HappyTrvlr

We also stay at the Hotel l’Ambassade, nice hotel in a wonderful location.

Holly_uncasdewar

I'll second the Dutch Resistance Museum in Amsterdam. It's the best I've seen on the subject, anywhere. The Jewish Museum, not so much.

Janeyre

Thinking about the safety of your companions: Stairs are shallow and steep in the Netherlands. You may have thought of this, but make sure you book a place with an elevator (or two). Bathtub sides may be high and difficult to hike an older leg over so see if your selected hotel has walk-in showers/grip bars/plastic mats for bottom of tub to minimize slipping. Some hotels have a slight step-up as you enter the bathroom. Check to see if the room floor is level with the floor of the bathroom so tripping is minimized as well. Lastly, some European hotels like American hotels are switching to squirt bottles of shampoo, soap, etc. I like bar soap for showering so you may want to pack a small bar if you are like me.

menachem

You might actually want to stay in The Hague and day trip to Amsterdam (45 minutes by train from The Hague Central). In the western part of the country (Rotterdam, Delft, The Hague, Leiden, Haarlem, Amsterdam, Utrecht) our train network is more of a metro network

You'll find better and cheaper hotels in The Hague and a calmer city without the crowds of tourists that mill around in Amsterdam. If you do want to stay in Amsterdam I recommend South (Zuid) and the Museum Area over somewhere within the canal ring. Also take into account that old, quaint hotels in the Amsterdam centre may have steep stairs.

The Hague has Mauritshuis, and the Kunstmuseum with its vast collection of Mondrian and De Stijl paintings

Trophywife007

I "third" it. It focuses on personal accounts of resistance members. Poignant.

We spent a week in Amsterdam this last spring and enjoyed it immensely. Public transport there is excellent but the bikers are treacherous; many don't follow ordinary traffic rules so be aware crossing the street and one of them is turning right on a red just as you step out! You get used to it.

Sapphire

Thank you for your thoughtful input. Yes, I am thinking that a place with an elevator might be helpful. We can all handle stairs pretty well and pack light but my knee complained when one of our hotel rooms the UK was on the third floor this past June. There is a difference between what can be managed and what might be optimal!

Sapphire

I really appreciate your suggestions and will share them with our friends before settling on where to stay. Glad we are looking at this a year in advance which gives us time to get input here and follow up with more research! Thank you!

Sapphire

Glad to hear that you had a great visit last spring! I am the Museum of Dutch Resistance on my list of places to go.... I also appreciate all the warning about cyclists - for their sakes and ours!

Finecheapboxofwine

While in Amsterdam last November I stayed with my daughter at the Hotel Adolesce, a 2 star hotel in the Waterlooplein area. Normally I start at minimum 3 stars but this one had decent reviews on booking dot com. It was like staying at your great uncle’s home- a bit dated, but charming and very clean. The rooms were huge and ours overlooked a canal. I would stay there again even though it was a walk up and the stairs were STEEP! I booked directly through the hotel. Breakfast was just ok. If you stay in this area then have brunch at Dignitas across the way.

We were just across the canal from the Holocaust Memorial and also visited the Jewish Museum and Portuguese Synagogue which were in the neighborhood. One evening we went to the Anne Frank House. Tickets for the VanGogh museum were sold out so we didn’t get to do that. We enjoyed walking everywhere in the city.

After Amsterdam, my daughter had an appointment to tour Leiden University so we spent a couple of days in that city. Was an easy trip from AMS and would make a great day trip. We went for luxury and stayed at the Boutique Hotel Huys van Leyden. The hotel located close to where some friends live so I selected that location but I might stay closer to the center where there’s more boutiques and restaurants if there’s a next time.

lavandula

It's actually Dignita - Dignitas is the Swiss assisted suicide organisation. Dignita is a chain of restaurants in Amsterdam and the Hague that supports social projects.

Lavandula

Finecheapboxofwine

Oh geez, that was quite a mistake. Thanks for pointing that out. We were impressed by the restaurant’s mission and the breakfast was also excellent and in a lovely setting.

Sapphire

Late last week, I called to book our GCT river cruise. We have done this cruise once before, and it was so good that we want to share it with some other friends. I used to teach history, and my husband reads lots of history books on a wide variety of subjects. Also, his father served in WW2 under Patton and landed at Normandy shortly after D-Day. He loved this cruise.

FYI, if any of you want to call Grand Circle Travel it works well to call soon after the phone lines open at 9 am....