The Best Airport Bars in Amsterdam (2026)

Schiphol is one of the few major European airports designed around the idea that travellers might want to enjoy themselves rather than just survive the experience. Lounge 2 has the Bols Genever House — a working genever distillery showroom and bar, post-security, with proper Old Holland Genever pours and a small cocktail programme built around the local spirit. The room is also a small museum of Dutch drinking; you can sample five different genever expressions for under €25, which would be a moderately competent night out at airport-bar prices. Nothing else at any airport in Europe is quite like it.

The KLM Crown Lounges (25 and 52) are the SkyTeam plays — Lounge 25 is non-Schengen and meaningfully better, with Champagne by the glass and a proper bar setup. Plaza Premium near Lounge 1 is the Priority Pass option and is fine. The serious cheat is Yotel Schiphol, the airside capsule-hotel-and-bar that opened in 2017: showers, beds for transit naps, and a small drinks counter that pours competent cocktails 24 hours a day. It's the only post-security room in any European airport you'd voluntarily spend a six-hour layover in.

The pre-security cheat code is the Hilton Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, connected to Schiphol Plaza by indoor walkway. The bar at the Hilton is empty 70% of the time, runs a full cocktail programme, and is two minutes from the train station back into Amsterdam Centraal if you decide to bail on the trip and stay one more night. If you've got 60 spare minutes pre-airport, the train into Amsterdam Centraal is 18 minutes; Tales & Spirits or Door 74 are both 20 minutes' walk from the station and superior to anything within Schiphol's walls.

Where to Drink at the Airport

By terminal, ranked

Plays for Amsterdam Airport: post-security, pre-security, lounges, and the airport-hotel cheat code.

No. 01 · Schiphol Lounge 2

Bols Genever House

Schiphol airside, Lounge 2 · €€

A working Bols showroom-bar with five genever expressions on tasting flight (€22), real Genever-Tonic builds, and a small cocktail programme built around the local spirit. The only Schiphol pour you can't get anywhere else in the world. Sit at the bar, order the tasting flight, ask the bartender about Old Holland versus Young Holland — they'll spend ten minutes on it.

No. 02 · Schiphol Lounge 25

KLM Crown Lounge 25 (non-Schengen)

Schiphol airside, non-Schengen · SkyTeam Elite Plus / KLM Business required

The better of KLM's two Crown Lounges — the non-Schengen one. Champagne by the glass, full bar, decent wine list, restaurant-grade hot food at peak hours. The Schengen lounge (52) is fine but doesn't compare. SkyTeam Elite Plus or KLM Business is the only public access route.

No. 03 · Schiphol Plaza

Yotel Schiphol

Schiphol airside, Lounge 1 · €€

Capsule hotel + small drinks counter open 24 hours, post-security, six minutes' walk from the gates. Cocktails are simple but competent; the room is the only place inside Schiphol you'd voluntarily spend a long layover. Combine with a shower booking if your flight's in the small hours.

No. 04 · Schiphol Cheat Code

Hilton Amsterdam Schiphol — The Bar

Schiphol Plaza, indoor walkway · €€€

Two-minute indoor walk from arrivals/departures; the Hilton's bar is empty most of the time, runs a full cocktail programme on the chain's national standard, and is also two minutes from the train back into Amsterdam Centraal if you decide your flight isn't worth catching after all.

If You Have 60 Spare Minutes