Amsterdam hotels and Day trips
 

Looking for a ** hotel/$50 to $75 near a canal in the old city center. Any recommendations Hotel Brouwer is fully booked and the Hotel Kup is likewise, I believe.

Is Brussels/Brugge a good continuation of a trip, say, April 13 to 16 in Amsterdam and then 16 to 18 in Brugge (with a likewise hotel recommendation on a canal, also)?

Or, does anyone have a better recommendation? I've never been to either. Thanks.

www.amsterdamhotspots.nl is a helpful website. i found Hotel Kap thru it and stayed there my first trip (too bad it's booked because it's a nice place good location and in your budget).

I have seen this hotel but not stayed in it; someone posted here recently in very favorable terms about it. It is one block off the Amstel, across from a small canal:
http://www.hoteldemunck.com/

Another inexpensive option might be:
http://www.hotelhoksbergen.nl/
near the Singel.

This hotel has been favorably mentioned, especially as being "clean" and is near the museum area:
http://www.acro-hotel.nl/index2.php

Brugge is a very beatiful small town and you should definitely go for it. Take the train from Brussels (an hour). At the train station in Brugge, catch the bus to the Markt. You can walk pretty much everywhere in Brugge. I just got back from there and stayed at the Ridderstraat 9, a B&B. My room was 55Euro/night and included a wonderful breakfast. See previous posts on Brugge. You have to go find Dumon chocolates (some locals don't know about it). A delightful restaurant that is popular with the locals is De Bottelier (situated away from the main market in a residential area). Try the goat cheese-sun dried tomatoes Lasagna there...yummy!! Be careful about buying Lace in Brugge. Only the handmade real expensive stuff is made in Belgium. The cheap tablecloths (though pretty) are not the local lace products. I also bought a beautiful and rather large tapestry. Make sure you get a tax refund form from the store if you spend a lot of Euros on lace or tapestries.

Princess - sorry, I can't help with recommendations for hotels in Amsterdam - we stayed at the Marriott which is outside your stated budget. We just returned from a 6 night stay, with 5 nights in Amsterdam and 1 night in Bruge. Bruge is about a 3.5 hour train ride from Amsterdam and is well worth the visit! It's a beautiful little city and is like stepping back in time. I second the recommendation to find the Dumon chocolates - some of the best I personally have ever tasted! We stayed at the Hotel Luca in Bruge - which was a very quaint older hotel, which serves breakfast each morning in their 14th Century cellar. This hotel ran $75 Euros for two twin beds pushed together, and a shower/toilet (not all rooms have their own). I would've loved to spend another day in Bruge, just casually walking around, but I also felt that 5 nights in Amsterdam was not enough!

I will be in AMS the first week of May. Can Bruge be visited in a day trip? via train?