Schiphol Terminal Guide: Departure Halls, Piers and Lounges

The Schiphol terminal is a single building: one terminal with three departure halls, a central public concourse called Schiphol Plaza, and a ring of lettered piers where the gates are. Departure Hall 1 mainly serves Schengen flights; Halls 2 and 3 serve the rest. Everything connects on both sides of security, so the real question is not which terminal, but which hall and which pier.

Schiphol handled 68.8 million passengers in 2025, and over a third of them were changing planes. A building that size is simple once you understand its logic and tiring when you do not. This guide explains the layout as an executive traveller needs it: halls, piers, the Schengen line, drop-off rules, lounges, security and timing. Our separate Schiphol airport guide covers the airport in general and the train into Amsterdam, and the Schiphol pickup guide covers meeting your driver after landing.

One Terminal, Three Departure Halls

Schiphol has one terminal, not three. The building is divided into Departure Halls 1, 2 and 3 (signposted as Departures 1, 2 and 3), side by side along the same frontage, with Schiphol Plaza and the railway station at the centre. Most of the original 1967 terminal is still in use as Halls 1 and 2; Hall 3 was added later as traffic grew.

What matters is how the halls divide the traffic:

Area	What it mainly handles	Piers reached from it
Departure Hall 1	Schengen flights	B, C and the Schengen gates on D (D59 to D87)
Departure Hall 2	A mix of mainly non-Schengen flights	Non-Schengen piers, by airline
Departure Hall 3	A mix of mainly non-Schengen and low-cost flights	Non-Schengen piers and the low-cost H/M pier, by airline

Treat the right-hand columns as orientation, not a rule. Schiphol allocates airlines and check-in desks to halls according to terminal capacity, baggage-handling capacity and the airline’s ground handler, and those allocations change, sometimes between seasons. KLM, as the home carrier, uses more than one hall. The reliable source is the flight itself: your airline’s app, the Schiphol app or the flight page on schiphol.nl will show the hall and, nearer the time, the gate.

Because the halls connect airside, checking in at the “wrong” hall is rarely a disaster. The walk, though, can be long, and the security filter and passport control you pass through depend on where you enter. Starting at the right hall saves real time.

The Piers: Schengen and Non-Schengen

The gates sit on lettered piers that radiate from the central building. The single most useful thing to know about them is which side of the Schengen border they are on, because that decides whether you pass passport control.

Pier	Zone	Notes
B	Schengen	European flights
C	Schengen	European flights; due for renovation
D	Both	Two levels: D59 to D87 Schengen, lower-numbered D gates non-Schengen
E	Non-Schengen	Includes two A380-capable gates
F	Non-Schengen	Long-haul and other non-Schengen flights
G	Non-Schengen	Includes an A380-capable gate
H	Non-Schengen	Low-cost carriers
M	Schengen	Low-cost carriers; once past security, no access to the rest of the terminal
A	Not yet open	Expected to open in April 2027

Two practical points follow from this.

Pier D is two piers in one. The Schengen gates (D59 to D87) and the non-Schengen gates are on different levels, and moving between them means passport control. A gate number in the high fifties or above tells you which side you are on.

Pier M is self-contained. Passengers flying from the low-cost Schengen pier cannot reach the shops, restaurants or lounges in the rest of the airside terminal once through. If you want a lounge before your flight, check where your gate is first.

The new Pier A

Pier A is the first new pier at Schiphol in many years. It will add eight gates, three of them for the largest aircraft. It was originally due to open years earlier; problems with the first contractor, a legal dispute and repair work pushed it back and took its budget to almost €1.4 billion. Schiphol now expects it to enter service in April 2027. It is not in use in 2026.

Arrivals Halls and Schiphol Plaza

Every arriving passenger, whatever the pier, ends up in Schiphol Plaza. After baggage reclaim and customs you leave through one of several numbered arrivals halls, and each one opens onto the Plaza: the public concourse with shops, cafés, the NS ticket counters and the entrance to the railway station directly below.

The Plaza is where most meetings happen. Schiphol keeps an official Meeting Point marker there; its exact position has moved during renovations, so follow the yellow “Meeting Point” signs rather than an old description. Schengen arrivals skip passport control and usually reach the Plaza noticeably faster than passengers from London, New York or Dubai.

Drop-Off and the Departures Road

Dropping someone at the Schiphol terminal is free, which is not true at many airports nearby: Heathrow and London City both charge for forecourt drop-offs. Schiphol’s Kiss and Ride zones run along the departures road in front of the halls, need no reservation and cost nothing, but they are for unloading and leaving, not for waiting. Stopping time is limited and enforced, and a car left unattended will not stay long.

If you want to walk someone inside, have a coffee or help with heavy luggage, Schiphol points drivers to P1 Pick-up and Drop-off, the short-stay car park beside the terminal, where normal parking rates apply. That is also where a professional chauffeur parks for an arrival. Rules and tariffs change, so check Schiphol’s pick-up and drop-off page before you drive yourself.

A detail worth knowing for drop-offs: tell your driver the departure hall, not just the airline. The halls sit along one road, so stopping at the right door saves a walk with luggage through the length of the building.

Lounges at Schiphol: Two Meanings of the Word

At Schiphol, “lounge” means two different things, and the airport’s own signage uses both.

Lounge 1, Lounge 2 and Lounge 3 are Schiphol’s names for the big airside areas behind security, full of shops, restaurants and seating. Lounge 1 is on the Schengen side; Lounges 2 and 3 are on the non-Schengen side, linked by the Holland Boulevard walkway. An expansion of Lounge 1, completed in late 2024, added around 5,000 square metres of passenger space and a new plaza. Anyone with a boarding pass can use them.

Airline and independent lounges are separate, access-controlled spaces inside those areas. KLM runs Crown Lounges on both the Schengen and non-Schengen sides, the independent Aspire lounges sell access to anyone, and alliance partners share facilities on the non-Schengen side. Entry depends on your ticket class, frequent-flyer status, a lounge membership or a day pass. Opening hours and access rules change, so check with the lounge operator or your airline.

Neither is the same as the Schiphol VIP Centre, which is a separate facility with its own entrance, check-in and security, outside the main terminal flow. We explain the difference in our guide to the VIP lounge at Schiphol.

Security and Passport Control: What Speeds You Up

Schiphol’s security checkpoints use 3D CT scanners, so laptops, tablets and phones normally stay in your hand baggage. Schiphol has also offered free security time slots, bookable from three days before departure through its website or app, which give you a reserved window at the checkpoint during busy periods. Check whether they are available for your flight.

At passport control, travellers aged 14 and over with an eligible passport can use the self-service gates run by the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, the Dutch border police. They are usually faster than the staffed desks. Families travelling with children should know the Marechaussee’s rules on minors travelling with one parent or with another adult.

On timing, Schiphol’s general advice is to follow your airline, which usually means two hours before a European flight and three hours before an intercontinental one. In the summer holidays, when Schiphol has forecast more than 80,000 departing passengers on its busiest days, the queues at check-in, security and passport control all lengthen.

Executive Timing: Planning the Door-to-Gate Journey

For a business traveller, the terminal is only half the calculation. The other half is the road, and the road to Schiphol is at its worst at exactly the time many European departures leave.

Here is how we plan a typical departure. A client in The Hague has a 09:30 flight to Munich from a B or C gate, with a bag to drop. Working backwards: two hours before departure means being in Departure Hall 1 by 07:30. The drive is 30 to 40 minutes on a clear road and close to an hour once the morning spits takes hold on the A4, so we collect at about 06:30, ahead of the peak, and arrive in front of the right hall with time to spare. Our guide to rush hour in the Netherlands explains why the A4 behaves the way it does.

Intercontinental departures from the E, F and G piers deserve more margin. The walk from the departure hall through security and passport control to a far G gate can easily take 20 minutes on its own.

Where Your Chauffeur Meets You at the Schiphol Terminal

For arrivals, the SilverDrive chauffeur waits inside the terminal, not on the kerb. We track the flight from departure, so the driver knows which arrivals hall your flight feeds into before you do, and stands at the exit from that hall with a name board. From there it is a short walk through the Plaza to the car in the short-stay parking beside the terminal. Sixty minutes of waiting after touchdown is included, so a slow baggage belt or a long passport queue does not change anything.

The cars match the trip: an E-Class or S-Class for one or two passengers, a V-Class for up to seven with luggage, and a Sprinter or coach for larger groups. Our airport transfer service runs 24/7, at fixed prices agreed when you book.

Bypassing the Terminal: VIP Centre and General Aviation

Some travellers would rather not use the main terminal at all, and Schiphol has two ways to avoid it.

The Schiphol VIP Centre handles commercial flights privately. Passengers check in, clear security and passport control in a separate building with its own lounge, and are driven to and from the aircraft. It is a paid service booked in advance, and SilverDrive works with it directly. See our Schiphol VIP Centre service for how the car connects to it.

Jet Aviation Amsterdam is Schiphol’s general aviation terminal for private and business jets, on the east side of the airport. It opened in 2011 as the KLM Jet Center and has been operated by Jet Aviation since 2018. Private flights use it instead of the passenger terminal entirely, and the car can be waiting as the passengers come through. Our Jet Aviation Amsterdam transfers and the guide to private jet ground transportation cover the details.

Getting the Schiphol Terminal Right

The Schiphol terminal is one building with a clear logic: check the departure hall on the day, know whether your gate is Schengen or not, allow for long walks to the E, F and G piers, and remember that Pier M is a world of its own. Pier A will change the map in 2027; until then, the layout above holds.

When you want the road and the terminal handled together, tell us your flight and where you are going. You get a fixed price, a pickup time planned around the traffic and a driver waiting at the right door. Book your Schiphol transfer here or contact us for VIP Centre and private aviation arrangements.

Frequently asked questions

How many terminals does Schiphol have?

One. Schiphol is built on a single-terminal concept: one building with three departure halls, numbered 1, 2 and 3, connected to each other on both sides of security. Signs and boarding passes sometimes say Departures 2 or Lounge 3, but these are areas of the same terminal, not separate buildings.

Which departure hall do I need at Schiphol?

It depends on your airline and your destination, and the allocation changes with capacity and ground handling. Departure Hall 1 mainly handles Schengen flights. Halls 2 and 3 handle a mix of the rest. Check the hall on the day through your airline, the Schiphol app or the flight page on schiphol.nl, rather than relying on a previous trip.

Which piers at Schiphol are Schengen and which are non-Schengen?

Piers B, C and M are Schengen. Piers E, F, G and H are used mainly for non-Schengen flights. Pier D serves both, on separate levels: gates D59 to D87 are Schengen, the lower-numbered D gates are non-Schengen. Moving between the two zones means passing passport control.

Is Pier A open at Schiphol?

Not yet. Pier A is under construction and Schiphol expects it to enter service in April 2027, with eight new gates, some able to handle the largest aircraft types. The project was delayed and its budget grew sharply after problems with the original contractor.

Is it free to drop someone off at Schiphol?

Yes, at the time of writing. Schiphol's Kiss and Ride zones on the departures road are free for a short stop and need no reservation; waiting there is not allowed and stopping time is enforced. For a longer goodbye, Schiphol directs drivers to the P1 pick-up and drop-off area instead.

How early should I arrive at the Schiphol terminal?

Follow your airline's advice first. Schiphol's general guidance is two hours before a European flight and three hours before an intercontinental one. Add margin in the summer holidays and on Friday afternoons, and add the road journey on its rush-hour duration if you travel in the morning peak.

Are the Lounges at Schiphol the same as airline lounges?

No, and this confuses many first-time visitors. Lounge 1, Lounge 2 and Lounge 3 are Schiphol's names for the large airside shopping and waiting areas behind security. Airline and independent lounges, such as the KLM Crown Lounges and the Aspire lounges, are separate facilities inside those areas, with their own access rules.