My wife and my 20 yr old are traveling thru Amsterdam next Thursday and have a 5 hour layover. Want to store our carry on at the airport and take the train into town for a quick 1 1/2 hours. Will we have enough time to take the train in and get back with 2 hours before the next flight?
Posted by
OP
Philadelphia, PA, USA
2 posts
We are flying direct from Newark, NJ. Are most Planes on time? Assuming we are, how londg should we allow to get off the plane and thru customs, store our luggage, and get a train?
When we return, should we allow for 2 hours?
Posted by
New Paltz, NY
9110 posts
I always fly out of Newark as well, transatlantic planes almost always leave the gate on time, but are almost always stuck in line waiting to take off for about an hour, but they usually seem to make up the time in the air. You should be able to get out of the airport in about an hour hour, if you use my short- cut trick. If you already have the boarding pass for your connecting flight in hand you can probably get away with 1 hour before your flight. With such a short amount of time I would, walk down to Dam Square, check-out the current exhibit at Nieuwe Kerk(next to the palace), and take a stroll around the Red Light District, and back to the train station.
Posted by
New Paltz, NY
9110 posts
You have time for a quick visit assuming your flight arrives on time. Store your carry-ons at the airport instead of Centraal Station. They have installed new lockers that only accept European smart-chip debit cards. If there are long lines at immigration and you have no checked baggage, there is a short cut: head back up the stairs, follow the main corridor of the terminal until you see immigrations desks that on you right-hand side-not downstairs. There are almost never any lines at this station. You will pass a lot of lockers but don't use these as your flight will be leaving from a different portion of the terminal. Use the lockers past immigration in the Schiphol Plaza portion of the airport. There are trains every five minutes to Centraal Station.
Posted by
Ballston Lake, NY, USA
157 posts
I had a similiar layover once before in Amsterdam and I had plenty of time to go down and see the city and get back. It is worth doing. I do not remember where I stored my bags at the airport but it seems that Michael is on top of that with his directions.
Posted by
Brangwin, Wa, USA
349 posts
The airport has a small world class art museum and a bad casino( they keep black jack pushes ) but I won $40 so any thing can happen. You could take cab to Adam tour a bit and return I guess ride would be $40 each way . or train down cab back .. If you go to town have a Fibo snack like the Automat you may have seen in movies in New York C my best ideas .. FYI Anne Frank will have a line and probably not enough time unlee your plane arrives at 8AM