Hotels in Amsterdam

Filed in archive European insider on December 1, 2005

Most tourists who come to Amsterdam visit other countries, as well. Itineraries could include a trip to major European cities like Paris, Milan, Rome and Amsterdam, among others.

Should you find yourself spending a couple of days in Amsterdam and neighboring areas, you have two options. You could either stay in Amsterdam city proper OR, you could stay at a hotel near the airport.

For those who need to tuck themselves in bed early and rise early for your next flight to Paris, check out the A4 Hotel Schiphol. Hotel Schiphol is part of the Van der Valk hotel group. It is perfect for those with an early flight since it is right at the freeway, near the airport. The hotel has friendly staff, an interesting bar, an internet cafe, restaurant, swimming pool and clean rooms.

Pros: All rooms are wi-fi enabled and have balconies. Breakfasts may be pricey at 15euros but if you are hungry, you can load up to last you until lunch.

Cons: There are no refrigerators in the room. You can, however, go down the hall of each floor to get something from the vendo machine.

Insider TIP: When checking in, ask for a room in the 800 area. Other rooms are passable but those in the 800 are newly-renovated and are a lot better than the rooms in other floors.

Dining possibilities: You can sample the in-house restaurant or you could walk up the highways stop across the hotel. Go up to the second floor, past Kentucky and the local diner. At the end of the other side is the entrance to The Gouden Wok, a chinese restaurant. They have great chinese dinner buffet. The best of which is where you can pile up fresh food and ask the cook to cook them for you, with 8 various sauces.

Transport to the airport is provided by the hotel. They have a shuttle to the airport every 20minutes.

Convenience and great service goes hand in hand.