Schiphol is a department store with runways. Often voted Europe's best airport for business travelers, and sometimes the world's best, Schiphol is 15 kilometers (9.5 'miles) from Amsterdam. Duty free shops offer real bargains: You can buy everything from cheeses, through diamonds, to cars. More important for the business traveler, the airport is fast and very efficient.
Efficiency isn't surprising, but speed is. Recently, Schiphol has been taking about 13 million passengers a year, and management is planning for 25 million in the 1990s. Buses and trains to Amsterdam leave every 15 minutes or so and cost a quarter of the taxi fare. Particularly during rush hours, public transport is often faster than private. However, at the other end you will have to find a taxi to take you from the Central Station dropoff point to your hotel, and that isn't always easy. Taxis don't queue up as neatly in Amsterdam as they do in London.
By Rail
Fast and frequent trains connect Amsterdam with other cities in the Netherlands and other European cities. The Trans European and InterCity expresses, which cross frontiers, offer deep armchair comfort and, usually, good food. Customs and immigration formalities are done while the train is rocketing along. Door to door for example, from Amsterdam to Paris the total journey time is not much more than that by air, if one counts the trip to and from airports, checkin waiting, baggage delays, and all the other hiatuses.
By Air
