My family is planning to be in AMS on JUN 5-8. We found a great fare on Basiq from Bordeaux and hope to continue rolling with a great hotel rate. So far, we've picked a $106 rate at the Novotel Amsterdam (10 Europa Blvd), but I am afraid it might be too out of the way. Should we stay somewhere else?

Also, please add any insight on great things to do while in town.

I look forward to and appreciate your helpful responses.

magsaysa.

Your better of to stay in the center of town,although Amsterdam is easy to navigate because of an excellent transportation system.
Go www.bookings.nl they will give you a list of approx. 60 hotels in A'dam with many in the $100 range.
A few to recommand, Victoria hotel,directly accross from the train station, Die Port van Cleve, 10 min. walk from the station, Barbizon Palace, to the left from the station. All these are in the center of town.
Hope you enjoy your stay in A'dam.

Case.

First off, welcome to FT, caseyn1. It speaks well for anyone whose first post is a helpful and information-sharing one, such as yours.

I'd agree that it's better to stay within the city center, and that the bookings.nl site is a good one for hotels. I have also had good luck with www.hrs.com . Using Priceline has its advantages and drawbacks; more info at the notorious BiddingforTravel or BetterBidding sites.

As for location, I prefer the Leideseplein area, especially in warmer-weather months because of the proximity of the pleasant Vondelpark. My second choice would be in the Dam-Munt areas, but definitely not the station area.

I agree with Wideman. The Victoria hotel might not be a good place for the family, unless your kids are grown and enjoy drugs and loud music. It's a nice hotel in every other respect though.

I'm also going into Amsterdam around the same time (JUN 7) and I have found that its rather difficult to find anything under 100 dollars a night. You may want to try looking for bed and breakfasts in Amsterdam. They seem to be relatively decent prices and may still have openings during your four day stay.

Whatever you do, have fun though!
Roger

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Roger travels to Europe this summer. Follow along! http://www.thisworldtraveler.com

[QUOTE]Originally posted by magsaysa:
Novotel
Address:http://www.novotel.nl/eng/n/

You will be 5km from the edge of the amsterdam centrum. Which, I believe, is still not into the the museum area or Leidesplein.

I have been at the novotel hotel area. It has a express tram from central station. It is a area where conventions would be held or concerts. I would say it is a very quite area outside of the city center.

If you want to be in the center(centrum) where the canals are, the narrow streets, the feel of the city, the history, the rembrantplein, the dam, the amstel river, the palace, the red light district, the dam, the canal boats, the churches, the markets, Ann Frank room, the queens church, the church bells, the cafes, the pastrie shops, butcher shops, fish shops, shoppping straats, tram lines running between your legs, bikes ringing there bells (thousands, may be millions), casino, live bands, discos, antique shops, pancake cafes, brunch, argentine steak houses, indonesion food, italian food, german food, turkey food, africana food, american breakfast, english breakfast, dutch breakfast, small hotels (6 rooms, many of them) big hotels, houses built in the 1700's, the smell of heinekan, amstel, groltch and budweiser, the sound of boats, the sight of house boats, the smell of a coffee shop (they do not make money from coffee), parks, banks, post office, flower market, used clothing stores, flea markets, statues, art, symphony, city hall, birds, dogs, cats, bread baking, people, lace curtain windows, buy lace curtain, the sounds of people speaking, dutch, old english, new english, italian, sweedish, german, spanish, romanian, russian, asian sorts, the central train station, the harbor, the floating rest, taxis, atm machines, dutch music in the streets, police cars, rain sounds on the roof of a small hotel, narrow stairs (a must and not much of a choice) ....yes all of this within a step outside of all hotels in the centrum.

The novetel amsterdam has trams to all this but not outside your door.

Let me know if you choose a another hotel and I will let you know what it is near.

YOu may want to try hotelbook.com, when we were over there in October we were going to go with them, then at the last minute prices direct from the hotel dropped for some type of special rate, so we did that.

What to do what you are in town? Don't ever pass a pastry shop without buying something, preferably something dipped in chocolate. Hit all the tourist type art galleries, and I enjoyed the Anne Frank house much more then I thought I would.

Take a canal ride to break up the day, and make sure you get some dutch pancakes at a dutch pancake house.

You can try this site. They are prepaid rates and include all taxes. They have many choices around 100 and that includes taxes. The link below does get me a referral bonus. If you don't want me to get the referral just Take off the last bit. We have used this site for booking hotels in Amsterdam. They e-mail you a certificate that you can print out. Worked great!

http://www.accomline.com/guest.asp?id=14388

[QUOTE]Originally posted by magsaysa:
ALL 500 Amsterdam Hotels sorted by budget. Amsterdam hotel reservations, accommodation reservation guide
Address:http://www.1st-hotels-amsterdam.com/hotels/amsterdam/midprice.htm

Thanks for all your advice. I think we will stay in centrum. From your posts, I gather that its worth it to pass the cheap novotel route *that fits four* for a hotel in centrum. Am I right to assume that Novotel is the only place with two double beds?

The Renaissance is in the center and I just booked it for 140 for next weekend.

I was stuck in a horrible room at the Renaissance when I was there last year. It was in a far off corner of the hotel and it had this strange sloping wall on one side over the bed. I complained and they did get me a 100 euro credit because they realized the room was inferior. Also my room only had one queen size bed.

Photos Here

Trip Report
http://www.flyertalk.com/pasttalk/ft...ML/002859.html

[This message has been edited by prncess674 (edited 06-01-2003).]

Just an FYI- Sunday/Monday are holidays in Holland:
Pinksteren / Pentacost
Sunday June 8 2003 - Monday June 9 2003
Public holiday. Monday is also an official holiday. Banks and most shops will be closed, but, traditionally, big stores (like furniture stores) may be open.

I'll be in amsterdam as well this weekend as well (I'm there 5-6 times a year). My fiance lives there and said maybe there aren't a lot of cheap hotel rooms because of the holiday weekend. Normally you should be able to find cheaper rooms in Amsterdam.

try www.simplyamsterdam.nl

In terms of finding things to do, use the search function on FT and type in Amsterdam, there is a lot of great information there.

Enjoy!

AFAIK, the only hotel in Amsterdam City Centre that will guarantee you a double/double is the Marriott at Leidseplein. That's where we stay when travelling with the kids. Pricey though. Their weekend rate is 169 euro, more expensive on weekdays.

RockyP

Thanks all for your help.
Had a wonderful stay in Amsterdam with a tour of the hague, volerndam, marken, etc.
Stayed at the Marriott, but missed out on the flowers, the concierge said that it closes in late may.