Boutique hotels
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Canal House
- Style
- Reinvented Dutch masterpiece
- Setting
- Cobbled canalside Jordaan
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College Hotel
- Style
- Light, contemporary, buzzy
- Setting
- Lofty ex-schoolhouse
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Hotel Seven One Seven
- Style
- Opulent eccentricity
- Setting
- Typical townhouse
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Inn on the Lake
- Style
- Verdant-gardened vicarage
- Setting
- Waterside in Waterland
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Suitehotel Posthoorn
- Style
- Vermeer in velvet
- Setting
- Waterland town outside Amsterdam
Amsterdam Overview
Netherlands
- Cityscape
- Townhouses and waterways
- City life
- Laid-back laissez-faire
The city with a village mentality, where ducks compete for canal-bank space with disoriented tourists.
Once you’ve dipped into the heady club and bar culture, jump on a tram to the picturesque Nine Streets area; hire a bike to explore architecturally interesting Zuid; or hit the beach – it’s only 30 minutes away. It’s time to graduate from the red-light district and explore one of Europe’s most picturesque, liveliest cities.
Absolutely Amsterdam
Visit a coffeeshop – follow Brad Pitt’s lead and go to De Dampkring on Handboogstraat. Enjoy an tour of the canals in a skippered ‘genie boat’ (a former army vessel used for towing large objects), €70 an hour for two (+31 (20) 5327 0076).
Local knowledge
- Taxis
- There are ranks all over, but you can usually hail; tip ten per cent. Beware of unlicensed mini-cabs.
- Tipping culture
- The Dutch aren’t big tippers; ten per cent is usually about right, and it’s common to give the bartender a euro with every round.
- Packing tips
- Bicycle clips; puncture kit; an open mind.
- Recommended reads
- The Diary of Anne Frank; Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach; Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier.
- Cuisine
- Hearty, rib-sticking Northern fare, as well as herring, smoked eel, and Indonesian rijsttafel ('rice table'), an army of small spicy dishes.
- Currency
- Euro.
- Dialling codes
- Country code for the Netherlands: 31. Amsterdam: 20.
- Do go/don't go
- Weekends are busy all year round, and September is a big time for conferences, so book ahead.
