Between Dutch Windmills and Flowers

The gateway to the Netherlands, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is one of the world’s busiest international passenger terminals and home to the Dutch national airline, KLM.

The airport sits on reclaimed land around 10 feet below sea level on the site of a former huge inland lake. In fact, the name Schiphol may mean "ship grave," a reference to the ships that would periodically be sunk in its turbulent waters.

A train station serving many Dutch cities lies beneath the terminal building which houses a mini Rijksmuseum exhibition, reference library with multilingual books, and plenty of shops selling the ubiquitous clogs, tulip bulbs and cheese.

Booking.com’s range of Schiphol Airport hotels includes several on-site hotels. Others are in neighboring Hoofddorp, a town also within the area of the former lake, whose De Eersteling windmill overlooks a dike encircling a former fort.

Another windmill, the Molen van Sloten, is across a canal from Badhoevedorp on the airport’s north side. To the east, the huge Amsterdamse Bos forest is a haven of peace and tranquillity (apart from the occasional aircraft!) and borders Amstelveen. To the southwest is Aalsmeer, a town set on the huge Westeinderplassen Lake, and whose massive flower auction house receives daily consignments from all over the world.