NS Lounge Amsterdam Centraal: Sadly, Not Much Here

We spent some time at the NS Lounge at Amsterdam Centraal and found a place so quiet you could hear a pin drop and a place devoid of food/drinks.

Entrance to the NS International - Regus Express Lounge at Amsterdam Centraal

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Location of the NS Lounge

Once you’re at Amsterdam Centraal, it’s just a matter of heading over to the correct set of e-gates. You’ll want the set of e-gates that lead towards platforms 1-15 and the UK Terminal. Each passenger just needs to scan their own ticket and you can bypass these gates fairly easily. An employee is on hand if you need assistance.

Once you make it through that initial set of gates, the lounge is near platforms 1 and 2. Importantly, do not head into the UK Terminal section. Doing so will require a passport check as you’ll be leaving the Schengen Area. This lounge is not over in that section. That means if you want to access the lounge and will be departing for the UK afterwards, leave time to clear the additional check.

Once you’re up the stairs/elevator to the platform level, you’ll find the NS Lounge tucked away in the corner. There’s a large “Lounge” sign hanging above it. Since this is the only lounge at Amsterdam Centraal, it should be easy to find.

This lounge is located under the "lounge" sign

Access rules

If you’d like to visit the NS Lounge at Amsterdam Centraal, there are several ways to access:

Passengers in an international first class ticket
Silver, Gold, or Platinum DB BahnBonus card members
SNCF Grand Voyageur Le Club status
Club Eurostar Carte Blanche or Étoile status
First class upgrade with Klimaticket Österreich
SBB General-subscription
Regus Business lounge memberships
Anyone willing to pay €6/hour, up to €15/day

Our tickets in Eurostar Premier counted as first class tickets and granted us access. The price to just flat out pay for admission is one of the lowest we’ve seen for any lounge. However, that should just about indicate that there’s not much for you here.

Hours of operation:

Monday to Friday: 7AM – 7PM
Saturday and Sunday: 10AM – 6PM

Seating

While Eurostar has its own set of lounges, it doesn’t have one at Amsterdam Centraal. Thus, they have an arrangement with this NS International Regus Express lounge. It’s a shame since the Eurostar lounges actually look like they’re worth spending time in. Currently, they only operate lounges at London St. Pancras, Paris Gare du Nord, and Brussels-Midi/Zuid.

Anyways, back to this NS Lounge. It’s comprised of a single room with some rather bold red sofas by the TVs and a lengthy table near the windows.

Seating in the NS Lounge Amsterdam Centraal

The television sets are all muted, so you won’t hear much other than yourself and other passengers while here. There is a no sleeping sign just to avoid ambiguity on what you’re allowed to do. These red seats feel like they need some replacement as they offer little support when you sit in them.

If you prefer to be more productive, there are better options for you, like these chairs stationed around a communal table.

Or there are two small individual workstations if you want marginally more privacy.

On top of all of this, you can reserve a meeting room at the Amsterdam Centraal location. You’ll need to put in your request in advance. Then, when you arrive, you’ll pay a fee. This is intended more for businesses and it’s closed off unless you want to rent it.

Food and drinks

Let me get this out of the way now: the only food you might find here is a pre-packaged cookie. That’s it. Hope you’re not coming here expecting to find food. If you’re hungry, you’re best off eating in the main area of Amsterdam Centraal, before you get to the ticket scanners.

As for drinks, there is a coffee machine and some tea. There are also individual bottles of wine but they cost €3.95/bottle. Yes, alcohol will cost money here, so don’t expect to get tipsy.

In the fridge next to the coffee and tea, you’ll find a number of soft drinks. There are a variety of signs taped onto the exterior glass, so we’ll just read those off as written:

Soft drinks may not be taken with you
One soft drink per person
Please do not take the bottles with you
Do not use the milk, please

Exclusive milk is certainly tempting to find out why it’s so special. And just like the wine on display next door, you’ll have to pay €2.95 if you want a Heineken. Not a terrible price, but still not great given the lounge itself has a €6/hour admit fee for anyone wanting to come in without free access.

Soft drinks and juices, but no milk for you

Wi-Fi just didn’t seem to work

OK, this is something that I just don’t like when it comes to some Wi-Fi networks: requiring the download of apps. They have two ways of trying to connect to the internet here:

Download the publicroam app, create an account, and once your phone has access you can register other devices.
Visit a website to receive a text message with login credentials.

This is the problem: I don’t have free texting without at least the use of internet or high fees if done with a carrier. And downloading an app also requires internet. This puts everyone not already living in Europe at a disadvantage. Sure, you can pay for internet, calls, and texting with your telecommunications carrier, but isn’t it nice not having to pay a fee and just using free Wi-Fi instead?

With that out of the way, I did have my Glocal.me device, which allowed us access to the internet for all of Europe. Naturally, I tried downloading the app anyways just so I didn’t need to use up my data. And… the QR code just didn’t lead me anywhere. I could have tried using a free Google Voice account to then send and receive a text to try that approach, but the hoops just didn’t seem worthwhile during our short time here.

On top of that, another group that seemed to be local also had issues accessing the internet. The one employee working the lounge stopped by to assist, but they didn’t seem able to figure it out. Maybe the system was just down for the day? That’s not clear to us. We’ll mark this as unreliable.

Miscellaneous

Yes, this lounge does have its own set of toilets, but as you might expect, there are no showers.

If you want to do some light reading, there are a number of magazines in various languages to peruse. It reminds me a little of the old days when you used to find a wall of magazines in airport lounges too.

For whatever reason, there are a bunch of Post-it notes all over in case you need them. The kids actually enjoyed using some of these to make reminders for themselves.

Recommendation: No, please don’t spend extra time here

Not all lounges are created equal. If I wanted to be nice, I could just leave it at that. But it’s important to remember that because you really don’t want to be here longer than you need to. All that awaits you for free is a quiet place to sit and one drink (not the milk). Having Wi-Fi would have been nice to remain productive and connected, but it didn’t work for us.

Even at €6/hour for entry, it might seem like a nice place to wait. But even that feels a bit excessive in price.

You might wonder why we were here as long as we were. It wasn’t specifically to spend time in this lounge. Rather, there was a national strike in Brussels that delayed our train by half an hour. So, unfortunately, that delay necessitated a longer stay here than we planned. At least the kids got a place to stretch out, but it’s not worth your effort to go out of your way to come here. Maybe next time we’ll need to check out a proper Eurostar lounge to compare.

Have you ever visited the NS International – Regus Express lounge at Amsterdam Centraal?

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Chris Wada

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experiencing the world via gastronomy with our children