>>>>>>>I have a 3 hr layover in AMS in a few weeks, and in the past I have just gone to the KL club in the Schengen area while waiting for my outbound flight (to a Schengen country). Now I'll head into town and try to see some of what has been posted here. In doing this, should I go thru passport control in the baggace claim area? Or just do what I have always done, which is go thru passport control inside security (using my passport and outbound flt boarding pass) and head into town from the Schengen area of the airport?


If you are both arriving and departing from/to Schengen countries (in which case all flights should be transiting concourses B/C/D), then there IS no passport control in the baggage claim area--you just walk past the carousels, and stroll out through customs to the train station--a cakewalk with no formalities and hardly a glance--unless you are wheeling out large cages full of heroin, cocaine, and rabid weasels. (Just be sure to go straight to baggage claim, and do NOT go through the passport control that leads to international concourses E/F/G.) You will, of course, have to show ID with your boarding pass to get back through security when you re-enter the B/C/D concourse area for your Schengen flight (again, do not go toward the E/F/G concourses when you return--but this will be obvious because if you are departing within Schengen your flight will leave from the B/C/D area, and you just use that security entrance, not the E/F/G entrance).

Unless a layover is really long, at least 6-8 hours, I would recommend skipping the downtown bustle and worrying about getting back and thru security on time. With this much time a trip to the Central Station will get you a one-hour canal boat ride (nice) and nothing else attractive in the area; or an hour at the Rijksmuseum will only leave you wishing you waited till you had a whole afternoon for it.

Instead, for the more typical 2-4 hour layover you can't beat just relaxing and wandering around in Europe's most pleasant airport. Every kind of shopping is available at a well designed free-form mall. Unlike the concessions at most airports, prices are about the same as the downtown shops, and there are genuine mark-downs here and there instead of the usual phony airport sales. Prices are in Euros, which will reduce a lot of Americans to window-shopping, but shopping that's eligible for duty-free will get a substantial rebate. There are countless services from a Kinko-style bureau with internet, to massage parlor to nap room.

One caveat: Unless you've had a very large inheritance recently, don't be tempted by the convenience of the casino in the airport. I had about 50 euros still in my pocket before flying back to the U.S., so I went to the casino planning to buy about 25 2-euro chips for roulette. The minimum chip price was 10 euros! For not much more than that I could join the princes and sheikhs in the private rooms at Monte Carlo.

Considering that the transatlantic flights arrive between 6 and 11 a.m. with some exceptions, even a 3 or 4 hour trip downtown will let you be at the airport again around noon and normally during those times the walk from the railway station through security to your gate will not take more than 10-15 minutes , so to fear that security will take too much time should not prevent one from going downtown, even if it is only for an hour or so.

We are talking about Old Europe in one of its best forms, a beautiful city and especially for the not so seasoned traveler over to Europe a must see, even if you are only walking around the downtown area for an hour or so.The train is reasonably priced for an airport-DT connection and it is very efficient and normally on time.

After the latest modernisation and expansion Schiphil is now named
" Fabulicious Schiphol " and considering the dutch are pretty low key even this term is really not exaggerating, we are talking about the best airport by far outside of Asia.

Just came back from a trip with a 6-hour layover in AMS. The plane from IST arrived at AMS around 8:30 a.m., and the AMS-DTW flight departed at 2:25 p.m. In actuality, this means the net layover is about 4.5 hrs, as KLM wanted me to be back at the check-in gate around 1 p.m. or so. They do this because of immigration check & questioning, which was impressively thorough. Our port of entry enforcement officers can certainly take lessons from AMS officers.

Anyway, what I ended up doing in 4.5 hours were exchanging $$$ to Euro, talking to travel agents to get a map and some basic info, taking a 20-min. train ride to downtown, wondering near the Centraal station, cafe, canels, the Red Light district, getting a take-out lunch, taking a few shots along the way (sorry, no window girl pics :p) before heading back to Schiphol. Having no familiarity, doing these simple things took more than I anticipated, but I was back by 1 p.m. comfortably.

Looking back, travel agency was probably an unnecessary step, and I should have exchanged currencies in downtown (to same time and to save rediculously high commission charge). So, I'd say if you have 5 hours of gross layover time, you could do a fun walking tour of AMS and be back at the airport with no stress.

You will see some scenaries around the Centraal station starting at the 2:48 mark of the slideshow, Istanbul the movie

one option is the Stedelijk MuseumCS which is about a 15-minute walk from Centraal. mostly modern art and exhibits, easy to kill 2-3 hours there. however it may have moved back to its old home behind the Rijksmuseum; the location by Centraal is/was temporary while the old location was undering renovation.

The museum does not move back to its old location until either next year or 2007. Not sure which. Definately worth visiting if you are fan of 20th Century art.

Just returned from a trip through AMS, and am happy to report that the free showers are still alive and well. As pointed out in this thread, they are upstairs, in the restrooms between the BA lounge and KL #41 lounge. Pretty simple setup - you walk into the shower room, the 1st part is a change/dressing room, and right behind it is the shower. Once in the shower, press a button, and warm (not boiling hot) water comes out for 3-4 min. Not done yet? Press the button again. Easy and free... Oh, and as posted earlier, bring your own towel and soap/shampoo...