Cheap flights from Manchester to Amsterdam

November is the cheapest month for this route, so if your dates are flexible, aim for late autumn. Fares climb through the spring as tulip season and the Dutch school holidays fill the city, and they stay high through summer and around Christmas and New Year. Midweek departures and midweek returns usually cost less than Friday evenings and Sunday nights. Watch the Dutch holiday calendar as well as the British one: King's Day in spring and the Christmas market weeks in December push fares and hotel rates up, and UK half-term weeks do the same. Booking a few weeks ahead helps, but on a route this busy the day you fly matters more than how early you book.

The route has plenty of carriers, and most of the low-cost flying comes from Easyjet, EasyJet Europe, Vueling Airlines, Norwegian and Norwegian International. British Airways and Scandinavian Airlines sit at the full-service end, where more is bundled into the fare, and Aer Lingus and Portug also fly the route. Direct flights are available, but a connecting itinerary through a hub can undercut them on price, especially when the legs are booked separately. What you get differs: a low-cost ticket is basically a seat and a small cabin bag, with anything else added at checkout, while a full-service fare bundles more in. Compare the total, not the headline fare, before you pick.

You land at Schiphol, Amsterdam's only airport and one of Europe's biggest hubs, a short train ride from the city centre. Trains run from the station under the terminal to Amsterdam Centraal through the day and into the night, and they are usually the quickest way in, while buses and taxis take longer in traffic. The airport is one large terminal, so allow time to walk between the gate and the baggage hall. If you travel on a UK passport, you join the non-Schengen queue at border control, which can be slow at peak times. Schiphol is also a big transfer point, so check you are heading for arrivals rather than a connecting gate.

Currency

EUR (€)

Power sockets

Type C, F · 230 V

Language

Dutch

Emergency number

112

Driving side

right

Calling code

+31

Internet domain

.nl

Population of Amsterdam

921 k (2023)

Time zone

UTC+01 (Europe/Amsterdam)

Country facts: Wikidata

• Check what the fare includes on the low-cost carriers, since a small cabin bag is often the only thing in the price.
• Manchester International is the only airport here, so there is no second departure point to mix it up with.
• If you book the legs on separate tickets, leave a generous gap in case the first flight runs late.
• Check your passport and the entry rules for the Netherlands before you book, and remember that UK travellers use the non-Schengen lane at Schiphol.
• If your dates are open, compare November with the summer months, when fares on this route are at their lowest.
• Check the arrival time against the last trains into Amsterdam if you land late in the evening.