"Either for hours or days..." a Schiphol Travel Page by Robin922

One of the most popular questions is, "I'll have a ___ hour lay over at Schiphol, can I go to ___?"

The first thing you need to check, is if can enter the county without a visa. For Americans the answer is yes.

The next part of this question is pure math.

Arrive and clear immigration - 15 minutes
To go most anywhere you will need a train ticket - 10 minutes
Since most people want to go to Amsterdam, train runs every 10 minutes and is about a 20 minute ride, so figure 1 hour round trip.
Once you return to the airport you will have to clear security, this line can be long. Allow 45 minutes to be safe.
Another 15 minutes to find your gate.
Don't forget boarding can start as early as 45 minutes before flight time.

You have now used 3 hours of your layover. Needless to say if your layover is less than 5 hours, you don't need to be going to town. Unless you just want to say "I saw Amsterdam".

However if you have one of those common 8 hour layovers, you can do a lot.

You can spend a few hours in Amsterdam, or you might consider Zaanse Schans. If the weather isn’t perfect I would suggest Amsterdam since there are more activities that are protected from the weather.

If your layover is too short, don’t worry. Schiphol offers many activities to keep you busy for hours.

As a rule tourists don’t vacation/holiday in Schiphol, however if you work in aviation you may find yourself staying either in Schiphol or Schiphol Oost.

At first glance it appears to be nothing to do except work. Finding a place to eat isn’t easy either. However there are a few hidden jewels.