AmsterdamLandmark stay
Hotels Near Amsterdam Airport: Inside Schiphol or a Short Walk Out?
The short answer
Hotels near Amsterdam airport come in three kinds, and the right one depends on your flight, not on distance. Connecting with only hand luggage? Book YOTELAIR or the Mercure inside security and never leave the terminal. Landing late or flying at dawn with checked bags? Book the Sheraton, citizenM or Hilton, all within 549 m of Schiphol Plaza on foot. Staying a few days in Amsterdam? Skip the airport: the train to Amsterdam Centraal takes about a quarter of an hour.
Who it suits, who should skip it
Good for
- Transfer passengers with hand luggage who want to sleep without passing border control
- Travellers with a dawn departure or a late arrival who want to walk to check-in
- Anyone with one night between flights who does not want to go into the city
- Business travellers with meetings at the airport or in the Schiphol Boulevard offices
Skip it if
- Anyone spending more than a night in Amsterdam: the city centre is a quarter of an hour or so away by train, so stay there
- Travellers who want restaurants and bars outside the door: 3 bars are mapped within 250 m, all part of the terminal complex
- Connecting passengers with checked bags who want the airside hotels: both take hand luggage only
- Light sleepers who are bothered by aircraft and hub noise in the hours either side of night
Hotels near Amsterdam airport: which one to book
Pick by your ticket. If you are in transit and carry only hand luggage, the two hotels inside security are the answer: YOTELAIR Amsterdam Schiphol in Lounge 2 and the Mercure Schiphol Terminal in Lounge 3, both on the way to the D, E, F, G and H gates. You need a valid boarding pass, and the Mercure only takes guests whose flight leaves on the day they check out.
If you are entering the Netherlands, or you have checked bags, book landside. The Sheraton Amsterdam Airport is 158 m from the station under Schiphol Plaza, 3 minutes, citizenM Schiphol Airport is 424 m, 7 minutes, and the Hilton Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is 549 m, 9 minutes, at the end of a covered walkway. None needs a shuttle bus.
Hotels inside Amsterdam airport, after security
YOTELAIR is airside next to the Lounge 2 food court and works for transfer passengers who do not have a visa for the Netherlands, because you never pass passport control. Rooms are compact cabins, and the hotel is open around the clock. The Mercure Schiphol Terminal is in Lounge 3, 160 m from the station as the crow flies, and is the more conventional hotel room of the two.
The catch is luggage. Both are in the secure zone, so a checked suitcase stays checked, and you can only reach them with a boarding pass for an onward flight. If your bags come off the belt in Amsterdam, these two are not for you.
Hotels near Schiphol airport Amsterdam you can walk to
The Sheraton Amsterdam Airport Hotel and Conference Center is at Schiphol Boulevard 101, opposite Schiphol Plaza and the closest landside hotel to the trains, 158 m. Further along the same boulevard, past the office blocks, is the Hilton Amsterdam Airport Schiphol at number 701, linked to the terminal by a covered walkway that the hotel puts at 5 to 7 minutes.
citizenM Schiphol Airport is on Jan Plezierweg, on the west side of the complex, 424 m from the station and about 4 minutes on foot from the arrivals halls by citizenM's own count. It runs no shuttle and needs none. For a 6 am flight these three are the reliable choice, because you are not relying on a bus timetable.
Hotels in Schiphol Amsterdam that need a shuttle
Every other hotel that sells itself as a Schiphol hotel is in Badhoevedorp, Hoofddorp or along the A4 motorway and sends its own shuttle bus to the hotel shuttle stop outside Schiphol Plaza. Each hotel has its own timetable, and many start too late for the first wave of departures, so check the first bus against your check-in time before you book.
Hoofddorp has a second option: it is the next stop after Schiphol on the Sprinter line, so a hotel near Hoofddorp station is a train ride rather than a shuttle. That only helps if the trains are running at the hour you need.
Schiphol airport to Amsterdam: trains and times
The NS station is directly below Schiphol Plaza. Eight Sprinters an hour run to Amsterdam Centraal via Sloterdijk and Lelylaan, and the journey takes about a quarter of an hour, which is usually faster than a taxi. After the last regular train, a night train runs every night, roughly once an hour, from Rotterdam via The Hague, Leiden and Schiphol to Amsterdam Centraal and Utrecht.
That is why the airport makes a poor base for sightseeing but an easy one for a single night. If you land late and fly out the next evening, a Sheraton or citizenM room plus the short train ride gets you a full day in the city without hauling bags through it.
Night noise at Schiphol: aircraft, not bars
There is no nightlife to speak of. Just 3 bars are mapped within 250 m of the station, no pubs and no nightclubs, and the ring samples count between 0 and 5, the highest on the south-east side towards the terminal piers. These are counts of mapped venues, not measured noise.
What you hear at an airport hotel is the airport: aircraft, the station and, in the terminal, announcements. The airside hotels sit inside a 24-hour terminal and the Schiphol Boulevard hotels face the access roads, so ask for a quiet room when you book.
Walking with luggage around Schiphol Plaza
The ground is flat. The sampled points range from 5 m below sea level to 4 m above, a 9 m spread across reclaimed polder land, so the only climbs are the escalators and lifts from the platforms up to the plaza.
Walk times in this guide are straight-line estimates at 80 m a minute. The Hilton route is longer on the ground than on the map but under cover the whole way, and the Sheraton is across the road from the plaza exit, so even with two big suitcases none of the landside hotels is a hard walk.
Where it is
The area this guide covers: The hotels around Schiphol Plaza, anchored on Schiphol Airport railway station under the plaza: the airside lounges inside security, the Schiphol Boulevard hotels opposite the plaza and Jan Plezierweg to the west, with eight samples on a 400 m ring and a 700 m hotel radius. An editorial outline, not an official district line.
Nearby
Mapped sights nearby
- KLM Fokker 100
More street guides nearby
How these numbers were measured
| Sampled point | Elevation |
|---|---|
| Schiphol Plaza (Schiphol Airport station)The anchor: distances on this page start here | 4 m |
| North ring sample | -1 m |
| North-east ring sample | -4 m |
| East ring sample | -5 m |
| South-east ring sample | 1 m |
| South ring sample | 1 m |
| South-west ring sample | -1 m |
| West ring sample | -3 m |
| North-west ring sample | 0 m |
- Mapped venue counts do not measure noise. Noise-risk ratings, formula-based walking times and unverified transit classifications are not shown.
- Distances are straight lines from the guide anchor, not walking routes or journey times.
- Elevations from Copernicus DEM GLO-90 via the Open-Meteo Elevation API are sampled ground heights, not route ascent. Terrain models have limited resolution.
- Map observations recorded on 26 Oct 2026. Map coverage may be incomplete.
Questions and answers
Are there hotels inside Amsterdam airport?
Yes, two after security: YOTELAIR Amsterdam Schiphol in Lounge 2 and the Mercure Schiphol Terminal in Lounge 3. Both need a boarding pass and take hand luggage only; the Mercure also requires a flight on your check-out day.
Which hotel near Schiphol Amsterdam can I walk to?
Three landside hotels: the Sheraton Amsterdam Airport, 158 m from the station under Schiphol Plaza, citizenM Schiphol Airport at 424 m and the Hilton Amsterdam Airport Schiphol at 549 m, connected by a covered walkway. None needs a shuttle.
What accommodation at Schiphol airport works for a transfer without a visa?
YOTELAIR Amsterdam Schiphol, because it is airside in Lounge 2 and you do not pass passport control to reach it. You need a valid boarding pass and only hand luggage.
Are there hostels near Amsterdam airport?
None of the 5 mapped hotels within 700 m of Schiphol Plaza is a hostel. Amsterdam's hostels are in the city, a quarter of an hour or so away by train to Amsterdam Centraal, so a hostel there plus the train is the practical choice.
How long is the train from Schiphol to Amsterdam Centraal?
About a quarter of an hour. Eight Sprinters an hour leave from the station under Schiphol Plaza, and a night train runs roughly hourly after the last regular service.
