So you just booked a flight that happens to have an 8 hour layover in Amsterdam and want to know how to maximize your precious time? Well, I got your back with the perfect jam-packed 8 hour Amsterdam itinerary!
Table of Contents
Despite all my years of travel, I have never made it outside of the Schiphol Airport before. Realizing that life is passing by quicker and quicker with age, I’ve migrated from my previous mentality of “do it right, or don’t do it at all” to “seize every opportunity you come across, even if it’s not exactly how you imagined it”. I always imagined a proper week long trip in the Netherlands, taking my time to soak in the culture. However, when I came across a flight with an 8.5 hour layover in Amsterdam, I knew what I had to do.
I spent the three weeks leading up to my trip researching and carefully planning every second of my Amsterdam layover so that I could maximize my time. From figuring out how to get from the airport into the city center to organizing activities that made sense for my brief time in the city, here is my Amsterdam layover game plan:
Schiphol Airport
Landed at 12:10PM
Schiphol Airport is one of my favorite airports in all of Europe for layovers. It’s clean, friendly, and well organized. But most importantly, it’s close to the city center. Depending when you land, it takes roughly 30 minutes to an hour to go through passport control and get to the train that will take you into Amsterdam. But before we head into the city, here are important steps you need to take:
Luggage Storage
You’ll most likely have some sort of carry-on luggage that you don’t want to drag all over Amsterdam. There are several options for luggage storage in Schiphol Airport including secure luggage lockers inside the terminal and a luggage storage facility in the basement before security. The lockers are convenient if you know your connecting flight will be departing from the same terminal and if your bag is small enough to fit (40x40x70 cm).
I, however went with the luggage storage facility in the basement before security. This means you go through passport control with your carry-on and head to the luggage storage facility in the basement under Arrivals. It’s fairly easy to find and there are plenty of signs that lead you to the elevator that will take you down to luggage storage.
Once there you’ll line up to hand your carry-on over and are given a ticket that you’ll need to show to claim your luggage when you return. Don’t lose this ticket! It’s highly recommended that you take a photo of it just in case. You pay when you collect your luggage and the rate is based on the luggage size and how long you left it in storage.
Luggage Lockers: 8 Euros per 24 hours, up to 7 days
Luggage Storage Facility:
Train into Amsterdam
Now that you have taken care of your carry-on, it’s time to make your way to the train. Schiphol Airport is connected to the city center by train right below Arrivals. Train is the fastest and easiest method of transportation into the city, and is recommended over taking an Uber or Taxi due to traffic and cost.
There are ticket machines at the airport where you can purchase a roundtrip train ticket into Amsterdam from the airport, or you can save yourself the time and hassle (remember every minute counts during your layover!) and download the NS app to purchase tickets in advance. It actually ends up being cheaper to purchase tickets via the app/website too, since there is a 1 Euro surcharge for purchasing a paper ticket.
I went onto the NS Website (you can click on this link to make life easier) and searched for Return Ticket from Schiphol Airport to Amsterdam Centraal, the main train station in the city center, on the date I wanted. It was only 9.8 Euros in total, which is super affordable. I then downloaded the app to have the e-ticket handy since you’ll need to scan it when you are exiting the train station.
Figuring all this out in advance saved me easily 10 minutes on the day. I spotted the escalators to the train on my way to the luggage storage facility, so I was able to speed walk directly past the ticket kiosks and down the escalators and find the correct platform into Amsterdam Centraal without skipping a beat. Once on the train, it was a short 20 minute ride into the city center.
Amsterdam
There is so much to see and do in Amsterdam that it’s really up to you and your interests of what you want to do. With world-renowned art museums, the infamous red light district, Dutch food, canal cruises, shopping, and more, there is enough to do to fill a week-long itinerary. Unfortunately, we only have 8 and a half hours so we need to narrow it down to only 2-3 things.
Canal Cruise
1:30pm
The best way to see Amsterdam, is by boat. Famous for its canals, Amsterdam has no shortage of canal cruises to chose from. Because I had a “must-do” activity that I booked a couple weeks in advance right in the middle of my layover, I wasn’t sure if I would have enough time before for a canal cruise. Therefore, I decided to wait until last minute, and I mean last minute to book one.
Luckily, most cruises depart just outside of Amsterdam Centraal, with a few departing from other locations in the city. Here you’ll find a variety of cruises including ones with live tour guides, ones with audio tour guides, ones with unlimited alcoholic beverages, ones that are open air, ones that are enclosed, ones that last just an hour, and ones that last three hours.
While researching canal cruises, I couldn’t believe just how many options there were available. It can be hard to narrow it down, but I recommend Amsterdam Luxury Canal Cruise for $22. It’s a one-hour tour on a small, open-air boat with an informative and friendly tour guide. There is an option for unlimited drinks or you can pay per drink. I did the latter since I couldn’t afford to get buzzed on my tight schedule.
Not knowing if I would make it, I had the payment page pulled up on my phone as I was on the train tracking my distance from the station. Once we were just 3 minutes away from pulling in, I hit the “confirm” button and purchased my ticket.
It was a mad dash out of the train station, and, of course, I exited on the wrong side, making me have to go the long way around. I then had trouble finding the meeting point for the cruise I booked since I went on the wrong side of the bridge. After asking another canal cruise company for directions, I made it to the meeting point with less than a minute to spare. Talk about cutting it close!
I won’t bore you with the details of every cool fact I learned from the tour, but let me say it was very informative and relaxing. If I had more time, I would have opted for a longer cruise, but one hour was just the right amount of time to get an idea of the city.
At the end, our tour guide, Renata, explained that they have a “liberal” tip jar, and if we enjoyed the tour we could leave a small tip, but if we didn’t, we could take some money out and purchase a beer on them. I’m not sure if this is a Dutch thing, or just something particular to this cruise company, but it was the first time in my life hearing about a “liberal” tip jar. I loved the idea and found it refreshing compared to the extreme tip culture in America.
Of course, I tipped them €5 because I enjoyed the tour and the idea of the “liberal” tip jar. I also tipped generously because of the skipper of the boat pulled me aside and said if I wanted to, I could do another cruise for free because there was a large group of rowdy German men that were, let us just say, having too good of time. I thought they were funny, and it didn’t bother me that much. I did genuinely appreciate the offer though, but I couldn’t take advantage of it due to my next activity which I booked weeks in advance.
Anne Frank House
3:15pm
The number one thing I wanted to do in Amsterdam was the Anne Frank House. It’s hard to put into words, but it felt like something I needed to do after reading her diary back in middle school. It’s one thing reading about history, but it’s a completely different experience seeing it, or at least the remnants of it.
When I booked my flight fairly last minute– less than three weeks in advance– I didn’t realize just how popular the Anne Frank House is. I was casually researching about things to do in Amsterdam when I came across an article saying that the Anne Frank House often sells out of tickets up to six weeks in advance! I went to the website immediately and to my dismay it was true. All the museum entry tickets were sold out and there are no in-person ticket sales or third-party ticket vendors.
Being my stubborn self, I continued to explore the museum website to find out if there was any hope for me to get to see the Anne Frank House. After scrolling down, I noticed a ticket option for “Museum Visit with 30 Minute Introduction in English” and clicked on it. To my pleasant surprise, two time slots during my layover date popped up, and at €23, it was only €7 most expensive that the regular museum entry!
I grabbed one right in the middle of my layover just in case so I wouldn’t miss it if I ended up taking more time than planned to get into the city. This was wise of me, since had I chosen the other time slot, I would not have made it in time. This though made scheduling all other activities more difficult as it was such an awkward time slot for a “can’t-miss” activity.
As I power walked my way from the canal cruise outside of Amsterdam Centraal, I made it with just minutes to spare for my Museum Visit with 30 Minute Introduction in English time slot. It’s important to note that you need to arrive at least 5 minutes before since you cannot enter into the introduction after it starts. You can still enter the museum if you are late, however. You show your ticket at the entry and are guided to a room with chairs with a timeline of Anne Frank’s life on the wall.
The guide then goes into depth about Anne Frank’s life and what to expect in the museum. I found the information to be invaluable and a great refresher since it’s been so long since I last read her famous diary. Even if there are regular tickets available, do yourself a favor and book the 30 Minute Introduction. It was a blessing in disguise that the normal tickets sold out, because I found the Introduction made my experience much more complete at the Anne Frank House.
At the end of the introduction, the guide informs you that you can take pictures inside of the classroom, but there is no picture taking inside the museum itself since it acts as a memorial. You then go as a group to get headsets and then you set off on your own to explore the museum. You use the headset as a telephone bringing it up to the numbered signs in each room to activate them. The museum is in the actual Opetka warehouse and secret annex where Anne Frank and 7 other individuals hid during the war. Because of this, the quarters are fairly tight and you can see why tickets sell out so quickly.
In the actual secret annex, the furniture that would have been there at the time, has been removed allowing for better movement of museum guests. You can see a miniature model, though, of how the spaces looked like when Anne Frank and her family were living there.
It’s a very emotional experience going through the Anne Frank House that cumulates in seeing her original diary in which she wrote down and shared with the world her life in hiding. It took me an hour and a half to get through the Introduction and the museum, just as the website predicted. If it wasn’t for my time-crunch, I could have spent an extra half hour taking my time to reflect and fully absorb the information, though I felt satisfied with the amount of time I spend under the circumstances.
Red Light District
4:50PM
After the Anne Frank House, I was left with just over an hour left to burn before having to head back to the airport. I decided to take this time to mosey around the city, looking for cute bridges and streets as I headed towards the general direction of the infamous Red Light District. I appreciated having time to just admire the architecture and my surroundings. I, honestly, could spend an entire day just wandering aimlessly about in this breathtaking, unique city. I came across Dam Square, another recommended site to see, during my wandering. I just love walking around without checking Google maps, because you never know what you’ll come across.
I had high expectations for the Red Light District, imagining it be filled with raunchy brothels and sex shops, but in the middle of the afternoon, it was surprisingly tame. I came across a couple of sex shops, but sadly nothing else remarkable–I guess it was too early in the day for that kind of stuff. There were restaurants and bars filled with people and the entire neighborhood seemed lively, but it wasn’t the run-down, wrong-side of the tracks neighborhood I imagined. I felt oddly safe there as a woman walking alone. That being said, it is a known tourist destination, so always be careful of your belongings and person, especially if you find yourself there after dark.
I wish I had more time to explore the Red Light District or to even grab a bite to eat there, but I had to head back to the airport in order to make my connecting flight. Luckily, it’s only a 10 minute walk back to the train station from the Red Light District. That’s the great part of Amsterdam—it’s very compact and you can get to everywhere you want to get to by walking, or if you are brave enough, by bike.
Returning to the Schiphol Airport
6:10PM
Although 8.5 hours seems like a lot of time, I only had just under 5 hours in the city center. Doing three activities in less than 5 hours was an impressive feat that required meticulous planning. Now that I accomplished everything I planned during the layover, the last challenge was to make it in time for my connecting flight.
I caught a train heading to Schiphol Airport around 6:10pm. This was cutting it close, but I reserved a time slot for the security check at 6:45pm. I can’t recommend enough that you reserve a time slot on Schiphol’s website. You can make a reservation up to three days before you flight. You enter your flight details and available options for your reserved security check will pop up. Click on the time slot you prefer and then all you have to do is present your appointment confirmation to a guard and they will let you in to a very short line for reservations only.
After collecting my carry-on luggage from storage, I made it to my appointment exactly a minute before (this seems to be a trend with this layover). You have a span of 15 minutes to enter security at your reserved time slot, otherwise you lose your spot and have to go through the normal security line.
It’s best you make it to your appointment because the reserved line is 3x faster. It took me less than 10 minutes to go though security. I wouldn’t rely on going through security so quickly every time, even with a reserved timeslot. It’s always wise to have a bit of a cushion time-wise in case there are issues. The last thing you’d want is to ruin a perfect layover with a missed flight (though there are worse places than Amsterdam to be stranded in overnight).
I went through security so fast that I ended up having 45 minutes extra, which I did not account for in my super tight game plan, so I went to the Priority Pass lounge for some free snacks and a glass of wine before my flight. Since I didn’t schedule any time for eating (oops, I knew I forgot something!) the extra half hour was much needed to refuel before my next flight.
If you find yourself with the opportunity to do a long layover in Amsterdam, take it. As someone who used to be fearful of leaving airports during layovers, Amsterdam is the perfect city to explore in a short amount of time. Even if you don’t decide to coordinate every minute of your layover to maximize your time in Amsterdam, just getting out of the airport and going for a walk and a lunch would make it worth it. We have to take what we can get, and if all we can get is a few hours in Amsterdam, then why not make the best of it?
Total Cost of Amsterdam Layover
€77.8 Euros
Luggage Storage: €6
Round Trip Train Ticket: €9.8
Canal Cruise: €22 + €5 tip + €5 Prosecco
Anne Frank Museum: €23
Souvenirs: €3 magnet + €4 patch
Ability to say that I have officially visited Amsterdam: Priceless
