Amsterdam car hire – drive from Schiphol airport in Holland
Holland’s largest airport is Amsterdam Airport Schiphol – AMS.
Compare car hire prices in Shiphol Airport
Schiphol airport is about 13 miles south west of Amsterdam in an area covered by an extensive network of motorways with as many as 6 lanes in either direction. It is easy to find your way on the road network around Amsterdam despite the amount of traffic in the area.
See map of Amsterdam.
Schiphol Airport is also known as Luchthaven Schiphol in Dutch. The airport was founded during World War 1 but was already converted to include civil use in the 1920’s.
Schiphol Airport close to Amsterdam
Schiphol is situated in a heavily built up area which has become very attractive for various businesses. Schiphol airport is the third largest airport in Europe based on passenger numbers despite being situated almost in the centre of the large city of Amsterdam.
There is a half hour drive (18 miles) from Schiphol airport to the Zandvoort resort where you will find beaches, restaurants, hotels, race track (previous Formula 1 track up until 1985) and golfing facilities.
Terminals and car hire at Schiphol Airport
Finding car hire at Amsterdam Airport is easy.
Amongst the many car hire companies you will find Avis Rent-A-Car, Budget, Hertz, Europcar, National Car Rental, Sixt, Thrifty, Alamo and more. There’s only one terminal at Schiphol Airport but many departure halls.
Fly from the UK to Schiphol-Amsterdam
Daily UK departures are plenty to Amsterdam. Mentioning just a few are British Airways, Easyjet, KLM and Air France fly from: Manchester, Leeds, London City, London Heathrow, Luton, Gatwick, Newcastle, East Midlands, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Bristol, Liverpool, Cardiff, Birmingham, Southampton, Norwich, Humberside, London Stansted, All passenger travelling from the UK can make of the so called Schengen area in Schiphol airport. You will find these in:
- Departure hall 1
- Departure hall 3
The ground floor of Departure hall 2 is solely for use by passengers travelling outside of the Schengen agreement. There are departures for countries with in the Schengen agreement from the second floor of Departure hall 2, gate 60D and upwards.
The arrival hall in Schiphol airport is shared by all Schengen countries including the UK. All the car hire companies are situated by the exits marked Arrivals 3 and Arrivals 4.
See overview of departure- and departure halls in Schiphol airport.
Car hire at Schiphol airport – large selection of hire cars
Amsterdam is a metropolitan city and it can be quite difficult to see where it begins and where it ends. It would almost seem as if the boundaries of the city reach all the way to the Belgian border.
When driving in a rental car in Holland you soon find out that there is a reason why the area around Schiphol airport in Amsterdam is surrounded by motorways. The traffic is very heavy and it is always advisable to allow plenty of time to reach your flight. On the other hand it is often cheap to hire a car in Amsterdam airport. The smallest hire car usually only costs around £100-£120 for a week’s Amsterdam car hire. For this amount you will be provided with a small city car which can be very practical when running errands in Amsterdam. If you are planning to travel further distances and with more passengers, it may be worth spending a little more as the middle class vehicle (typically a VW Passat, Toyota Avensis, Ford Mondeo, Peugeot 407, Opel Insignia or Volvo V50) are often available from prices starting at around £200 for a week’s car hire in Schiphol.
If you require a minibus or and MPV (multi purpose vehicle) in Schiphol in Amsterdam, the prices usually start at around £300 for a week’s car hire in Amsterdam. At this price you may be allocated a VW Touran with space for 5+2 people.
Minibuses which can carry up to 9 people are available to hire from around £365 per week which must be considered quite competitive.
Hire a cheap Mercedes in Holland
A large prestige car (Mercedes E-class, BMW 5-series or Audi A6) are often available to hire with prices starting at around £450 for a week’s car hire in Holland.
It is particularly cheap to hire ‘proper’ gentleman’s sized Mercedes, and the prices are almost on par with the low Mercedes car hire prices in Germany.
Our recommendation: Hire a large vehicle in Schiphol airport – the extra £40-£60 will be money well spent.
Public transport from Amsterdam Airport in Schiphol
There is a large train station situated underneath Schiphol airport with international and domestic connections. There is not underground train to the airport in Amsterdam, but here is a large number of bus routes from Schiphol to the centre of Amsterdam.
