How to pay €6 per day instead of €54. The trick every Amsterdam local knows — and tourists almost never find out about.
Park at P+R Sloterdijk in Amsterdam for €1 per 24 hours. Walk 3 minutes to Amsterdam Sloterdijk train station. Take the Intercity train to Schiphol Airport — it takes 5 minutes and costs about €5 return. Total: roughly €6 per day.
Schiphol's own P1 garage charges €54.10 for 24 hours in 2026. That's not a premium — it's a trap for people who don't know better.
Amsterdam Sloterdijk is the last major Amsterdam station before Schiphol on the mainline. The railway was designed to connect them quickly. P+R Sloterdijk was built specifically so commuters and travellers could skip city-centre parking — and it's massively underused for airport trips because nobody markets it for that purpose.
The P+R charges €1 per 24 hours when you check in and out with an OV-chipkaart. No app needed. No pre-booking. Just show up, park, and go.
Before you leave home: Make sure you have an OV-chipkaart (the Dutch public transport card) with credit loaded. You need at least €20 to check in at the train station. If you don't have one, you can buy a disposable one at any NS ticket machine for €7.50 including €4.00 credit.
Step 1: Drive to P+R Sloterdijk. The address is Transformatorweg, Amsterdam. Navigation apps know it well — just search "P+R Sloterdijk." It has over 600 parking spaces, so you'll almost always find a spot.
Step 2: Check in at the P+R barrier with your OV-chipkaart. Keep the card — you'll need it to exit when you return.
Step 3: Walk 3 minutes to Amsterdam Sloterdijk station. It's signposted from the car park.
Step 4: Check in at the yellow NS gate with your OV-chipkaart. Take any Intercity or Sprinter towards Schiphol — they run every 15 minutes. The ride takes 5-7 minutes.
Step 5: Check out at Schiphol with your OV-chipkaart. Done.
Returning: Same process in reverse. Check in at Schiphol, ride to Sloterdijk (5-7 min), check out at the station, walk to P+R, check out with your OV-chipkaart at the barrier.
For a 3-day trip: P+R parking = €3. Train (return) = ~€10. Total = €13. Compared to Schiphol P1 at €162. You save €149.
For a week-long trip: P+R parking = €7. Train = €10. Total = €17. Compared to P1 at €379. You save €362.
For a 2-week holiday: P+R parking = €14. Train = €10. Total = €24. Compared to P1 at €758. You save €734.
The longer your trip, the more absurd P1 becomes by comparison.
You need an OV-chipkaart. If you're a tourist flying in for the first time, you don't have one yet — but you can get one at Schiphol Arrivals from an NS ticket machine. For the return journey from the Netherlands, this hack works perfectly. For flying out when you've never been here before, buy the card at Schiphol on a previous trip, or ask a Dutch friend.
Alternatively, the NS app lets you travel with a credit/debit card on many routes — check if Sloterdijk-Schiphol is enabled before relying on this.
If P+R Sloterdijk doesn't work for your situation, the next best options are off-site parking operators. They typically charge €8-12/day with a shuttle bus to the terminal. The shuttle takes 10-20 minutes and runs every 10-20 minutes. Options include:
These are fine and genuinely much cheaper than P1. But the P+R Sloterdijk hack beats them all for price — it just requires that extra 5-minute train ride.
Sorted cheapest to most expensive per day.
| Option | Cost/Day | Journey to Terminal | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| P+R Sloterdijk + train | ~€6/day | 5-7 min (train) | Requires OV-chipkaart |
| Off-site shuttle parking | €8-12/day | 15-25 min (shuttle) | Pre-book for best rates |
| Schiphol P5 Holiday | €23/day | 10 min (shuttle) | Official, reliable |
| Schiphol P3 Long Stay | €29/day | 5 min (shuttle) | Official, close |
| Schiphol P1 Short Term | €54/day | 2 min (walk) | Avoid for anything over 6hrs |
No pre-booking needed. P+R Sloterdijk has 600+ spaces and is almost never full except during very busy holiday periods. Just show up with your OV-chipkaart.
Yes. P+R Sloterdijk is a well-maintained, staffed facility in Amsterdam. It's used by commuters daily. It's safer than most street parking in the city.
You can buy a disposable OV-chipkaart at any NS ticket machine (including at Amsterdam Sloterdijk station) for €7.50. Load it with at least €20 credit. When you return, check if you can get unused credit refunded at an NS service desk.
Add 30-40 minutes to your normal airport arrival time: 10 min to park and walk to the station, 5-7 min on the train, 10-15 min to get through Schiphol to your check-in area. So if you normally arrive 2 hours before a flight, aim for 2.5 hours using this method.
Check the NS night train schedule. Some routes have reduced night service. Early morning Schiphol trains do run but less frequently — roughly every 30 minutes from around 4:30am. Verify your specific departure time on ns.nl before relying on this.
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