Hi all! I am working on the second part of our December 2025 trip to London and Amsterdam. We will be in Amsterdam for four nights after Christmas, departing on December 31.

I have looked at several charming hotels in the City Center, Jordaan and Nine Streets area: Ambassade Hotel, Radisson Blu City Center, The Nobleman, Hotel Estherea, and The Hoxton. I would love to find something in the $400 range vs the $500 range.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Also, are there any vacation rental companies for apartments in Amsterdam (I know that VRBO and AirBnb are not popular).

Thank you in advance!

I only visited once and stayed at Amsterdam Marriott hotel. I loved the location because it is right outside the crazy tourist traffic and yet so many things are within walking distance.

I would look at that area. It is perfect for tourists IMO. It is close to the wonderful Vondelpark (picnic or a cafe), walking distance to the 2 biggest museums and even the Jordaan, thought that is a bit of a walk but I love to walk everywhere I can in Europe.

It is also very convenient for public transit, to get to airport as well as the centre of the city.

Park Centraal is another option.

We enjoyed our stay Hotel l’Ambassade and highly recommend this canal side hotel created from vintage merchant homes.

Thanks both! Has anyone stayed at the Dikker and Thijs Hotel?

We had heard wonderful things about the Ambassade and Estherea but they were pushing our budget. We were also concerned that a hotel in the inner rings be would be noisy and the area crowded. So we chose Hotel No.JL76 by Vondelpark. Now it looks like it is under $300 a night for one of the larger rooms and they serve a wonderful breakfast for an additional fee. We loved the peaceful neighborhood feel and the closeness to the RIjksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum. It was close to a tram stop so getting around was vey easy. We were very pleased with the service and cleanliness, and they gave us some great nearby restaurant recommendations that were more of a local feel and reasonably priced.

Hi Coral22, Great to know about that neighborhood. I found a lovely hotel called De Ware Jacob but I was worried it was a bit out of the way and we love to walk. Is it walkable to the city center? Here is the hotel I found: https://dewarejacobhotel.com/

I don’t know the hotel, I stayed in the Museum area last year .
I found it rather quiet at night.
Amsterdam is very walkable and public transit is excellent.

Hi Irice,
That hotel looks wonderful but it might be pushing the distance a little. I am not familiar with that neighborhood, so I would check to see if there are some nearby casual restaurants and coffee shops so it is not too much of just a neighborhood location without many food options.

I can only imagine how beautiful the canals will be, lit up for the holidays! Enjoy!

The Estherea is my favorite hotel anywhere. I had the good fortune of staying there twice before their prices went sky high (by my budget). Just a lovely hotel. I stayed at the Dikker & Thies (sp?) around 10 years ago, and there was no comparison.

if you go to google maps and search on "rooms" and put a date in the search field the map of Amsterdam will light up with red dots.

Alternatively, look along tram lines to outer areas or commute from Haarlem

We used to stay in the Pillows Hotel on Vondelstraat, quiet but central location. This hotel is now called the Maison ELLE. I haven't stayed there since, but the property and rooms are lovely and prices have come down a lot from when it was the Pillows.

Thank you! I also was given Amsterdam Wiechmann Hotel as a place to stay. Does anyone know anything about it?

Coral22 and Danon, Yes, you are right -- I think the De Ware Jacob looks lovely, but a bit off the beaten path for me.

I have not stayed at Wiechmann but great location and looks good from the outside.

Why don' t you check on booking, Amsterdam hotels come and go and one person' s fond memory of 5 years ago might be in different hands or have disappeared altogether.

Anyway, I' m going to give my top tip, but book early, because the christmas holidays are a busy time in AMS and hotel prices will be extremely steep.

In Amsterdam: Pension Homeland https://www.pensionhomeland.com/en/hotel/, in a special and secluded location in the middle of the city. It' s an independent hotel, run by the family who also own the Bern restaurant on Nieuwmarkt (best cheese fondue in town, and their cotelette Suisse is the stuff of legend)

Or any hotel outside of Amsterdam. You might consider Haarlem, Leiden, The Hague or Utrecht. All within 45 minutes by train from Amsterdam and with very reasonable hotel prices, so you can either save money or upgrade.

It’s been awhile but liked the Hotel Pulitzer which should be in your price range. Decent location near Anne Frank house

Are you going to be spending all of your time in Amsterdam or are you going to be moving around and using it as a base. If you are moving around, I agree that Leiden would be a good choice.

My favorite hotel in Amsterdam (so far) is the Doubletree near the train station. I LOVED the location. I LOVED the gorgeous view from my room. I could watch the boat traffic and the light change on the buildings across the water for hours. And did. I did move to another hotel later in the trip. I really preferred the more central location with easy access to transportation.

I try to alternate between "corporate hotels" (Hiltons) and small "charming" places. This Hilton Doubletree is one of my favorite hotel experiences anywhere.

The view that I loved. I really loved my room and the rest of the hotel as well.

Room service after a busy day of sight-seeing. The food was very good. The view was too!

The Hotel Pulitzer is stunning! And I love the view from the Doubletree. I made a reservation at Hotel Esthera for now ... and will keep researching. Travel planning is half the fun of it for me!

"Travel planning is half the fun of it for me! "

Same for me!

I took some small group tours last year and REALLY missed the planning.

Estherea' s location is so super convenient for the Nine Streets area and to have access to the Jordaan. But it is busy around there, although not as bad as in the Wallen area (RLD)

Both the Hotel Ambassade and Hotel Estherea include breakfast, but the Ambassade is $100 less per night than Hotel Estherea. It's $150/night less if we don't include breakfast at Ambassade.

They are different from each other but both have so much charm.

Sigh ...