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AMS is generally a pretty efficient airport. But they did have to shoehorn airport security into spaces where it wasn't really built for when the airport moved from security at every gate to consolidated security checkpoints at the terminal level a few years back. And unless you've got the status or premium ticket to use the short security lines, security screening can bottleneck pretty badly shortly before peak departure times.
So give yourself a large time buffer for getting back airside at the airport.
Ive been to AMS many times, and, honestly, you'd be pushing it. There was a similar thread recently about a 7 hour layover. I would risk it personally as I know my way around the airport, train station, city, but, 6 hours would leave not much time if something goes wrong
I'm thinking about catching a flight from Seattle to Budapest that's gonna have like a 6-hour layover in Amsterdam (there are other flights I might take, the specific city where the layover is isn't important here).
I've only been overseas once, a long time ago, and I didn't organize that trip, so I'm not familiar with the immigration/international security process. How much additional time would that add, for an American citizen taking a layover in an EU country en route to another EU country, as opposed to the typical time to get through security on a flight that's entirely within the US? Is it just another 5 or 10 minutes for the vast majority of cases, assuming I don't have any drugs or weapons or whatever on me?
Is an itinerary like the following realistic?
0:00 - plane lands
0:20 - be off the plane and in the gate
0:40 - pick up suitcase
(go briefly into the city, look around, take a few pictures)
4:00 - be back at the airport, get in line for security
6:00 - next plane leaves
This might help https://www.danaberez.com/layover-in-amsterdam/ You are forgetting getting through customs. Note beginning and ending of blog stating their 9 hour layover ended up being 5 hours due to flight delay coming in, customs, stowing luggage and picking it up again. Your 6 hours could potentially end up giving you only 2 hours to explore. If you can choose a later flight and more of a layover you will have more time.
I'm thinking about catching a flight from Seattle to Budapest that's gonna have like a 6-hour layover in Amsterdam (there are other flights I might take, the specific city where the layover is isn't important here).
I've only been overseas once, a long time ago, and I didn't organize that trip, so I'm not familiar with the immigration/international security process. How much additional time would that add, for an American citizen taking a layover in an EU country en route to another EU country, as opposed to the typical time to get through security on a flight that's entirely within the US? Is it just another 5 or 10 minutes for the vast majority of cases, assuming I don't have any drugs or weapons or whatever on me?
Is an itinerary like the following realistic?
0:00 - plane lands
0:20 - be off the plane and in the gate
0:40 - pick up suitcase
(go briefly into the city, look around, take a few pictures)
4:00 - be back at the airport, get in line for security
6:00 - next plane leaves
A six-hour layover would not be enough for me to be comfortable leaving the airport. Not unless I was very familiar with the city and knew of alternate ways to get back to the airport if a problem arose.
I don't know why people book straight through when changing planes at London or Amsterdam. It is certainly worth spending a night or two and seeing either city, both of which are a ton of fun, then trying to do some whirlwind 2 hour tour in between flights.
I would not leave the airport if my next flight was leaving in 6 hours. How long will it take you to get to the city center, or whatever it is, you want to see, in the middle of the night? I like the idea of a 24 hour layover, & may try for that on my next international trip.
But they have taxis and buses, or he could rent a bike, no?
He needs a plan for what to see not how to see it... because the "how" part it's easy and all that is in detail explained in my links.
I have done that in several airports - the most memorable was the bus tour in Reykjavik and the 23 hrs layover in Istambul. Actually, when looking for flights, I am intentionally looking for a long layover in places that I didn't see, yet.
I don.t remember seeing any bikes in the busy streets near the airport. Trying to find and arrange a bike rental and orient yourself would use up too much of your layover time.
My ex always flies to Europe on Turkish, she loves the free overnight layovers.
Bahrain is a nice layover. The city transit bus stops right at the airport teerminal, an all-day pass is only a couple bucks, and you can literally ride it to the end of the country in an hour. But the visa is $75.
Anyone transmitted through Addis Adibaba lately? I heard there were free and good hotel rooms for long layovers, but conflicting reports on the visa, which could be 50 USD.
I don't know why people book straight through when changing planes at London or Amsterdam. It is certainly worth spending a night or two and seeing either city, both of which are a ton of fun, then trying to do some whirlwind 2 hour tour in between flights.
Probably because they have x amount of days of vacation and want to spend all of it at their actual destination instead of shortening it to bookend additional mini-vacations.
I have seen people do it every time I have flown into Amsterdam. Usually they are easy to spot. At the Sloterdijk stop they are looking around wondering if they should get off or not. Have helped several out with info and even hung out with one Canadian for a couple hours and got him back on the correct train back to the airport.
Really depends on time of year, time of day, and day of week what you can do in the time you have. Easiest would be take train to Central Station and then tram to where you want to go. You can also just walk around the area from CS to Dam Square and see a lot of cool things. If you are a little better at public transportation you can hop on a bus or take a way more direct train then tram route.
The canal tours are amazing, so is just walking around in the CS area.
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