When we recently polled Vision Travel Solutions’ staffers about their favourite airports, it was interesting to see Amsterdam mentioned more than once. And no surprise: a gateway to Europe (and the world), Schiphol – pronounced “skipple” – has long been a favourite of world travellers.
As one of the staffers responded on our poll: Schiphol is “Clean, easy to navigate, lots to do, and easily accessible to town from airport.”
AMS airport scores high on a variety of aspects. First, because it is used so often by flyers in transit, i.e. not staying in Amsterdam but connecting onto other flights, authorities have gone to great lengths to make sure transit travellers are comfortably looked after and have lots to do. Take 100 shops, add a casino, massage machines (perhaps the best €2 you’ll ever spend), and the world’s first airport library – complete with free downloadable reading material – and you get the picture.
Even if you’re only transiting, you’ll be able to get a taste of Dutch culture at the Grand Café Amsterdam, sip a typically Dutch tipple at a bar specializing in gin and beer, and even buy Dutch treats at a specialty grocery store. You may not have time to go into Amsterdam itself, but you can sample some of the city’s famed Rijksmuseum’s treasures at a mini-museum called the Rijksmuseum Annex.
You can even get married at Schiphol!
Business travellers are particularly catered to with airside conference facilities and boardrooms, and a thoughtful Business Point rendez-vous centre where you can connect more easily with your driver than in the perhaps crowded arrivals area.
And if you are staying in Amsterdam, you’ll appreciate that the airport is a mere 20 minutes from downtown via speedy and frequent rail service.
And if nothing else, you have to be impressed by the statistics: Last year the airport handled over 50 million passengers coming from and going to over 300 destinations around the world.
Not bad for a facility which is actually 4 meters below sea level. You’ve got to admire those Dutch engineers!