Can anyone suggest a reasonable hotel near to the airport? We must drive to meet friends at the airport early in the morning, so would like to stay within easy striking distance the night before. We want to avoid the typical chains if possible. Even the names of nearby communities within an easy 20 km would help. Thanks

Downtown Amsterdam is quite close, maybe 20 mins. from the airport (if you already know this, sorry).

You don't want chains but in case you don't find what you're looking for try the IBIS and ETAP, a free shuttle bus ride away on airport periphery. ETAP charges about 55 euros for room for up to 3 with shower/bath in it. www.accorhotels.com.

We stayed at the Hotel Zwanenburg, last year ago. It was quite nice and very close to the airport. Booked it over the internet direct.

We've stayed at the Ibis a couple of times and found it perfectly acceptable. Okay, so it's a chain. The airport shuttle is nice.

I was looking at other things at http://www.gtahotels.com but I saw the rather low rate of 75 Euros for the Dorint Sofitel near the airport (yes, another chain, but at least it's French, as is Ibis).

Now I'm curious, is there a hotel by the airport that is NOT a typical chain?

Haarlem has about 10 hotels, 2 of which are members of chains. 2* places which are not chains are Joops, Amadeus, Raekse, and Carillon. They are all in the city center. Raekse has a parking structure across the street. Joops has a parking lot around the corner, but it is nearly always full. Good luck parking near the Amadeus and Carillon. You could take the train to Schiphol. Schiphol hotels are all chains catering to business folks passing through town. There must be a dozen of them.

Any new suggestions? We need to be able to park a car at the hotel but also would like to drive to the airport in 20-30 minutes.

How early in the morning? If you're prepared to take half an hour for the airport, then downtown Amsterdam easily qualifies -- and there're regular trains.

We are picking up our friends with the car at 9:30 am. So we need to be able to park overnight and we are trying to avoid the airport chains if possible.

Weekday or weekend? The roads are very crowded on weekday mornings.

Weekday morning.

We are still looking for an interesting, non-chain hotel, with parking within 30 minutes of the airport. Any suggestions?

Here's an idea. Park the car at the airport the night before. Take a train to Amsterdam or wherever and stay overnight. Take the train back to the airport in the morning to meet your friends and drive away.

Frankly, if you could get over your "non-chain" issue things would be a lot simpler. What is the problem with staying in a "chain" hotel? for ONE night?????

Huh? "Trying to avoid the airport chains." Why, pray tell??? IBIS/ETAP hotels, which are adjacent to each other, have good sized parking lots. (and believe me, if you think somehow that the IBIS chain ain't too Dutch, think again!) You park your car, you take the shuttle to AMS, you catch the train to Centraal, get out, do a walkabout around Jordaan, have dinner or whatever, take the train back to AMS, catch the IBIS shuttle (last one leaves at 1am I believe), and you're done! Why make things so hard on yourself??

What's your definition of reasonable? Under 100 euros? Under 200? The Sofitel by the airport is an excellent hotel, very modern, very high design. Its rack rates are high but you can often find very good rates on its web site (www.sofitel.com).

I have the feeling that you can lead the horse to water but you can't make him swim.