I think the train is the way to go to get to our hotel from the airport. Any idea how much it would be?? I booked it through www.hotels.com and was told it included complimentary shuttle to and from the airport plus it included complimentary Continental breakfast each morning. Now I've been on the phone with hotels.com to find out that is not the truth. Really frustrating and I don't think it's right!

Yes, take the train. I don't recall exactly how much it was, but certainly very reasonable and much more convenient than a cab (no traffic).

The train station is right there at the airport: you'll buy your ticket in the lobby (you can do this at machine kiosk) and then go downstairs to the platform. The trains are frequent, and the trip is pleasant.

Once you arrive at the station you can walk to the Movenpick. The easiest route is to exit the station on the north side, towards the waterfront. Everything's in Dutch, but the words aren't too different from English. Walk across the street (you'll go through some walled off construction area, as the entire Central Station area is being re-done) to the waterfront sidewalk and turn right, walking along the waterfront. You'll see the hotel in front of you, but once you get closer to it you'll realize that you need to walk a little bit beyond it in order to get down the street level. The lobby doors are marked by some vertical banners. Again, there's some construction in the area, but don't let that put you off: the hotel is really lovely, and the staff very pleasant.

You could catch the tram one stop to the hotel as well, but it's almost as much hassle finding the correct tram stop (as there are one million of them in front of Central Station, plus the construction) as it is to just walk. If you do take the tram go ahead and buy a transit pass for 24, 48, or 72 hours, as the stop located next to the hotel means that you'll likely take it for touring (unless you want that nice walk along the waterfront, which is quite pleasant).

See http://tinyurl.com/34saf5. Take the train and a tram. Buy a 15 strip <i>Strippenkaart</i> at the VVV tourist office in Schiphol and get a free system map for the trams. Maybe you want to get day passes or multi-day passes. Ask the VVV for info.

Movenpick has never had a schiphol shuttle, it is too far from the airport and public transport to Centraal Station is very frequent.

There are also certain van services (kind of like Speedy Shuttle in the U.S.) that will take you from the airport to some hotels, for a roundtrip fee of I think about 14 euro. I used one last year from Schipol to my hotel (Hotel van de Kasteelen) and it worked wonderfully - when you need to go back to the airport, you simply call a day or so ahead to tell them when to pick you up.

I can't remember the name of the one we used, but the booths to sign up are located on the ground floor near the baggage carousels and the exit doors.