VeraB

Hi,

Has anyone stayed in any of the Amsterdam B&Bs. We are a family of four (mom, dad and two teenagers) and are spending four days there in August. The hotels we like are above our budget, so I started looking into B&Bs.

Any advice? I found two that I am particularly interested in. One close to Anne Frank's house, and the other close to Vondelpark. That one looks very cute, but is on the side further away from the town centre. How long would it take us to go from there to the centre? One of the places is asking for 30% deposit. Is that usual?

How much are tram tickets?

I would appreciate any advice, as I am eager to book.

Vera

VeraB

Me again... The first place is B&B Jordaan. The owners seem very friendly, but I was not able to find any reviews. The second place is B&B Amsterdam.

Has anyone stayed at either of the places?

Thanks!

PatrickLondon

It might help if you gave addresses - these sound like very generic names: I certainly haven't stayed anywhere with those names.

As for local public transport:

http://www.gvb.nl/english/

VeraB

Thanks, Patrick, this is very helpful, as for one of the places we would need to use public transport daily.

Vera

MaureenB

Our family of four (including two teenagers) stayed five nights in Amsterdam last June. We liked the Hotel Residence le Coin, which had two connecting rooms for us. Each room has a little kitchenette, which is helpful with teens' appetites. And having two bathrooms and two TVs was very convenient, too. It was pretty reasonably priced, and very centrally located. We walked everywhere from there.
Here's my trip report:

"Final stop: Amsterdam. Five nights’ stay, first visit for all of us.

LOVED, LOVED, LOVED Amsterdam! You always hear of the Red Light district and the coffee shops and the laissez-faire attitude, but you don’t hear how open and friendly the people are, how lovely the canals and side streets, how wonderfully trendy the restaurants and cafes, how people are out strolling at all hours of the night and you feel safe everywhere. I think I’d expected it to be quaint and charming (which it is), but in a dark wood-paneled cliché way, not in the young and contemporary way it is.

The standard reply we were given in Amsterdam, when we asked for anything, was always “Of course!” How refreshing.

We stayed in a fabulous location, at The Hotel Residence le Coin, which was directly across a small street from the Hotel de l’Europe, down the street from the Hotel Doelan, on Nieuwe Doelenstraat (sp?). A great neighborhood in the heart of old Amsterdam.

The hotel has a lift and A/C, also free use of the hotel’s washing machine and clothes dryer in the basement (which was welcome as we’d been traveling over a week when we arrived there). Each room has a little kitchenette, a nice-sized bath, large rooms with wooden floors and a sitting area. It’s fairly new, so everything sparkles. Very friendly front desk, too.

Two cafes on the same block as the hotel were wonderful: Café Katoen for a university atmosphere, and Café de Jaren, for great table seating on the canal.

Amazing dinners at two restaurants in particular:
“Stout!”, at Haarlemmerstraat 73 (www.restaurantstout.nl). Fabulous ‘foamy asparagus’ soup with shrimp, chateaubriande, fresh fish, dessert course, wine list. Very trendy lighting. Great service. We’d gone to the neighborhood in search of a restaurant called “Lof” which we’d seen written up. We didn’t like its atmosphere, but were lucky that Stout! was just across the street.

Also at “Restaurant Dining Eleven” we had a great dinner. It’s at Reestraat 11. Also trendy and contempory, well-presented and beautifully-served meal.

Another nice dinner at “frenzi”, at Swanenburgwal 232. Very simple and contemporary. We arrived shortly after 10:00p.m., when most restaurants close in Amsterdam, and persuaded the owner to sell us any left-overs they had in the kitchen! They put together a nice Caesar salad with cooked-in-the-shell shrimp and mango. Very nice.

Also a good brunch at a place across the street from frenzi—called “Puccini”. Creative salads and sandwiches. Very nice also.

We took a canal cruise one evening. Toured the Anne Frank Huis and the Van Gogh Museum. Visited the Nieuwe Kerk (sp?) Our teens went to a concert at the Paradiso and loved it.

One afternoon we did the 2:30 “Best of Holland” excursion to Volendam and Marken, with a stop to see wooden clogs made, Gouda cheese created, and to visit windmills. It was by bus, with a boat from Volendam to Marken. A lot of fun. Even our two teens liked it.

Our teens also liked shopping at one street in particular, between our hotel and the museum district. Also a Zara shop there, and many others like it. They thought the selection and prices were better in Amsterdam than what they’d seen in London and Paris even.

A detail about Amsterdam if you go there-- carry enough Euros in cash, because many places won't accept a credit card for a 'small' purchase (i.e. under 25 EU).
The only unpleasantness we encountered in Amsterdam related to cab rides and inconsistent pricing. Especially when our two teens were grossly overcharged cabbing to the hotel from the concert. They were well aware of the route, having walked it already twice, but we'd wanted them to cab home late at night. They knew the cabbie took a very round-about way back in order to over-charge. Also, when we arrived at the taxi sand at Central Station, I was literally swarmed by rather aggressive cabbies and felt uncomfortably jostled by them all."

polly229

I'm not clear what the "town center" has to recommend it in Amsterdam. I assume you're talking about the area between Centraal Station and Dam Square, around that area. Touristy, noisy, and less than charming. Last Sept. we stayed a bit east of Leidseplein and across the canal from the Rijksmuseum and found it quite pleasant and not inconvenient. Amsterdam is a very walkable city and if you're in a hurry or tired, there are trams. We did take the tram to the zoo and to the station when we were going out of town for the day. But we walked most places we went since the things we saw along the way were part of the charm. Am staying in Jordaan next month, just for a change of scenery, but having walked in that area last year, I think it will also be much preferable to the central area.

pavfec

We're going to Amsterdam next month and have booked Flynt B&B. I found it on AmsterdamBy.Com, and it has great reviews in TripAdvisor. I have learned that there are two locations, one near Vondelpark and the other in the Jordaan area. We're staying near Vondelpark. The owner apparently stocks the kitchen with breakfast items and you serve yourself, and you can also use the kitchen 24/7.

I'll post a review once we get back.