AllAmsterdam

Schiphol is the largest airport in the Netherlands, it is located just about 20 to 30 minutes from downtown Amsterdam, thanks to a great transportation system. Airport Schiphol has also been rewarded with several prices, currently it holds the title of 'best airport of Europe'. The airport also contains two shopping centres, one in the tax-free area, aswell as one in the public visitors area.

Obviously Schiphol will be your first impression of Amsterdam if you travel by airplane. The people behind the scenes try to make it as pleasant as possible for the visitors, that are most likely tired from a long flight. Schiphol tries to excel in a few aspects:

• Simplicity in reaching destinations within the airport
• Offering services to the visitors, like internet, shopping, etc...
• Architecture and maintenance
• Great connectivity with cities around the airport

Finding your way in Schiphol

'Just follow the signs' could be a slogan of Schiphol. Thanks to these rich yellow signs and a great architectural design, Schiphol is an easy place to find your destinations, despite its huge size. All departure and arrival gates come together in the main hall, the Schiphol Plaza. This plaza also connects Schiphol to the outside world, through railways, taxi's and other means of public transport.

Services at Schiphol

When departing from an airport you usually face waiting times. You have to be at the airport 3 hours before the actual take-off, plus in rare occassion a delay: You have time to burn. In my opinion this is the major annoyance in air travel.
At Schiphol you can spend this time at least a littlebit useful, by shopping or using internet for instance. As stated earlier, Schiphol has two shopping areas. At Schiphol Plaza you can find the public one, especially useful after you arrive, if you want to have a quick snack, or buy something, but note, at nighttimes a lot of these shops are closed. If you are departing the tax-free shopping area becomes useful. This is a much larger shopping area, with the benefit of not having to pay taxes. I must admit that the prices there didn't really appear to me as being 'cheap', nevertheless it's a great way to spend your time.
Schiphol also has a few points where you can use internet, if you have a laptop you can also use the Wireless internet the airport supplied for its visitors.

Going to Amsterdam from Schiphol

If you are nog being picked up by friends or family, you will need to reach Amsterdam by yourself. There are basically two ways to get to Amsterdam, a cheap and an expensive way (as for many things in life). The first important question is whether you stay in Amsterdam downtown, or at a hotel near the airport or somewhere else. For this page I assume you have found a hotel in downtown.

Low budget:
At the main hall (Schiphol Plaza) you can buy a train ticket to Amsterdam Centraal. The railway station is exactly underneath this plaza and you can descent with the escalators. The trains depart all night and day and the NS (Dutch Railways) have information signs with departure times and locations. The train trip only takes about 15 to 20 minutes. Once you arrive at the Centraal Station in Amsterdam, you can take a cab from there, which will bring you to your hotel. This is much cheaper than taking a cab from the airport! (Cabs are quite expensive in the Netherlands).

High(er) budget:
Just take a cab at the airport and don't worry about anything, you will reach your destination, at a higher cost though.

If you have any experiences yourself with Schiphol, don't hesitate to add a comment below! It is appreciated. For more information about Schiphol, check out their official website at http://www.schiphol.com/

Back