Amsterdam, with its spider’s web of canals, charming quarters, and quirky corners, is the place to eschew purpose-built hotels and go for buildings with a past: converted canalside mansions, old schools, former almshouses, and more. When it comes to our pick of the best hotels in Amsterdam, expect rooms of all shapes and sizes, interiors from the hip to the headily luxurious, and all manner of decor, from starkly minimalist to antique-store clutter and the summits of contemporary design. Their restaurants are often among the most adventurous in town, and the bars are way out front on the best bars in Amsterdam scene.
Which Part of Amsterdam is Best to Stay?
For the quintessential Amsterdam experience, a hotel in the historic central Canal District, happening De Pijp, museum-filled Zuid, or über-charming Jordaan is a must. However, there are also great places to be found in quarters west and east of the centre and across the water behind Amsterdam Centraal Station.
What are the Best Cheap Hotels in Amsterdam?
Some of our favourite affordable places to stay in Amsterdam include Conscious Hotel Westerpark, where rooms start from £90 per night, and the rock-n’-roll-themed Sir Adam Hotel, which is a short ferry ride away from Central Station.
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Hotel de L’Europe
Featured in our Gold List of the best hotels in the world 2024
In a city more known for its scene-y or slick design hotels, De L’Europe resides like a distinguished matriarch on the banks of the Amstel, overlooking the rippling waves – and tourist barges – of the river and higgledy-piggledy mustard-hued merchants’ houses. Once a 17th-century Renaissance-style inn on the site of former defence walls, the hotel has gradually gone upmarket under the ownership of the Heineken family since 1950. A Dutch-focused art collection peers from the walls, and rooms are bathed in light and provide a televisual view of the moving city.
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The Hoxton Lloyd Amsterdam
The Hoxton group’s first Amsterdam hotel opened in 2015 across four townhouses on a city-centre canal; this 2023 sequel is a world apart, occupying a 1920s shipping-line HQ in the revived Eastern Docklands. The art on the walls is curated by a local gallery, and includes a huge, Fifties-style tile mural above the raw seafood bar in the conservatory-style restaurant, an all-day hub for comfort food.
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Pillows Maurits at the Park
Maurits at the Park is a sophisticated boutique hotel next to the leafy Oosterpark. Housed in a historic university building, the team has put a momentous effort into preserving every historical detail. The decor is inviting yet elegant, while the floor-to-ceiling windows seamlessly connect the hotel and the park.
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The Dylan
This place is intimate, exclusive, and quietly detached from the city’s hurly-burly yet in the heart of the historic hotel district. Rooms are interspersed throughout two august canalside buildings and individually decorated. In Vinkeles restaurant, chef Dennis Kuipers serves Michelin-starred new Dutch cuisine.
