Hotels in Amsterdam
 

Hi fellow FT members,

Might be planning a trip to Amsterdam around Oct-Nov this year. Does anyone have any recommendation for Accor Hotels in Amsterdam and The Hague? Budget is around 140-180 euros a night :) Also, any tips would be great as this would be my first trip to Netherlands

Hi cocoleolol,

Amsterdam is wonderful city. Good choice!

I have always stayed at Sofitel Legend Amsterdam The Grand which is a lovely hotel, full of history, excellent service and spa with pool. They also might have something nice extra for hotel guests. We, for example, have been able to borrow Jaguar for free. The location is also great. But the hotel is way over your budget. I recommend reconsidering the budget. ;-)

Other hotels than Sofitel I can’t comment on.

Here are a few places you should check when in AMS:

- Restaurant De Kas: built inside greenhouses, ingredients are grown beside your table, www.restaurantdekas.nl
- De laatste kruimel: cute little café that has too many different pies and warm sandwiches to choose between, www.delaatstekruimel.nl
- Farmer’s Market: fresh oysters, cheese and other delicacies, www.amsterdam.info/markets/noordermarkt
- Anne Frank House: make sure you book your ticket months in advance to skip loooong queues, www.annefrank.org

I was quite happy with the th the Suites Novotel in The Hague. Well located in the pedestrian zone of the city centre.

I am sooo jealous. I saw both Jags sitting outside our lovely Opera suite on our 2nd day at the Sofitel legend in 2015. But my wife refused to go with me and considering it was our honeymoon I would have been in the dog house if I went for a drive by myself.

The next morning both Jags went out. One of the staff said 1 of the drivers intended to take it for a spin into Germany for the day.

Well, to be honest, we didn't accept the offer of borrowing one of the Jaguar. I was too scared to destroy the car in narrow canal streets so we just sat on it. Instead, we decided to take bikes. And the funny thing is that the hotel charged for the bikes, 18 €. Jaguar would have been free. Madness, I know.

Hotels in Amsterdam are expensive usually, and with your budget there are not much left other than the Ibis Amsterdam and the Ibis Styles Amstel. I stayed at both and they were OK, both standard Ibis. This was before I was a member of LCAH so can not comment on benefits. Their location are good (Ibis is right by the Train Station - nearly attached to it and the Ibis Styles close to the Museum area).
There is a Novotel, Hotel Novotel Amsterdam City, which seems cheap for Amsterdam (rates of 140 EUR) but it is quite far out of the Center, south of the RAI.

Depending on your arrival date, Mgallery Ink Hotel could be in your budget.
I had nice stays here.
Located in the city centre of Amsterdam, 700 metres away from Amsterdam Central Station.

Another recommendation for the Ink here. I am usually not a boutique hotel customer, but this one is good and treats elites well - upgraded from most basic to top room category as a plat last year, with many tasty goodies in the room.

Excellent location and way more atmospheric than the Novotels and Ibis.

I got a great-for-AMS €145 rate for late May in one of the sales (one of the few which allowed the use of points), IIRC about 6 months before my stay. As I recall the price for the same dates on subsequent sales was quite a bit higher, and the normal advance purchase rates around €250 a month or two before my stay.

Mgallery Ink Hotel for the location an style although the cheaper rooms can be small and it can get busy at breakfast.

Mercure Sloterdijk, it is cheap has nice rooms, lovely staff and near a train station(100m) get's you into the city center within 5-10 min. But it is in the middle of nowhere, as in no tourist attractions and restaurants nearby.

Living in Holland and have stayed in both hotels twice. For a short trip and the feel of real amsterdam i would choose the Mgallery. It is literarily walking distance from a lot of hotspots. ( Anne Frank house, Dam square, Royal palace, red light etc )

Honestly, I am looking at Mercure Hotel Amsterdam Centre Canal District and perhaps INK Hotel Amsterdam MGallery by Sofitel. Although the Ink is slightly above my budget, I might pull for it if it's really that good to Plats members.

However, looking at my situation now. I might reconsider in a sense of not visiting Amsterdam. As of now, I am looking at cities which SQ fly to (preferably Premium Econ) which leaves me with Amsterdam, Munich, Zurich, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, Milan, Stockholm and Barcelona. Cities of which I have never been to and would plan to choose 2 of those destinations. So any tips/recommendation of which should be my second location? Or should I change both destination to other locations listed above? (I have only ever visited Europe twice, once to London and other to Paris.)

My personal feeling about those cities (I have been to all but Milan and Barcelona) is that Munich, Stockholm and Amsterdam are really interesting for such a trip. Zurich, Dusseldorf and Frankfurt have less interesting places, museums or overall touristy things to do (specially Frankfurt). But the areas around (the Rhein river, the Alps) have lots to offer.
So eventually, I suggest you post such a question to the Europe forum.

If you want two opposites, do Amsterdam and Barcelona.

Barcelona and Amsterdam are also my 2 top places to visit

Barcelona is a lovely city, too. I also highly recommend the combination of AMS and BCN. Even though I like Stockholm very much I wouldn't recommend it in November. Weather is grey, lots of rain, maybe even wet snow. Summer is better season visiting Nordic countries. Then you can experience the magical white nights we have here.

My choice of hotels would be INK Hotel Amsterdam MGallery by Sofitel and Pullman Barcelona Skipper.