Amstelland
Amstelland is a region within North Holland in the Netherlands. It is basically synonymous with Greater Amsterdam.
Cities
[edit]
| Amsterdam (Badhoevedorp, Duivendrecht) Capital of Amstelland and the Netherlands as a whole. |
| Aalsmeer Located just south of Schiphol, Aalsmeer is one of the few areas around Amsterdam that did not see its lakes, the Westereinderplassen, be drained in a search for land. |
| Amstelveen Once a proper town of its own, Amstelveen has grown exponentially since the Second World War, making it effectively a suburb of Amsterdam in modern times. |
| Diemen Effectively annexed by Amsterdam, Diemen is a densely populated city that links Zuidoost with the rest of Amsterdam. |
| Hoofddorp (Schiphol Airport) Perhaps better known as the Haarlemmermeer, which, like the Beemster is a drained lake. |
| Ouderkerk aan de Amstel Though it is older than Amsterdam, Ouderkerk is still the town it used to be, located in the reclaimed rural area that all of North-Holland once was. |
| Uithoorn A densely-packed agricultural municipality, filled partly with massive greenhouses. |
Understand
[edit]Although containing large stretches of the archetypal Dutch polder landscape, the area is one of the country's primary economic powerhouses, focusing mostly on financial services and logistics. Partly because a large part of the area, the Haarlemmermeer polder, was a lake until 1852, there is relatively little old architecture.
Get in
[edit]Many visitors to the Netherlands will actually arrive in Amstelland itself, as Schiphol Airport lies within it.
Get around
[edit]From Schiphol, you can take the train to the north, to Amsterdam, or to the south, to Hoofddorp, Nieuw-Vennep and further to Leiden. Also, there are many bus services, including ones to Haarlem, Amstelveen and Uithoorn.
See
[edit]- 1 Nederlands Transport Museum, Lucas Bolsstraat 7, Nieuw-Vennep, ☏ +1 0252-278 378, info@sntm.nl. Tu-Su 10:00-17:00. The museum has a collection of old road, rail and air vehicles. Adults €10.