We're planning on being based in Amsterdam for 5 1/2 days in the middle of July.

We've been to Amsterdam twice but it's been quite a while. I remember the layout but not which are the hotel areas to avoid and which are more desirable.

Right now the plan is to alternate staying in/near Amsterdam with three day trips by train. So we'd like reasonable access (trolley would be fine) to the train station.

I see that hotels in Amsterdam are quite expensive. The choice is to up the budget or get aggravated and then up the budget.

So we'd like area recommendations (where to stay and where to avoid) as well as hotels.

Thanks.

What's the budget?

Why not stay in Haarlem or Utrecht? Or Leiden? Both Haarlem and Leiden have very good connections to Schiphol.

Don't know when you were last in Amsterdam, but tourism has exploded over the last 4. Hence the steep hotel prices. Haarlem et al have more normal prices.

We liked the Hotel Residence le Coin. Rooms are spacious and have kitchenettes.
https://www.lecoin.nl/en

Great location for walking, with restaurants, cafes and markets nearby, close to the elegant Hotel L'Europe https://www.deleurope.com

I suggest you find a way to stay in Amsterdam itself, as it's a wonderful walking city at all hours.

I have stayed several times in The Jordan / canal ring area - The Canal House? yes Amsterdam hotel prices are on the high side. Might find something more reasaonable down by Vondel park and there would be decent connection to the train station. Last time we stayed very close to the train station as we were about to start a cruise - never again - waaaay too busy.

Mind though, that although Le Coin has an elevator, there are steps to negotiate on most floors, as the hotel is housed in a number of interconnected properties.

>>I see that hotels in Amsterdam are quite expensive. The choice is to up the budget or get aggravated and then up the budget.<<

S o o o o . . . What IS the budget (either the original number or the 'upped' one?. There are a couple of properties I can recommend but I have no idea what you are willing to spend . . .

We have every intention of staying in Amsterdam. We like to wander around and I'm an amateur photographer.

The first time we were in Amsterdam was many years ago. Approximately 33 years ago. I was there to attend a conference. The area we stayed in was very quiet and I suspect we were somewhere out in the suburbs.

The second time was in 2006. We stayed very close to Anne Frank House.

I think I was under the impression that any hotel on the inner ring or to the south east area is not very desirable. I don't know where I got this idea. Maybe it's correct.

At first I thought we'ed keep our hotel under 250E. Now I'm aiming under 300E.

Hotel prices in Amsterdam is are a little shocking. To think we stayed at the Avenida Palace in Lisbon for 210E. And that's a true 5 Star hotel.

Different place and different time.

Two of the hotels I'm considering are the NH Collection Doelen and NH City Centre

The Hotel V Nesplein should be within your €250 budget. Very central, large rooms, nice bar/restaurant. https://hotelvnesplein.nl

I've stayed in Haarlem several times - just a short rail hop and cheaper hotels and if doing train for 3 day rips Haarlem is a rail hub - several nice hotels near station on the huge town square. Amsterdam has some other train stations like RAI and WTC - a few miles south of central Amsterdam - if you get a hotel in the Museum area - you could take a tram and in 15 minutes be at Central Station or several commuter stations.

Although Nes itself is nice, as a place to stay, you'll be right in the middle of "overtourism" Amsterdam.
HotelV is great though and Nes itself has the wonderful Kapitein Zeppos!


Don't tell anyone I told you.

Menachem, Could you please explain the above video.
= = = = = = = =

Let me clarify about budget.

While I originally thought a budget of 250E was reasonable, I then raised it to 300 as I saw how expensive hotels are in Amsterdam.

We've never been to a place or area we were sorry about staying in due to the number of tourists. To the contrary, things are rarely perfect. So I'd probably rather be in an area with too many people than one that is deserted.

Let me mention a few other things. On the day we leave Amsterdam, we would like to check out and have our luggage stored until the evening when we depart. This could be as late as 9PM. So we'd like a hotel that will store our luggage.

Also, we find that many "nice" hotels offer very little storage for clothing. We prefer not to live out of our suitcases. So a place to hang clothes and drawers is also a desired feature.

Having said that, our list of potential hotels is growing somewhat.
NH City Center
NH Collection Doelen
Hotel V Nesplein
Hotel Estherea

Comments on the above as to location and hotel would be much appreciated. Thanks.

It's people going ooh and aah over Kapitein Zeppos. You'll have to look for it, as it's behind Nes in an alley called Gebed Zonder End (Prayer without end)

My preference would be Hotel V on Nes, or Doelen. That now has a passable Indonesian restaurant on premise, and it's got a great location, just on the edge of Kloveniersburgwal and Staalstraat. Also check out booking.com. Whether there'll be rackspace for clothing is a gamble of course.
One drawback to Nes/Nwe Doelenstraat as a location is that the next good supermarket (Albert Heijn) is on Jodenbreestraat.
Use google streetview to "walk" through the area.

Menachem,
I'm having a little trouble figuring out what you wrote.

Are the two hotel you are recommending the Hotel V Nesplein and the NH Collection Doelen.

A supermarket may or may not be important but there's an AH very close on Reguliersbreestraat. Google maps has it a 4 minute walk from the NH Doelen.

The NH is a 15 minute walk to the train station. Is there a convenient trolley? Or other?

Reguliersbree is not a full Albert Heyn, but an AH to go with limited items (snacks, ready made sandwiches, small bottles of soda etc). The AH's on Koningsplein or Jodenbree are full-fledget supermarkets.

Both Hotel V and Doelen share a metro stop: Rokin: take the #52 metro to Zuid/WTC from Central Station. Also tramlines 4, 16, 24 stop nearby, at Spui.

I don't think that a full supermarket is really a requirement for us.

I wanted to email the NH Doelen hotel but the only email address I could find is corporate. So I tried them and we'll see if I get a reply.

take the #52 metro to Zuid/WTC from Central >

to clarify - take that metro line in the direction of Zuid/WTC not to it

But if you want to take trains in many directions you can take the metro to Zuid/WTC station and catch trains there for connections to all over The Netherlands without enduring the often hectic nature of Centraal Station and may be about as quick.

Menachem no doubt meant in the direction of and thank Fodor's god for him and his awesome wealth of info on Amsterdam the Netherlands in general. Heck he's even an expert on coffeeshops! Dank u very wel!

PalenQ,
We keep meeting on my two threads for this trip. Thanks.

If Menachem is an expert on coffee shops then maybe he can fill in. We don't usually eat breakfast in our hotel as we like to try different places. And since we eat very little for lunch that only really leaves dinners. Also, when we go on a day trip starting in the morning, we may pick something up on the way to the train and eat on the train.

I will look into using alternative train stations. That's good info.

Maybe some other Menachim questions. We're looking at a few day trips from Amsterdam. Any opinions would be very much appreciated.

Though not in Netherlands Ghent is high on the list of possibilities (we've been to Brugges twice over the years. Went there for an overnight last year. We loved it). Also possibilities are Rotterdam and Utrecht.

With possibly 3 day trips we'll still have about 2 1/2 days in Amsterdam ( the half day is the day we arrive from Mainz) (we've been there twice over the years but not recently). Is a few hours in Zaanse Shans worth the effort?

You don't want breakfast in the coffee shops Pal is referring to, unless you enjoy "herbal" brownies .
You want a café.
Rotterdam and Utrecht are worth it, though the Dom is in scaffolding at the moment. Imho Zaanse Schans isn't. Maybe go a bit further and visit Enkhuizen and the Zuiderzee Museum instead.

hetismij2,
What was I thinking. Yes, this is Amsterdam!!!