by FM Sherman

Created on: December 29, 2010

AMS Amsterdam Schiphol is one of the world's great airports, sleek, modern and convenient.  It has all the food and shopping you expect in other major airports, so these days spending a few hours here waiting for a layover or flight connection can be an enjoyable experience.

Amsterdam is a party city, similar to the Las Vegas of Europe.  Bachelor parties come here for the weekend, to go crazy, as to college kids on break.  Like Las Vegas, it attracts vacationers and people looking to let loose and have fun.  This attitude permeates the airport workers and atmosphere.

AMS has great features like showers available for public rental, not just for First Class passengers.  The airport has a full spa with all the hip and trendy spa services you would want.  AMS has a massage place, where you can get all kinds of massages (except sexual!).  Schiphol Airport even has a casino, where you can gamble a bit.  The airport has a mini branch of Amsterdam's famous Rijksmuseum or Royal Dutch Museum with a rotating display of amazing art and artifacts.  The airport has a full service hotel attached, the Hotel Mercure and a new concept in hotels as well, the Hotel Yotel, which offers mini rooms available for a few hours.  This new concept in hotels offers tiny spaces, mainly for travelers to come in, have a shower, then a nap, then off to another flight.  The price is a lot less than a traditional hotel room.

The airport is ultra convenient to the city and other parts of Europe via train.  Schiphol Station is located right under the airport, making for very fast connections.  You can catch the train there right into Amsterdam Central Station, right in the center of the city.  This whole journey takes fifteen minutes.  You can literally walk off your plan and be sitting in a coffee shop within about 30 minute,s depending on customs.  And this country is efficient so usually things move quickly.

You can take a train from Schiphol Station under the airport to other points in Europe, trains leave right from the station there.  A great option it to take the Thalys, similiar to the Eurostar high speed train, right to Brussels in about an hour and a half, then quickly onto Paris or London, all within about three hours.  Its a great and convenient example of mass transit working, in conjunction with air travel.  It's needed in Los Angeles, where the new subway system doesn't connect to the airport, it stops about 2 miles away, necessitating a very inconvenient public bus ride.

Learn more about this author, FM Sherman.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.