The Best Places To Sleep In Amsterdam

Hotel V Fizeaustraat (£)

Hotel V is a mini group running three hotels and a couple of restaurants around Amsterdam. Our focus is its newest property on Fizeaustraat, where some appealingly retro-70s interiors conjure a sense of fun – you’ll sink into the carpets as much as the armchairs. The location is slightly out of the city centre, so rooms are spacious. For a cool, well-run hotel, its prices offer excellent value – and the transport links are good.

Visit HOTELV.COM

The Hoxton Lloyd (£)

This is the Dutch capital’s second Hoxton. The first is right in the centre of action, and remains a good option for a quick, greatest-hits city break. If you’re in town a little longer, consider heading out to the docklands to stay in the newer Hoxton Lloyd. There’s a much greater sense of space than you’ll find tucked among the canals of downtown, which is still easily reached by trams that stop right outside the hotel. In the familiar Hoxton style, rooms in this handsome, century-old building are simple, contemporary and comfortable – for the best views, take the top-floor Tower Room. 

Visit THEHOXTON.COM 

Jan Luyken Amsterdam (£)

The Jan Luyken sits at an attractive midpoint between hotel and self-catering accommodation. Staff are around and available, but they are discreet: there’s no front desk, breakfast is laid on, though its final prep is down to you, and there’s a shared kitchen where you can rustle something up anytime. Other communal spaces include a library, bar, courtyard and small gym. Close to the Museumplein where you’ll find all of Amsterdam’s biggest art institutions, this is a competitive proposition that also draws the eye with its breezily contemporary interiors.

Visit LEONARDO-HOTELS.COM

Volks Hotel (£)

Close to Amsterdam’s famous canals, but not amongst them, the Volks sits in an old newspaper office – you’ll know you’re in the right place because the funky interiors feature old clippings and archive photos. The crowd skews younger here, and it’s easy to see why: there’s a sauna and hot tubs up on the roof, a café space that puts on live jazz, and a music studio in the basement. Prices are fair, even if you fancy one of the artist-designed ‘special rooms’ – we’d go for the Electric Cinema-inspired Boudoir.

Visit VOLKSHOTEL.NL

Carmen (£)

Spread across a pair of 17th-century houses on the Keizersgracht canal, Carmen is a fashion boutique, a café and a two-room guesthouse. The trio are unified by the exquisite taste of Carmen Atiyah de Baets and her partner Joris. Whether you take the Big Room or the Standard Room, there are warm feelings and inspiration to be found in the subtle beauty of your surroundings. Breakfast is offered in the café, and you’ll also have access to a reading room, lounge with a fireplace where you can listen to records and watch movies, as well as a garden and kitchen.

Visit CARMENAMSTERDAM.COM 

Sweets (£)

It calls itself a hotel, but you might not recognise Sweets as such. There’s a clue in the wordplay of the name: this is actually 28 standalone suites that have been designed out of the city’s old ‘bridge houses’ that sit on its canals. The oldest houses date back to the 17th century; the youngest are barely 15 years old. Each one is unique and cleverly laid out to suit its new purpose. There’s nowhere else you can stay that will get you closer to the waterways that so define Amsterdam.

Visit SWEETSHOTEL.AMSTERDAM

Bob W (£)

Bob W is a growing network of short-stay apartments across many of Europe’s finest cities. In Amsterdam, it operates apartment blocks on either side of the history centre. Both its Amsterdam Noord and Oosterpark sites offer apartments and studios that can sleep up to four. What marks the accommodation out is the group’s commitment to using local artists and designers to create attractive spaces that function as highly convenient bases for visitors.

Visit BOBW.CO

Sonder Park House (£)

Marriott’s Sonder hotel brand uses technology to strip out the old formalities of a hotel stay. At its Amsterdam outpost, guests can use the Sonder app to check in and request amenities, though there’s also a staffed front desk if you prefer a little human contact. Park House sits just outside the city’s historic centre, in the laidback Oud-Zuid neighbourhood, close to both the high-end boutiques of PC Hoofstraat and the green space of Vondelpark.   

Visit SONDER.COM

Soho House (££)

The Amsterdam outpost of Soho House sits in an art-deco building on the Singel canal that retains many original features. Non-members can access its 79 bedrooms, which run from Cosy up to an XL Monumental option featuring timber panelling and a freestanding copper bath. Cecconi’s, gym, Cowshed spa, screening room – all of the usual House facilities are also within its seven floors, as well as a rooftop pool and terrace with city views.

Visit SOHOHOUSE.COM

The Craftsmen (££)

This classic Amsterdam canal house has been a hotel for more than a century, but it only recently became The Craftsmen. Its designer has blended the building’s original wall tiles, fireplaces and beams with a host of upcycled pieces that would once have been used or produced by Dutch craftsmen. The result is a cosy, 14-room hotel with a keen sense of place. The central location is in its favour too.  

Visit HOTELTHECRAFTSMEN.COM

De Durgerdam (££)

Durgerdam is an old village a few miles outside Amsterdam. The hotel that shares its name is further out of town than most on this list, but the capital’s Centraal station is still only 20 minutes away on one of De Durgerdam’s e-bikes – or there are 45-minute transfers by vintage boat. And De Durgerdam’s secluded, lakeside location comes with some serious benefits. There are just 11 rooms and three suites across the property’s 17th-century main building and newer guesthouse, where classic Dutch art, local ceramics and thoughtful turndowns bring warmth, especially after a bracing plunge in the lake. In-house restaurant De Mark is run by the talented duo who also look after two-Michelin-starred 212 in the city.

Visit DEDURGERDAM.COM

Anantara Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky (££)

Think of this as your failsafe city-centre base. Easily reached from Schiphol airport, the Krasnapolsky sits right in the middle of the action, offering more than 400 rooms, a Michelin-starred restaurant, an impressive spa, and the excellent service for which the Anantara group has become known. The pervasive sense of luxury is enhanced by the history of the place, which began as a smart coffeehouse more than 150 years ago.

Visit ANANTARA.COM 

Pillows Grand Boutique Hotel, Maurits At The Park (££)

The green space mentioned in the name is Oosterpark. On the edge of the historic centre, it gives the Maurits room to breathe. With the park at its back, the hotel sits within a century-old university building, looking onto a waterway. Inside, a statement-making lobby exemplifies the grand yet sympathetic restoration that took place a few years back, while understated bedrooms use artworks to make their splash. There’s a choice of restaurants – low-key brasserie or high-end fine diner – and an atmospheric speakeasy-style bar.

Visit PILLOWSHOTEL.COM 

Inn On The Lake (££)

The Inn on the Lake is exactly that. In a water’s-edge old vicarage, it’s a three-room guesthouse that feels much further out of town than an 11-minute train ride from Centraal station. A spa, sauna and lakeside garden only encourage feelings of escape, but whenever you’re ready to re-enter the city, Amsterdam is easily reached once more. Bike and boat tours of the beautifully bucolic local area are also simple to arrange. Breakfast and dinner menus at the Inn change daily, according to what’s come in from nearby suppliers. 

Visit INNONTHELAKE.NL

Conservatorium (£££)

Sitting poised between the art institutions of Museumplein and the top-end boutiques of PC Hoofstraat, the Conservatorium is a landmark of contemporary international luxe. Its clean-lined interiors bring lightness and air to a building that started as a bank in the 19th century. There’s a weightlessness to the spa, and an obvious appeal to the laid-back Barbounia restaurant and its courtyard terrace. Deeper within lies sophisticated, Asian-inspired Taiko, with a bar to match. 

Visit MANDARINORIENTAL.COM 

Pulitzer (£££)

The Pulitzer might be the most Amsterdam of all Amsterdam hotels. It occupies no fewer than 25 Golden Age canal houses, all restored and enhanced to deliver everything a discerning 21st century hotel guest might want. The labyrinthine layout delights rather than deters, with rewards at the end of every snaking passage: from tranquil inner gardens to an intimate bar and the Beauty House offering individualised treatments.

Visit PULITZERAMSTERDAM.COM

Dylan (£££)

The Dylan is a canalside beacon of Amsterdam’s illustrious Nine Streets district. Pass below its 17th-century entrance arch and you enter a serene space that serves as a lovely counterpoint to the buzzing city outside. The Dylan combines two buildings and a tree-lined courtyard into a boutique hotel of the highest order. Minimalist interiors dovetail beautifully with original features; Bang & Olufsen, Aesop and Dyson are some of the big names represented in its eclectic array of rooms. The in-house restaurant, Vinkeles, is among the city’s very best.

Visit DYLANAMSTERDAM.COM