Amsterdam Layover: Walking Tour, Canal Cruise & Transfer
Airport pickupCanal cruisePrivate
The canal ring on foot for two hours, then the same houses from the water for one.
From $330 per person
Amsterdam Layover Stop by Stop
Short answer. Amsterdam's sights sit in two clusters: the canal ring around Centraal, and Museumplein a kilometre and a half south-west. Almost everything below is free to look at and ticketed to go inside. On a connection, pick one cluster and walk it properly.
This is the list of places a layover can physically reach, with what each one costs in minutes. It is deliberately honest about the difference between seeing something and getting inside it, because on a connection that difference is the whole planning problem.
How to read the minutes below
Every figure is time on the ground, not travel time. Add seventeen minutes from Schiphol, and add the same coming back. Then add the twenty minutes it takes to cross between the two clusters if you are foolish enough to try both.
The canal ring, starting at Centraal
The Damrak — 10 minutes
The street that runs from the station to Dam Square, with the leaning canal houses on its west side. It is the first thing you see and the photograph everybody takes. Free, and unavoidable.
Dam Square and the Royal Palace — 20 minutes
The centre of the city since the thirteenth century. The Royal Palace, the Nieuwe Kerk and the National Monument all stand on it. Standing on the square costs nothing; the palace charges, and closes for state occasions without much notice.
The Nine Little Streets — 30 minutes
Nine short lanes threaded between the Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht. Small shops, cafes, and the version of the city most people picture before they arrive. Free, and the best thirty minutes on this list.
The Begijnhof — 10 minutes
A walled fourteenth-century courtyard a couple of streets from the flower market, and the quietest place in the middle of the city. Free. Most visitors walk straight past the entrance.
The Bloemenmarkt — 5 minutes
The floating flower market on the Singel, trading on the water since 1862. Worth the five minutes mostly for bulbs, which travel well in hand luggage.
The Anne Frank House, from the outside — 10 minutes
The Anne Frank House stands on the Prinsengracht beside the Westerkerk. Walking past is free and is on almost every route. Going in needs a ticket bought six weeks earlier, which is covered below.
The Magere Brug — 10 minutes
The white timber drawbridge over the Amstel, rebuilt in the same shape for three centuries and lit at night. A short detour east of the ring, and the best photograph in the city after dark.
Museumplein, and the ticket problem
The Rijksmuseum — 90 minutes inside
Open daily nine to five, €25, and a start time must be booked. Ninety minutes is the minimum that makes sense, and it will eat most of a short connection on its own.
The Van Gogh Museum — 90 minutes inside
Nine to six daily, until nine on Fridays, €25, timed entry for everyone. Under-18s go free, which matters if you are travelling with older children.
Museumplein itself — 15 minutes
The open square the two museums face, with a pond and a lawn. Free, and the natural place to sit down when you have been on a plane.
The Anne Frank House, and the six-week rule
The one that catches everyone. The house sells online only, for a specific time slot, and releases tickets every Tuesday at 10am CEST for a visit six weeks later. If your layover is a fortnight away, that ticket has gone. Plan six weeks out or walk the Prinsengracht past it instead — the alternatives are here.
North of the city, and out of walking range
Zaanse Schans — 120 minutes, plus the drive
Zaanse Schans is a set of working windmills on a river, with a clog workshop and a cheese farm, twenty-five to forty minutes north of the terminal by road. The village is free to walk into. The combined ticket that opens the museums and two mills is €29.50 for an adult, and parking is €15.
Volendam — 60 minutes
A fishing harbour on the old Zuiderzee, on the longer private routes. Free, and a completely different register from the canal ring.
What each stop costs you, side by side
| Stop | Minutes | Can you go inside? | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Damrak | 10 | n/a | free |
| Dam Square | 20 | The palace charges | free outside |
| The Nine Little Streets | 30 | shops, yes | free |
| The Begijnhof | 10 | the courtyard, yes | free |
| The Bloemenmarkt | 5 | yes | free |
| Anne Frank House | 10 outside, 90 inside | Only with a ticket bought six weeks ahead | €16.50 |
| The Magere Brug | 10 | n/a | free |
| Rijksmuseum | 90 | Timed ticket required | €25 |
| Van Gogh Museum | 90 | Timed ticket required | €25 |
| Zaanse Schans | 120 + drive | Village free, mills ticketed | €29.50 |
The stops that are not worth the detour
Three places come up constantly in layover advice and earn their place far less often than the list above.
The Red Light District
It is a working neighbourhood, it is ten minutes from Centraal, and by daylight it is simply a set of old streets. If you are curious, you will pass through it anyway on a walk between the station and Nieuwmarkt. It does not need a detour.
The Heineken Experience
A ticketed brand attraction in the old brewery, which needs ninety minutes and sits south of the ring. On a connection those ninety minutes buy far more elsewhere. Several car routes pass it, which is the right amount of attention to give it.
Keukenhof
Genuinely worth seeing, and genuinely wrong for a short layover. The gardens open for about eight weeks in spring, need two hours inside, sit a drive away and charge their own admission on top of any fare. They are a long-connection proposition or nothing.
What a car reaches that a walk does not
Inside the ring, walking wins: the streets are narrow, one-way and shared with trams and bicycles, and a car spends its time going round things. Outside the ring it reverses completely. The Zaanstreek has no direct train from the airport, and Volendam and Marken have none at all. The geography is set out here.
Putting a route together
- Pick a cluster. Canal ring or Museumplein, not both.
- Book anything ticketed before you do anything else.
- Add up the minutes above and add half again for photographs and coffee.
- Work backwards from your gate, not forwards from your landing.
If that arithmetic comes out tight, a booked departure does it for you. Every departure compared at Amsterdam Layover Tours states the hours it needs, and the three routes that fit a short window are on the short-layover page.
Tours that take in the stops above
Layover flight private guided tour in Amsterdam (3, 4 or 5 hours)
Airport pickupPrivateUp to 8
Ten named stops across the old centre, from Centraal out to De Pijp and the Jordaan.
From $318 per group of up to 8
Private Amsterdam Schiphol Layover Food Tour with a Local Guide
Airport pickupTastingsPrivate
Ten stops built around what you eat at each one, from a cheese house to a herring stall.
From $599 per person
Read next: what is open and what needs booking, where all of this sits on the map, or whether to leave the city at all. The full walking routes are in the itineraries guide.