the city's main areas, and it costs nothing.

1. The Red Light District. Yes, this is where the windows are, but it's also the oldest and most historic neighborhood in Amsterdam, with the prettiest canals near the station and the Oude Kerk. It's a residential area too, so there's no reason to feel awkward walking through. Just don't photograph the sex workers, and keep your voice down.
2. Dam Square. About a 10-minute walk from the station, with the Royal Palace on one side and a lot of tourist traps around the edges. Worth seeing, not worth lingering in.
3. Nieuwendijk and Kalverstraat. The main pedestrian shopping streets. Mostly chain stores, and so crowded on weekends that walking fast is impossible.

Start through the Red Light District, cut across to Dam Square, and head back along the shopping streets. If you'd rather have someone show you around, the free walking tours are a good use of a longer layover. Note that guided tours past the windows in the Red Light District have been banned since 2020.

Museums, if you have the time

The Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum and Anne Frank House all run on timed tickets bought in advance, and the Anne Frank House sells tickets online only and often sells out weeks ahead. You need a long layover (eight hours or more) and a ticket booked before you land. The Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum are on Museumplein, a tram ride south of Centraal. The Stedelijk modern art museum, which spent a few years in a temporary home next to Centraal Station, has long since moved back to Museumplein too.

Eating and drinking near the station

The restaurants along Damrak are mostly disappointing. They get endless tourist foot traffic and almost no repeat business, so they don't have to try hard. If you want a proper meal, walk 15 minutes to Rembrandtplein or, with more time, go out to Leidseplein.

For something quick and local, the city's famous fries are the easy win. Manneken Pis on Damrak and Vleminckx on Voetboogstraat both have lines for a reason. The other only-in-the-Netherlands option is FEBO, where you pay and pull a hot croquette out of a little window in the wall; there's a branch on Oudezijds Voorburgwal in the Red Light District.

If you have a long layover and want one memorable meal, make it a rijsttafel, the Dutch-Indonesian spread of a dozen or more small dishes. Just leave enough time: it's not a fast meal.

Bars are everywhere, and most have a Heineken sign out front. Keep in mind that drinking alcohol on the street is prohibited in the city center, so drink inside.

Coffeeshops on a layover

Let's be real, this is what a lot of people with a five-hour layover are actually looking for. There are dozens of coffeeshops within a 10-minute walk of Centraal Station, and the closest coffeeshop to Centraal Station page covers the nearest one, which opens early for exactly this crowd.

The rules have tightened since this page was first written. You must be 18 and show ID, the tolerated limit is 5 grams, and since May 2023 smoking cannabis on the street in the old center, including the Red Light District, has been banned, with a €100 fine. Smoke inside the coffeeshop. Two Warmoesstraat places this page used to recommend have changed too: Hill Street Blues is now a bar, and Baba closed its Warmoesstraat shop years ago. If this is your first visit to a coffeeshop, read the Amsterdam coffeeshops FAQ first.

And keep track of time. You don't want to take anything onto a plane with you (bringing cannabis across a border is illegal almost everywhere), and a relaxed hour in a coffeeshop has a way of becoming three. Set an alarm for when you need to be on the train.

Turning the layover into a stopover

If you keep finding yourself routed through Amsterdam, it can make more sense to stop for a few days on purpose. A multi-stop ticket lets you do that without paying for a separate return flight. AirTreks, BootsnAll's sister company, has been building multi-stop and round-the-world tickets since 1987. Here's one of its sample routes that uses Amsterdam as the first stop:

FAQ

Can I leave Schiphol on a layover without a visa?

If your passport lets you enter the Schengen area visa-free (US, Canadian, Australian, British and many others do), yes. If you normally need a Schengen visa, an airport transit visa only covers staying airside, so you can't go into town without a full Schengen visa.

Do I have to collect my bags?

Not if your bags are checked through to your final destination, which is normal on a single ticket. On separate tickets you'll usually have to collect them and check them in again, which eats into your time.

Is a four-hour layover enough to see Amsterdam?

No. With Schiphol asking for three hours before a non-Schengen departure and the passport lines on arrival, four hours leaves you no time at all in the city. Stay airside.