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We are visiting Amsterdam for 2 nights and will try to stay somewhere near Schiphol (if possible) to catch the 10 A.M. flight.
We can see quite a lot of marquee hotels near Schiphol with good weekend rates, but couldn't imagine how the noise level would be. A good night's sleep can beat anything, as long as we can get it. Does anyone have any experience staying near Schiphol? Do we need to seek Air BNB for saving ourselves some hassle?
I have slept more times in the Yotel inside Schiphol than I would want to admit. It's very very quiet.
You really can't beat an inside-an-airport hotel in terms of time to shower and bed after a zombie like shuffle off a transoceanic flight. It's bliss. And at Schiphol you are already inside security (!) so you don't need to guess the right time to leave your hotel. Not even the Gatwick or Heathrow Yotels are airside, nonetheless they are quite awesome especially the Gatwick one, the Heathrow one is in a far away terminal I somehow never land or leave from (uh, can you tell I have been to both... once or twice ;) ?). There should be more capsule hotels airside, really.
Edit: oh, Yotel agrees and they are expanding! After too long, now there's one at Paris Charles De Gaulle (CDG) airport -- and it's airside, too although more restricted than the one at Schiphol due to the way the airport is laid out.
I suggest checking multiple reviews for any hotels you are considering. Good soundproofing is a key feature for modern airport hotels. If guests could not sleep because of noise it would be a very prominent complaint.
If you do go Air BNB make sure you are well away from the airport and not on any major flight path. You cannot necessarily expect a house or apartment building to have as good soundproofing as a marquee airport hotel.
In April 2013 I stayed at the Schiphol Airport Sheraton, which is attached to the main terminal building and an easy walk to check in and the gates. I was in a mid-level room. It was very very quiet and I was able to sleep well there.
I'd like to promote Zach Lipton's comment to an answer.
Amsterdam proper is near Schiphol - about a 20min train ride from the airport station to the main Amsterdam station, with trains running regularly. No problem at all bringing luggage on the train, and at the airport you can get a multi-day pass for unlimited train rides (includes other forms of transportation as well).
In Amsterdam, assuming you choose a "good" hotel, it should be as quiet as one could reasonably expect in a city.
As yours is a common problem, most on-airport hotels in developed countries have very good soundproofing, as do many of the reputable brands in their near-airport hotels. So I suggest that you initially choose your hotel on price and location, then check reviews and their own website before booking, for noise but also for anything else that puts you off (one related example of the latter: room temperature control. Because the windows have to be sealed against noise, you have to rely on the air conditioning/heating, which can very from pathetic through noisy to fierce)
Writing about your situation rather than your specific question:
Schiphol is very well connected by train, and some hotels are close enough to train stations to make it worthwhile to also consider them instead of proper at-airport hotels. I just made a random query on some website - if you go there and click on the map view you'll notice several options close to train stations. You should not have a problem getting to the airport on time for your flight (and having enough time to sleep).
I will say that occasionally the security check and passport control lines can get pretty long, so you really should be at the actual airport at least 2 hours before the flight, perhaps a little more.
