I have a 7:04 AM train to take to Cologne. Ideally I would be staying near the Amsterdam Centraal area or near a hotel that have decent public transportation to Amsterdam Centraal. My budget is about US$100 and I will be travelling by myself. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

You did not mention a few important things such as:

Single or double room?

Your dates of stay?

Is this a weekend night?

What do you consider decent as far as a hotel? Lift? Ensuite?

You should have no trouble getting a tiny single room for that money within walking distance of central station. And I do mean tiny. But Ensuite?

AMS is a very expensive hotel city. And $100 is not much. No matter the dates. But for a double room in the busy season at a decent hotel? Beyond tough.

If it were me and I wanted a nice hotel on a budget I would bid for a 4 or a 5 star double room through Priceline bidding. depending on dates you may get a hit for near $100. Then I would set my alarm 30 mins earlier if the hotel I got was just a little farther away than a quick walk.

As far as value and price nothing beats PL NYOP in Amsterdam for a 4 or a 5*.

"or near a hotel that have decent public transportation to Amsterdam Centraal."



Missed this the first time through. PL will work for you.

You can go to the normal bidding sites like Betterbidding to see recent wins. They have a few.

Or you can go to Tripadvisor Amsterdam Forum and look at their 153 page on 4 star bidding or their 55 page thread on 5 star bidding. OK just look at the last 10 pages or so of these threads.

You can see the hotels won, dates, and prices.

Right now the hotels we see come up most often are

NH Barbizon Palace at the 5 star level.

NH Amsterdam Centre at the 4*

Citizen M at Schiphol, less than 5 minutes walk from Schiphol train station, 15 minutes train to Amsterdam Centraal.

I second the Priceline recommendation. It's been a few years but was able to get the Marriott Leidesplien for around $80. Rack rate was 399 euro.

Regarding proximity to Centraal, you really just need to be near a tram line. They all terminate in front of CS, at least the ones I always ride do (1, 2 and 5).

I'm just looking for a single room. I'll be staying from April 3rd to April 5th. I'm just looking for a clean single room with a private bathroom.

What time is the first train? I'm just worried that it'll be too early for the trains. Like I said, if I could save a bit of money by staying further away, then I wouldn't mind doing so as long as it's very close to a subway or tram line.

The Schiphol trains run all night, so you've nothing to worry about on that front.

The closest OK hotels to CS are the Ibis, Doubletree and Victoria, which are meh, expensive and middling at best, respectively. Prices are hugely variable, depending on tourists and conferences - I used to travel there weekly and regularly saw a hotel vary from €100 to €300 on a week by week basis.

However, there are few places in central Amsterdam that aren't in easy reach of the main station, by foot, tram, metro or train. Personally, I'd do PL or a search and see what came back, then look at what was relatively close.

Also, I'd tend to avoid the US chains. With some notable exceptions, they are poor and overpriced, relying on the must-stay-at-this-chain-at-all-costs business crowd.

Thanks for the information Stut!

I don't really care what hotel I stay at. I'm looking for decent value. I suppose Citizen M might be ok, but isn't the train from Schipol to CS expensive? To go back and forth between Amsterdam city centre to Schipol might be expensive? or not?

It's pretty cheap - €3.80 each way. I tend to prefer getting the faster train to Zuid and a tram from there if I'm not heading to the Centraal Station area specifically.

Unlike at many airports, Schiphol is just another station on the network, where local and inter-city trains stop.

That's awesome. For my purpose, would it make more sense for me to stay at Schiphol then? Would I find better hotel prices at that area? I didn't see Citizen M on Priceline though. I wouldn't mind taking the train very early in the morning and late at night. I guess the advantage of staying at Schiphol is that I'll be landing there first and I can quickly drop off my bags to start the day.

You won't see CitizenM on Priceline. I would advise against PL for Schiphol, as there's a good chance you'll end up in a hotel with a fairly long shuttle ride.

It's up to you, really. If you'd like to compromise on quality or price and stay in a more central location, do that. Without knowing what's available on your dates, it's impossible to say.

I want a compromise on price. I don't mind Schiphol knowing what I know right now. I'll be staying from April 3rd to April 5th. Any suggestions for a hotel based on my criterias within walking distances of AMS and the train line? Or let's put it like this, if you were me and staying in AMS for a few days and then training out, where would you stay?

Nowhere I know well appears on a search, although the QBic at Zuid can be OK, if you get a room with windows.

I'd be minded to try Daily Rooms apartments (on booking.com for €75/night), but I've never stayed there before. Location is great.

You could also look for the Carlson hotels deal (see the hotel deals forum) on the parkplaza.com website, expanding your search to all Carlson hotels.

It may be moot if you've already purchased your tickets to Cologne, but it's very easy to make a connection at Utrecht Centraal - indeed, this is the route I'm offered when doing the AMS-Cologne trip. Local train to Utrecht and then you get on the ICE from there. That makes an overnight at Schiphol more attractive.