My friends and I are looking to book a hotel and flights to Amsterdam for the first weekend in June. I've had a look on thomascook.com for flights and 3 nights in a hotel. the cheapest one we got was for £240 (per head) for flights and 3 nights in a hotel. its called Schiphol A4, anyone heard of it?! how close it is it to the action?

I was just wondering if any of you vets could give me tips for booking. there's 10 of us going, do hotels have problems with large groups of lads? would it be better to go in different hotels?

I've been to Eindhoven before, that was a lovely place, anyone been to Eindhoven before, how does it compare to the 'dam?

Any recommendations on where to stay?

Help and advice is very much appreciated!

Personally, I ignore thomas cook and that lot... complete rip off. You can get budget flights for about £50-60 and for the hotels book independently... try the "rld hotels" link on the left... or a simple google brings up plenty... obviously not all of the 4* rating of the A4 ... which is near the airport and so not really very convenient... 20 or 30 mins away by cab I'd guess? stay in the centre!

cheapest way friend is book your flights with easy jet im goin for 5 days in febuary with friends and only costing £35 thats a return!! from edinburgh to the dam, then for hotel get on expedia.co.uk and you'll find loads of hotels there, for 5 nights in febuary from thursday to the tuesday its costing £35 for the flight and £160 each for the room with 2 people sharing, but also come june summer time prices to go up went last july and cost £280 from saturday to the tuesday...also check out http://www.nh-hotels.com ....they have 3 hotels or more in amsterdam with city central being only 2 minutes walk from the dam square and just far away enough from the noise but close enough to the action!!!, you'll find them on expedia also but if you book direct with them its £20 cheaper... also kadinskys coffee shop is just across the road and also softland both good coffee shops, and about 15 minute walk from central station but very easy to find.

Comparison of Eindhoven and Amsterdam? Well, they’re both in the Netherlands, other than that not much. Easyjet are your best option for cheap flights if you’re booking reasonably early, otherwise a scheduled flight might be cheaper. For accommodation, if you are committed to the truly cheap you could check out bootsnall.com where you can find a hostel in the centre. If you don’t mind living in the smell of each other’s flatulence you could probably book a ten person room for you all. If you want 4 stars you’d best be prepared to pay for a central location but try bookings.nl which has wee location maps for each hotel. Find one you like and phone them up to see if they’ll do a block booking reduction (you never know yer Donald).

The A4 hotel is actually on the A4 motorway south of the airport. It is accessible only by car or the free shuttle bus to/from the airport. From there you will either have to take an expensive taxi or a 20 minute train journey to the centre and then walk to the RLD, another ten minutes. It would not be my choice for such a trip*.

Check details at http://microsite.schiphol.valk.com/page ... aspx?ID=59

Suggest you look for other options, including booking flights & hotels separately.

*I am however tempted by the suite which includes a swimming pool! jacuzzi and sauna. Who would I share that with for 24 hours? Follow the pictures till you see the pool.

Cheers for your advice people, very much appreciated! I think the best thing to do now is to book it all separately. Let's face it, whats the point of the 4* hotel if all your going to do is just crash out after a heavy night of intoxication! I would assume that the smaller hotels in central Amsterdam are friendlier and a little more liberal? When I went to Eindhoven we were toking in the rooms and some member of staff gave us a polite request to stop! How far in advance would you recommend we book the hotels? Im assuming the hotels in the centre of the 'dam are smaller so if we all (roughly 10 of us) wanted to be in the same hotel we'd have to do it in advance, or would the more experienced people of this forum recommend splitting the group up for the sake of the hoteliers being off our backs? We don't plan on causing trouble, but when you're in a group and having a good time you tend not to realise how loud you are to other people in the hotel!

Personally, if there's a weekend in your timetable, I would book a couple of months in advance. May get away with one month, but you'll be scattered around.
Weekdays are usually easy though. They rarely sell out Sun-Thurs nights.