Sofitel has opened the first European outpost of its ultra-luxury Legend brand in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

The French-owned luxury label inaugurated the Sofitel Legend The Grand Amsterdam last week, marking the end of a two-year refurbishment.

Sofitel has transformed the property into a hotel to compete with the Dutch city’s original grande dame, The Amstel, run by InterContinental.

An architectural mashup of traditional houses, the 160-room Inntel Zaandam in the Netherlands looks as though it comes straight out of a fairytale.

The iconic green wooden houses of the Zaan region were the fount of inspiration for the hotel’s designer, Wilfried van Winden (WAM architecten, Delft).

The structure is a lively stacking of various examples of these traditional houses, ranging from a notary’s residence to a worker’s cottage.

If you have a hankering to join the mile-high club but you’re frightened of flying, Holland’s brand new Honecker Hotel could be just the ticket.

A vintage four-engine plane that’s been converted into a luxurious five-star hotel, it boasts a whirlpool, sauna, bar, kitchen, flat-screen televisions, wireless Internet – and it doesn’t even leave the ground.

Instead, the 1960s jet is perched on the edge of the runway at Teuge airport, just east of Amsterdam, so visitors can watch other planes take off and land while remaining on terra firme.

The latest hotel to open at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport won’t be any comfort to stranded passengers and businessman with canceled stopovers.

The new facility that opened last month is built… specifically for goldfish !

Travel agent D-reizen has opened the Goudvissen Hotel so travelers have a safe place to leave their pet fish while they are on vacation.

The US-based BRC Imagination Arts has developed the New Heineken Experience, an interactive journey through the history of the brand and the brewing process.

The experience is housed in the former Heineken Brewery in Amsterdam.

Above Amsterdam’s new “Marketplace for Furnishings” floats a restaurant designed by London’s Virgile & Stone. The copper restaurant sits on top of concrete columns and is accessed by to two bridges on the second floor.