Eurostar from Amsterdam Schiphol train station

Month and Year?
Eurostar destination?

Have you flown to Europe before? It’s really not meaningful to talk about a reliable ballpark figure. The line at “All Other Passports” is often like the line with which the US welcomes foreigners! So it depends on number of planes (and whether you get a “Bus Gate.”

Eurostar to London has extra check in time. There is construction on Amsterdam Eurostar facilities in 2024.

Baggage handling is a crap shoot.

You will have trouble getting this news board to approve buying a timed premium ticket after a transatlantic flight.

Edit: Eurostar is priced in many ways. I think there are higher fares that allow one or more changes in the booking, but there are still rules and deadlines.

Date of travel and destination from Schiphol would be instrumental in giving a rough ballpark on which Eurostar train you should aim for. Regardless of train line it is usually recommended to buy tickets on arrival at the airport, to avoid the problems of flight delays or cancellations, or backlogs at Passport Control and the baggage carousel. However, if you insist on advance purchase, then allowing 3-4 hours would be prudent.

Not sure what experience you think will be unique to Eurostar, other than the tunnel under the Channel on the route to London. In which case, the train from Paris would be faster, cheaper, and less boring than travelling all the way from Amsterdam. Even that part, for me was only remarkable for the number of times my ears popped from the pressure changes inside the tunnel.

Is there any direct train from Amsterdam to London?
No direct trains from Amsterdam to London until 2025

Don't worry: you'll still be able to travel between these two cities by train by: Taking a Eurostar train from Amsterdam-Centraal to Brussels-Midi. Going through border control in Brussels. Catching a Eurostar train from Brussels-Midi to London St Pancras.
From a Google search.
Does your ticket mention a train change in Brussels? Does Schiphol have border control ? I recently took this trip from Amsterdam Central Station. The only option was a train to Brussels, where we disembarked, cleared security & border control and then boarded the Eurostar for London.

how much time to allow between arrival of our flight from the US at
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport at 10:30 am on a Tuesday and our departure
on Eurostar from the Schiphol station.

I would not plan on being through all of the mess before noon. Then its lunch time. So another 90 minutes for lunch. Then to the station platform and that being a new thing I would allow 30 minutes to an hour. So your train is maybe best at 2pm. Or so goes my uneducated guess.

Everyone here is assuming that you are taking the Eurostar to London.

For all we know you may be taking the former Thalys (now also Eurostar) to Rotterdam, Antwerp, Brussels, Lille or Paris.

You mention the local commuter trains so you may even just be taking it for the short hop into Amsterdam Central- which would be an unusual thing to do (it's not that special a train) but that is your choice if you want to do it.

Clarity on your destination would be welcome.

The OP states they plan to take the Eurostar from Schiphol train station. The Eurostar trains to London don’t call at Schiphol train station, so London as a possible destination is out. It’s also not possible/allowed to take the Eurostar from Schiphol to Amsterdam central train station or to Rotterdam.
That means that the OP plans to travel to Antwerp, Brussels or Paris. It would help if the OP came back to the forum to provide some more details, so we can assist them better.

This is one of those instances where the forum pays off. Conventional wisdom would have said that the time to get to the Schiphol Station from the Arrivals Hall and the time to actually board a train would not be different for trains going to Antwerp, Brussels or Paris. London I would understand. Good to know.

Thank you for your responses. To clarify, we have flown to Europe from the US many times but this will be our first time in Amsterdam. Our flight will be April of 2025 and we will be going to Brussels, then on to Ghent. Because the layover at Schiphol is more than 3 hours we thought going via Eurostar might be faster than flying, but from these replies it doesn’t sound like it. However, we will be flying KLM SkyPriority with priority baggage handling, security, and immigration so that should save us time on our connection. This year upon arrival at CDG we made it to our connection at the TGV station in less than an hour (!) and hoped we might be able to have a similar experience in Schiphol. If we do decide to go with Eurostar we will try to purchase AirRail combination tickets that would give us flexibility if our flight is delayed but still wanted to ask for advice on the timing from someone who may have already done this.

“However, we will be flying KLM SkyPriority with priority baggage handling, security, and immigration so that should save us time on our connection. ”

Unfortunately SkyPriority doesn’t really help you when you transfer. If you book this all on one ticket, you won’t need to go thru security nor will you need to pick up your luggage when you transfer. You will need to go thru immigration to enter the Schengen Zone, but SkyPriority doesn’t apply there. There are however designated passport control lanes for passengers with short connections.

Yes, thank you. After posting I remembered that security isn’t a factor. And disappointing it won’t help with immigration, but won’t we need to collect our luggage to continue by train, even if we book on one ticket?

Terri, I dont know a thing about this. But you are saying you can buy the flight and the train on one ticket? Then I would presume the ticket would be a schedule that is technically feasible? And if you miss the connection, you get on the next train as if it were a missed plane connection on one ticket? In that case, what is being offered for the Plane and Train connection. Pick one and let it be KLM's problem. But I would hope the layover was at least 2 hours .... just for convenience sake. But ignore me. I am learning with you on this one.

If you continue on by train, you will need to pick up your luggage and take it the very short distance from arrivals to the train station. But from your last post I got the impression that you wanted to fly from Amsterdam to Brussels. In that case your luggage will get checked thru to your next flight.

1) If you are buying an AirRail ticket to Brussels, what kind of flexibility does the ticket offer to change if you miss the train? Can you transfer to a later departure with no penalty? This is really what you have to find out.

2) What are the departure times for the train to Brussels? I picked a random Tuesday in April and I see departures to Brussels at 11:27, 13:27, 15:27, 16:27, etc. I think 13:27 would be realistic.

My understanding of what you are trying to do:

One option is flying from US to Brussels with a 3 hr layover in AMS.

Another option is flying to AMS and taking train to Brussels to avoid the 3 hrs at AMS.

If that is the situation, unless there is a $ignificant amount of $avingS in taking the train, I think you are making your trip unnecessarily complicated by doing the train.

if the flight to Brussels is part of the transatlantic ticket and you don't show up and take a train, most airlines will treat that severely and cancel your return flights.

You haven't bought it yet?

MrÉ, yes lots of airlines, including KLM, allow you to purchase “combo” tickets for flights + train so that you don’t need to worry about the schedule. I just need to be sure I can do that for this route. joe32F, another reason I prefer taking the Eurostar is that we end up at Brussels South/Midi Train Station which is much closer to Ghent and within Brussels if we decide to stay one night there. Instead of way out where the BRU airport is. And if we can book the flight and train on one ticket that’s not complicated since Eurostar leaves from the AMS station.

The whole point of the AirRail ticket vs booking the flight and train separately is that you will be put on another train free of charge if your incoming flight is delayed. When you chose the Airrail option, the airline will only show you the train times that are realistically possible.

Sounds like a good plan. And thanks for the education. But I am still confused why people could not help you unless they knew which train you were getting on. What's the difference?

“ But I am still confused why people could not help you unless they knew which train you were getting on. What's the difference?”

It seems that the posters who asked for a destination mistakenly thought that Eurostar goes to London from Schiphol airport. A train to London would involve going thru passport control, thus requires more time. However due to the absence of passport control facilities at the TRAIN station of Schiphol Airport, Eurostar can only serve destinations within the Schengen Zone from Schiphol Airport, so the question was irrelevant. The direct train to London that originates in Amsterdam, does not call at Schiphol. It goes straight to Rotterdam without calling at Schiphol Airport.

What is relevant to estimate how long it takes to reach the train station at Schiphol, is the origin of the flight, time of day the flight arrives, whether there is checked luggage etc etc.

I knew that the Eurostar from Schiphol airport station only went to the other destinations instead of to London but to make it clear to others I should have stated my destination to prevent confusion. Also, I understood that travelers to London on Eurostar also must go through security which would impact the time needed. Thank you for clarifying that.

What is relevant ... is the origin of the flight, time of day the
flight arrives, whether there is checked luggage etc etc.

Is there an AMS website that translates all that into time? I go through AMS a lot and that would be a great resource!

We realize time of day and other details may affect the time needed
but are looking for a ball-park figure.

I've done a lot of 90 min connections at AMS. All times of day and days of thr week. I dislike KLzm but they flew from Austin ... so ..... Most I could have done in 60 minutes. I get the impression that the train station is maybe closer than the walk from US arrivals to Schengen departures. But you might get slowed down a bit by the luggage. Still if the airline sells you a ticket with 60 to 90 min between plane and train, I wouldn't sweat it. They will put you on the next train if need be.

Even so, although not directly relevant to the time frame at the airport station, you CAN book a through ticket from Schiphol to London, changing off Eurostar Red to Eurostar Blue at Brussels, where passport control is undertaken.

Thus London was a possible destination, just not on a through train.

Passport control is said to be expedited at Brussels for interchanging passengers, but even so some of the advertised connections look a little tight to my eyes.

The posters who said you shouldn't book until arrival are also not offering the best advice. Both types of train (Red and Blue) can sell out- tomorrow (Monday) is a good example- where only one train (the last one) has availability for Schiphol to Brussels, and only 3 trains on Tuesday and 3 on Wednesday (all quoted at 2345 GMT on Sunday night).

Nor are we here to "approve" anything, but to give advice. The usual advice would be to take a "commuter" train to avoid timing issues (and for cost) but as the OP was clear that the train of choice was Eurostar then advance booking is clearly necessary.

Thank you for that concise reply from the Lake District. One reason I neglected to say I was only going to Brussels was that I anticipated all of the commuter train advice instead of an answer to my original question. And Mr É from Texas understands how thrilled we are to have direct flights between Austin and Amsterdam! There are so few direct flights to Europe for us.

Condor was doing direct to Frankfurt(?) from San Antonio, but I think that died. And Lufthansa and BA are also doing direct from Austin, so its a lot better than the days I used to drive to Houston to catch a plane. Of course, not a problem for me any longer .... unless I want to go home.

Not sure if the OP was alluding to recent news, but Eurostar is now (or will be) a Skyteam Partner with Delta, KLM, Air France, and others. So I would think that the OP should be able to buy a single itinerary, through Delta, to Brussels that includes a Eurostar ticket from Schiphol to Brussels. What's more, that ticket should be guaranteed to be able to catch a later train if delayed (Just assuming)

Like I alluded to, I have not looked into it in detail, but as a partner, Eurostar should be amore seamless option than the present Air+Rail offered by Delta.

I have an update: I decided to check flights again and this time I was given the option to travel from AMS to Brussels via air or Eurostar! Very surprising since the Eurostar tickets aren’t supposed to be available until 4 months prior to the journey and this is 6 months out. Arrival in AMS at 10:30 and Eurostar at 13:27 so the advice many of you gave me was correct. My question has been resolved. Thank you all!

Very surprising since the Eurostar tickets aren’t supposed to be available until 4 months prior to the journey and this is 6 months out.

As I alluded to above, that is likely as a result of Delta/KLM's new partnership with Eurostar. You are essentially getting privileged access to tickets, which makes sense, since many make flight arrangements well before many rail schedules are available.

Certainly do what makes sense for you, I think the partnership is a good thing, but If it were me, I would wonder if just taking the first regular intercity trains to Brussels would be quicker (could almost be in Brussels by 1:30 possibly) rather than waiting 3 hours after landing.

For me, the flight/Eurostar combo makes more sense to Paris or London where Eurostar is the only rail option, Brussels is kind of flip a coin either way.

According to Eurostar, some routes are available 6 to 8 months in advance
https://help.eurostar.com/faq/us-en/question/How-far-in-advance-can-I-book-Eurostar-tickets