Schiphol Airport - Amsterdam

Generally, I regard most airports as nothing more than glorified bus stops.  There are some that I'd truly hate to be stuck in for any large amount of time - Chicago's O'Hare is one. Lambert in St. Louis is another.  And for as new as it is, Denver isn't all that fun for a layover, either.  But on my recent trip to France, I had two short layovers in Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport.  I gotta tell you - it was one impressive place and one that I wish I would have had more time to spend in.  

Schiphol is the primary airport for Amsterdam and The Netherlands.  It has been voted by travelers as the "Best Airport in the World" seven times since 1980, and at once time won the "Best Airport in Europe" title 15 straight years.  It has been given 4 Stars by Skytrax, a UK-based on-line firm that is the largest reviewer of airlines and airports in the world.   Only Frankfurt and Paris' de Gaulle airports handle more European cargo than Schiphol.  And the airport services around 90 airlines from around the world in three terminals with 8 total arrival and departure "piers".  

What makes Schiphol so unique is the number of upscale shops and restaurants located throughout the terminal area.  When I got off the plane following the flight from Detroit, I was simply amazed by the number of brightly lit shops, designer store and international dining available in the airport.  The shops are in a common area where both the public and passengers can look for a wide variety of goods and services. 

On my way to Lyon, I had about a two hour layover.  I got to looking at some of the shops on my way to the gate, which I was told by the numerous monitors hanging in the airport it was a 20 minute walk from my arrival gate to my departure gate.  Each monitor that I would encounter would give me subsequent walking distances in time.  I looked up at one monitor and it told me that I had 13 minutes to my next gate and my flight wasn't for another 90 minutes or thereabouts.  So I went into a liquor and tobacco store to look around. 

The cigarettes caught my eye immediately.  The large warning stickers on the sides of each carton really got to the point.  I thought it was strangely amusing and somewhat odd.  I got out my camera to shoot a couple pictures of the warning signs on the cartons and a Brit and his wife were near me.  He was looking at the warning signs and he said, "They really want you to know the consequences before you light up, don't they?"

I also took these pictures for my colleague, Ian, who is a smoker and who thinks warning labels on cigarettes are senseless and stupid.  He told me one time, "Smokers have to know by now that smoking isn't good for you.  We've been bombarded so much for years and years that you have to be an idiot to not know they're bad for you." 

I guess the Dutch are trying to get their point across in a strong manner.

I started walking along in the terminal toward my gate area.  I began to notice a large swelling of people standing in an area, seemingly in a number of lines.  I looked up and I saw a number of signs in the distance "All Passports".  Well, little did I know that I had to go through European Union customs.  I thought once I got to Lyon, I'd go through customs.  Huh uh.  Once you get to an EU country, it's like you're in the U.S.

I stood in line for about 45 minutes waiting to get through customs.  Then I had to stand another 20 minutes waiting to go through security.  I was beginning to sweat as my plane was taking off in about 15 minutes after I got through security.  I hopped it up a bit to the gate and I was one of the last ones on the flight.  Had I taken more time to look around, I would have missed my flight. 

However, on the way back thru Amsterdam, I had nearly two and a half hours to kill before my flight to Minneapolis/St. Paul.   Knowing that I'd have to go through customs and security again to get to my international gate, I paced myself as I walked around the shops and restaurant areas in the Schiphol Plaza.  And for a Sunday morning, it was busy as the shops were open as they are open every day from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

I saw name brand stores such as Guess and Nike.  Upscale men's clothier Paolo Salotto had a couple shops in the airport.  There was a shop that sold high end watches and jewelry.  There was another shop that sold high end designer women's fashions.  There's designer sunglasses, toys, Dutch goods and leather goods.  There's also travel shops that have suitcases, briefcases and other travel needs. There was a nice bookstore full of books and magazines with languages I didn't understand.  I saw a drugstore and a lingerie shop.  It was wild.  Click here for a map of the shops in the Plaza.

Schiphol Plaza also comes out with a brochure that highlights some on-sale items over a two-month period from their "See - Buy - Fly" duty free and tax free stores.  Buyers can save up to 35% on goods by making their purchases at Schiphol Plaza.  And Schiphol also has a service that allows travelers who make purchases of $20 Euro or more to have the store hold on to the purchases while they travel through the EU and then come back to Amsterdam to get their flight back home. 

And, of course, there's food.  All kinds of food.  You can have fast food, deli, a nice sit down meal, Dutch chocolate, whatever you'd like.  There's also a supermarket with different foods to buy, including fish, meats and cheeses.  I'd never seen a supermarket at an airport before. 

Here was one place that was sort of interesting - flowers and bulbs from Holland. The only problem is that you can't bring them back with you to the United States.  I wasn't about to buy anything there, but I still took a look around the store as I definitely had never seen a gardening store at an airport before. 

I spent some time in this place - where small electronics, DVD's and CD's were sold.  It was kind of interesting to see what they had for portable DVD players since I had just bought one before I went to Europe.  The DVD's were pretty interesting to rummage through.  And showing the liberal nature of Central Europe, they had a huge selection of XXX rated films sitting out in the open along with mainstream movies.  No, I didn't buy any. 

Schiphol also has an observation deck where people can come out and watch the planes take off and land.  I remember years ago being able to go to observation decks at O'Hare and at the Des Moines airport.  That's something you just don't see at American airports any longer.  I wanted to go to the one at Schiphol, but I was running out of time and had to get back to the U.S. 

Schiphol Airport is better than any airport that I've ever been to in the U.S.  I'm not much on shopping, but the shops were a welcome diversion to the normal hum-drum of sitting at a bar or looking through tourist-trap shops at American airports.  When I go back to France for business, I'm going to look into going through Amsterdam again - maybe being able to spend some time in the city, but definitely doing some more exploring at Schiphol.