Flying into Schipol - view from the sky
 

Was wondering if anyone knows which side of the place would offer a better view as the plane descends and lands into Schipol?
I'm flying in early June.

Thanks!

i'll take a shot at this though maybe i shouldn't

it seems each year when i land at Schiphol the plane usually comes from the south and lands on a north-south runway - meaning the nearby flower fields would be on the plane's left side.

But i'm not sure of the other runways and they may not always land the same depending on winds.

Interesting Q and i'm keen on hearing from someone more expert.

Then again chances are it will be overcase and rainy so who cares in that scenario!

someone on flyertalk.com might be able to answer this question

As Pal "predicted" in his last sentence, every time we've landed at Schipol, it's been rainy and overcast so it didn't matter what side you were on. Nothing but clouds. Hope you have better luck - and sorry I can't help more.

Even if the weather is fine - there is not much too see. Do not expect to see a glimpse of Amsterdam - Schiphol is way out of town.

It used to be that you would fly in over the coast and the bulb fields (when in flower), but since the new "Polderbaan" runway opened they seem to come in differently, not much to see of interest, they do not fly over Amsterdam for instance. Other approches, over land have also become available recently. Again nothing spectacular to see. If you are unlucky enough to land on the Polderbaan be prepared for a long taxiing time - something like 20 minutes!!!!!

Whether you are on portside or starboard what you will get is either:
A) Gray skies and drizzle or slashing rain.
B) Bright blue skies with puffy clouds and the greenest fields you've ever seen.

Also, be aware that tulip fields do not look particularly spectacular from the air. The picture post card views you see of tulip fields are taken from a low angle, and the blooms merge into solid blocks of wonderful color.

From above, all you see are tiny lines of barely visible color, separated by dirt. Not very inspiring at all.

We have large tulip fields in our part of the North West (Skagit Valley), and we took one of the flights over the fields. Most disappointing!

:-(

We saw lots of windmills--not for certain, but I think I was sitting on the right side of the 767.

thank you for your replies :)

I know.. sometimes it's a gamble and it all depends on what direction the plane comes from. During my recent visit to London I had birds eye view of the London Eye, Parliament, river Thames etc as the plane was about to land. It was beautiful!! I was seated on the left side of the plane.

And thanks for the tip on flyertalk.com com BoniseA. And to hetismij too for the warning about the long taxiing time.

I'm from Kuala Lumpur... and in case you're wondering, you can't see much as you land at the airport. The airport is far from the city and you'll only see greenery. If you land at night, you'll see towns lit up. I can't remember now where I was coming from, but you might even see golf courses floodlit brightly.

Landing in Bangkok is interesting because they have a golf course on the tarmac... so you'll see buggies waiting for planes while they taxi!! p/s: this is at the old airport

Also - as you get close to landing you wil notice some strange looking dog sized animals on the grass near the runway. (I was told there were Belgian hares - something like a gigantic rabbit.)

The first time I was on a plane that had to taxi in from that "polderbaan" I was convinced we had landed in Belgium!

We landed in Amsterdam on April 22, just a few weeks ago and were able to see beautiful tulip fields from seats A&B on the plane. We flew up the coast with the fields on our left, then circled back, again showing the fields on the left of the plane. It was a beautiful sunny morning, so we were very fortunate!

Only about 1/4 of the fields still had tulips, as they bloomed so early this year, but still, it was a great view!