Spotterplaats Buitenveldertbaan at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol

Updated: October 2026 – When spotters talk about Schiphol, they usually mean the Polderbaan. But the airport has a second official spotting area that is far less well known: the Spotterplaats Buitenveldertbaan. It lies in the east of the airport, north of runway 09/27, right at the McDonald’s on Loevesteinse Randweg – with a bus stop next door, burgers within reach and landings on 27 that come in close to the touchdown point.

The catch: the Buitenveldertbaan is not Schiphol’s main runway. This page shows you when the trip is worthwhile, how the light falls, where you park and how to sensibly combine the spot with the Polderbaan and the Panoramaterras observation deck.

The Buitenveldertbaan in Schiphol’s runway system

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol has six runways pointing in different directions. Five of them are long runways for scheduled traffic; the sixth – the short Oostbaan – serves mainly general aviation. Which runways are currently active is decided by wind, weather, time of day, traffic volume and noise abatement rules.

The Buitenveldertbaan carries the designation 09/27 and runs east-west. It is about 3,450 meters long and 45 meters wide and went into operation in 1967. It takes its name from the Amsterdam district of Buitenveldert, over which the approaches to 27 lead. Residents also call it the “Bulderbaan” because of the noise, from “bulderen,” meaning to roar. A curiosity for drivers: the runway crosses the A4 motorway, which passes beneath it through the Schiphol tunnel. It also crosses the Aalsmeerbaan.

For spotters one thing above all counts: the Buitenveldertbaan is a secondary runway. In normal operations Schiphol relies on the Polderbaan and Kaagbaan, and the Buitenveldertbaan is added when wind or traffic peaks demand it. That makes the spot a place for the right hours, not for a whole day on spec.

Runway use: when the spot pays off

In practice the Buitenveldertbaan is used mainly in two roles: for landings on 27, which come in from the east over Amsterdam, and for takeoffs on 09 to the east. This happens most often with wind from westerly directions, because aircraft then land into the wind. Spotter guides nevertheless describe the runway as rarely used and name mainly strong wind from west to northwest as the trigger.

A second factor is the traffic banks. KLM operates a wave system at Schiphol in which arrivals and departures bunch into dense blocks. In the big arrival banks Schiphol sometimes needs an additional landing runway. For landings on 27, spotter guides name the early morning and the late evening in particular. When long-haul typically arrives in Europe is shown in the article When long-haul flights land and take off in Europe.

Wind and operations	What you see at the Buitenveldertbaan	Recommendation
Westerly wind, landings on 27	Approaches from the east, touchdown close to the spot	Spotterplaats at McDonald’s
Takeoffs on 09	Departures accelerating from the west and lifting off near you	Spotterplaats or Schiphol-Oost
Southerly or northerly wind, operations on 18/36	Mostly hardly any traffic on 09/27	Switch to the Polderbaan
Night (11 pm–6 am)	Runway only if the Polderbaan and Kaagbaan are out	Don’t plan on it

The most important rule is therefore: check first, then set off. A look at the flight tracker shows you in a few seconds whether approaches over Amsterdam are lining up on a line to the west – then 27 is running. How this works with ADS-B data is explained in the article Flight tracking with ADS-B for spotters. For planning the evening before, wind maps help, as explained in the guide Windy and weather maps for spotters.

Light and photography

The spot lies north of the runway, so you look south. That puts the sun right in front of you during the day – at midday you shoot into the backlight. The light only becomes good when the sun is far in the north: in summer early in the morning, when it rises in the northeast, and in the evening, when it sinks in the northwest. As a rule of thumb, spotter guides name the time from sunrise until about 8 am and from about 7 pm until sunset.

In winter this hardly works. The sun then rises in the southeast and sets in the southwest, so you have backlight practically all day. On overcast days it is less of a problem: under an even cloud cover, landings on 27 often look good because no harsh shadow falls on the underside of the fuselage. How to work creatively with backlight is shown in the article Backlight in aircraft photography.

You don’t need much in focal length. The landings on 27 come in close to the spot; a telephoto zoom of about 70 to 200 mm is enough for most subjects according to a spotter guide. Widebody aircraft fill the frame quickly; for regional jets and details, a bit longer is fine. More in the guide Lenses and focal lengths for plane spotting; you’ll find the matching settings under Camera settings for plane spotting.

What you get to see here

When 27 is running, you get the typical Schiphol mix – just from a different perspective than at the Polderbaan. Schiphol is the home base of KLM, KLM Cityhopper and the freight airline Martinair; add Transavia, easyJet and many guest airlines.

• KLM on short and medium haul: The Boeing 737-800 and the Airbus A321neo are regulars.
• KLM Cityhopper: The regional subsidiary flies Embraer jets such as the E175 and the E195-E2. In the banks especially, they often land at minute intervals.
• Long-haul: In the morning arrival banks, KLM widebody aircraft such as the Boeing 777-300ER and the 787-9 come in, plus partners of the SkyTeam alliance such as Delta.
• Heavy takeoffs on 09: When the runway is used for departures to the east, heavy long-haul takeoffs are also possible according to a spotter guide.

Which aircraft come on which day is never entirely predictable at Schiphol – that is exactly the appeal. For identification at a distance, the article Recognizing aircraft types for beginners helps.

Getting there: bus, car and bicycle

By bus and train, the Buitenveldertbaan is the most convenient runway spot at Schiphol. The large Knooppunt Schiphol Noord bus hub is only a few minutes’ walk from the spot, with several lines stopping there. Which one suits you depends on whether you come from Schiphol station, from Amsterdam or from the surrounding area. Check lines and frequencies before you travel in a current journey planner.

By car you head for the McDonald’s on Loevesteinse Randweg. The spot is in a blue parking zone: according to a spotter guide, you may park there free for up to three hours if you display a parking disc clearly visible. That is enough for one landing bank, but not for a whole day. In the area around Schiphol-Oost the parking times are in part even shorter, and the fines are high. What to note about parking at spotting locations in general is explained in the article Parking at spotting locations and fines.

By bicycle you get around well in the Netherlands anyway. From the spot you also reach the paths around Schiphol-Oost and can switch depending on light and operations. To the Polderbaan, however, it is a longer ride across the airport grounds.

How a good visit to the Buitenveldertbaan goes

Buitenveldertbaan or Polderbaan?

The question comes up at every Schiphol visit, and the answer depends mainly on runway operations. The two official spotting areas aren’t competitors but complement each other.

	Spotterplaats Buitenveldertbaan	Spotterplaats Polderbaan
Location	East, north of 09/27 at McDonald’s	Northwest, west side of 18R/36L near Vijfhuizen
Typical operations	Landings 27, takeoffs 09 – for hours at a time	Landings 18R or takeoffs 36L – on many days
Light	Early morning and evening, backlight during the day	Afternoon to sunset
Getting there without a car	Bus stop almost at the spot	Bus and a longer walk
Parking	Blue zone, according to a spotter guide 3 hours	Large free parking lot
Infrastructure	McDonald’s with restrooms next door	Restrooms, benches, food trucks in summer

A typical plan for a summer day might look like this: catch a landing bank on 27 early in the morning, switch to the Panoramaterras in the late morning and collect registrations at the apron, and in the afternoon go to the Polderbaan. How it all fits together is shown in the spotting guide for Schiphol. There are options at the Kaagbaan too when operations run on 06/24.

More spots in the area

Spotter guides describe further spots around the Buitenveldertbaan. Along Loevesteinse Randweg toward the general aviation buildings you have a clear view of the approach to 27. South of the runway, at the general aviation terminal at Schiphol-Oost, you see business jets on the apron, takeoffs on 09 and landings on 22. According to a spotter guide as of 2026, a higher fence now stands there, for which you need a ladder. When a ladder makes sense and what to note when using one is covered in the article The ladder as a spotter’s tool.

If you’re planning a road trip, more comfortable spots are within reach: the Steenokkerzeel spotting zone at Brussels Airport, the observation deck at Düsseldorf Airport or the Flyvergrillen at Copenhagen Airport. The article The best spotting spots in Europe offers an overview of the continent.

Rules at the Buitenveldertbaan

The spot is official and publicly accessible, but lies in the middle of a commercial area at the airport. That demands a bit more consideration than a spotting hill in the countryside.

For many spotters the McDonald’s is meeting point and supply station at once. If you use the restrooms there, you should also be a customer and not block the parking lot for hours. Precisely because the spot is so small, its good reputation depends on spotters behaving properly.

Verdict

The Spotterplaats Buitenveldertbaan is the specialist among Schiphol’s spotting areas. It brings you close to the touchdown point of 27, is as easy to reach by bus as hardly any other runway spot and has food and restrooms right next door. As an all-day destination, though, it isn’t suited: the runway runs only for hours at a time, and during the day you fight backlight.

If you keep an eye on runway operations and come early in the morning or in the evening, you get a compact landing bank here with the typical Schiphol mix. Together with the Polderbaan and Panoramaterras, it becomes a complete spotting day.