Amsterdam
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.
Centrum · $$$$
A Bar draws a steady local crowd in Centrum. Booking is recommended on weekends. Walk-ins are usually possible early in the evening.
Centrum · $$
Arendsnest draws a steady local crowd in Centrum. Booking is recommended on weekends. Walk-ins are usually possible early in the evening.
the Amsterdam tradition: dark wood · $
You come here for a cold Heineken or a house jenever, not a cocktail with a story. The room fills up early on Fridays, but there is always space at the bar for
City centre · $$$
Bar Oldenhof is a small Jordaan cocktail and whisky bar that takes both seriously. The room is intentional — leather banquettes, dim lighting, around 30 seats —
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.
Plays for Amsterdam Airport: post-security, pre-security, lounges, and the airport-hotel cheat code.
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Looking beyond Amsterdam? See our guide to the best airport bars worldwide, or compare airport bars city by city.