Flying Dutchman hits the water

Flying Dutchman bus cruise takes you on a tour
of Amsterdam's great canal system.

Henny Groenendijk, our good friend at the Netherlands Board of Tourism - she's the best in the business, folks - sent me a list of things visitors can do while in her remarkable country this Fall.

One of the things that caught my eye was a new amphibious tour being offered passengers at Holland's great Schiphol Airport - the best in Europe.

Passengers with a long layover at Schiphol can now take a canal tour aboard the "Flying Dutchman" - half boat/half bus - and they can board the floating craft at the airport's new "Splash Zone."

The amphibious bus carries 48 passengers, cruises the canals on battery power and is a partnership between the airport, the city of Amsterdam and a local cruise company.

Tours last two hours and 45 minutes and are offered three times a day. Tickets cost about $56 (39 euros) for adults and about $28 (19.50 euros) for children. Booking online offers a 10 per cent discount.

Toronto's Annette Fatael, who had a nine-hour layover at Schiphol while en route to Tel Aviv recently, tried the bus cruise and said it was a great way to kill time. "It’s a huge tour bus and it was hard to believe that it was going to go into the water,” she was quoted as saying.