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• Hotels - Our Choice
  Our choice of Amsterdam's best character hotels.
• Hotels - Instant Booking
  Dozens of Amsterdam hotels, with instant online booking. Great for last minute availability.
  
• Essential Amsterdam
  Quick guide to Holland's capital.
  
• Amsterdam Feature
  Peter D. Clee gazes beyond the canals.
• Cheap Flights to Amsterdam
  From 59 pounds return (from UK)
  

Hotels
Our choice of Amsterdam's best character hotels.

As a tourist magnet, Amsterdam is stuffed full of accommodation of every category, from cheap beds on canal boats to the usual luxury international hotels. In between there's an often bewildering choice of well-run smaller hotels that offer great hospitality and an intimate atmosphere, one such being the Estherea, a hotel which features the bonus of views overlooking the picturesque Singel canal. Another canal-side hotel is the excellent Park Hotel, a luxury, centrally located establishment from where boats can be boarded.

Bilderberg Garden Hotel *****
Dijsselhofplantsoen, Amsterdam
This culinary hotel is firmly rooted in Amsterdam's culture of shopping and museums, combining a central location with the facilities you expect from a popular five-star hotel... (more)

Park Hotel ****
Stadhouderskade, Amsterdam
The Park Hotel offers guests a central, canal-side location with the facilities you expect from a popular four-star hotel... (more)

Victoria Hotel ****
Damrak, Amsterdam
Reputed to be the world's friendliest hotels, the Victoria belongs to the Park Plaza Hotels range but it isn't just the service that is first-rate. The facilities on offer are quite simply, out of this world. Whether you're on business or just want to relax, look no further than the Victoria. Be sure to investigate the hotel's Active Club, home to a heated swimming pool, solarium, fitness room, sauna and beauty parlour. Phew!... (more)

Bilderberg Hotel Jan Luyken ****
nr Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
In the centre, but in quiet surroundings, the Bilderberg Hotel Jan Luyken is a beautiful 19th century townhouse, recently taken over by the Bilderberg chain. Due to the size, the atmosphere is very cosy and personal.... (more)

Hotel die Port van Cleve ****
Nr Dam Square, Amsterdam
A hotel with an intriguing history, the Port van Cleve offers good, modern facilities, entertaining restaurants and bars and great location... (more)

Best Western Eden Hotel ***
Amstel, Amsterdam
Crafted out of a typically Amsterdam style building, right in the middle of the city, the Eden hotel represents great value for money. Now part of the... (more)

Best Western Eden Lancaster Hotel ***
Artis, Amsterdam
An elegant white stucco exterior fronts a hotel of quiet charm that is centrally located in what is known as the greenest district in town... (more)

Hotels - Instant Booking
Dozens of Amsterdam hotels, with instant online booking. Great for last minute availability. (more)

Essential Amsterdam
Quick guide to Holland's capital.

Introduction
For a city boasting such a wide variety of sights, sounds and experiences, from globally famous art through the global trade in diamonds and drugs to lurid sex, Amsterdam is a surprisingly peaceful city, exuding a brand of calm that arises perhaps from the renowned tolerance of its citizenry.

Top Sights
Luckily most of the major sights in Amsterdam are packed into a relatively small central area, within easy walking distance of each other. A popular place to start is the Centraal Station. South from there runs the Damrak, a bustling street which leads to the Dam, or Dam Square, where you'll find the Royal Palace, numerous bars and a variety of street performers. Just around the corner lies Rosse Buurt, the famous/notorious red light district with its eye-opening displays of in-yer-face sex. Carrying on south, there's a succession of pretty canals before Leidsetraat (the main shopping hub) and Leidseplein (a café laden square that is especially exciting at night) are reached. From Leidesplein, it's a stroll of only a few minutes to the museum quarter featuring the Rijksmuseum (especially good for Dutch Old Masters), Stadelijk Museum (Modern Art) and the Van Gogh Museum. Off our sight-packed north-south route, at the north end of Prinsengracht canal is the Anne Frankhuis, a poignant tribute to the young Jewish diarist who hid from the Nazis. One recent addtion to the range of attractions is the newMetropolis Science and Technology Centre, a science-is-fun type museum that, apart from anything else, boasts a great view over the city from its roof top.

Shopping
The busiest general shopping area is probably Leidsestraat and streets adjacent to it, while the premier department store is De Bijenkorf, found on Dam Square. For more specialised fare try the Rokin for traditional, expensive, diamond cutting-houses; the Bloemenmarkt (on the Singel canal) for flowers - yes, including those tulips from Amsterdam - and the Rokin for trendy craft hang outs and antiques shops.

Culture
Apart from the preponderance of museums and galleries, high culture is well represented in Amsterdam by the Concertgebouw, the home of an orchestra of world renown and the Muziektheater, where ballet and opera are staged. These two are essentially national status symbols and do not really get to the heart of Amsterdam culture. For that, all you have to do is walk - or ride - the streets and look out for style avant-gardists who like to adopt the latest (and oldest, for there are still plenty of hippies here) youth culture paraphernalia and give it a laid back twist.

Nightlife
Amsterdam is home to immigrants of many different cultures and benefits from the influx in terms of the range of cuisine on offer. Most notable is Indonesian, which has representatives all over town. Check out especially the signature rijsttafel, a lavish feast of seemingly endless spicy dishes. Traditional Dutch food is more mundane, but if it's hearty soups, raw herring or French fries with mayonnaise you're after, there is no better place. International style bars and pubs have emerged in recent years as a genuine challenger to the more earthy Dutch variety, though the latter are still in plentiful supply. Most common are the brown cafes - warm of atmosphere and basic in decoration - that apparently get their name from the tobacco fumes that have coloured their ceilings. Then there are the almost entirely misnamed coffee-shops, which are world famous as relaxed, and legal, venues where you can enjoy a toke on a cannabis joint.

Essential Info
Currency - The Guilder. There are about 2.50 US Dollars to the Guilder, a little less to the euro and around 3.60 guilders to the pound sterling.

Weather - Temperate climate with cold winters and warm/hot summers.

Airports
Schiphol (south of the city) There's a fast rail link (about half an hour) between the airport and Centraal Station. Taxis take a little longer and cost a lot more.

Flights to Amsterdam:
KLM (UK)
Skydeals (Thomson Travel Group, UK)

Useful Links

• Amsterdam City
  www.amsterdam.nl
  City of Amsterdam online. It has a reputation for hospitality, history and culture. A thriving flower market; old churches; canalside houses; cafés and terraces; old masters; street organs: it is difficult to be bored here.

• Atyourpace
  www.atyourpace.com/hotel.html
  Photo gallery, travelogues, cultural and practical information about Amsterdam, Holland, and Benelux.

• Bureau Monumentenzorg, Amsterdam
  www.bmz.amsterdam.nl
  A comprehensive introduction and history of Amsterdam, focusing on the city's historic buildings and sites. Detailed information on the architecture and on the preservation of historic buildings. Photos in this feature are by courtesy of BMZ.

• Netherlands Board Of Tourism (N.B.T.)
  www.visitholland.com
  The Netherlands Board of Tourism welcomes travelers from all over the world to their official Holland Site.

• Smokers Guide To Amsterdam
  www.smokersguide.com
  This website is for over 18s only. Provides all the info that you need to soft drugs. There is nothing illegal about it. Well at least when you are reading it on the net and having a bong in Holland.

• Visit Amsterdam.nl
  www.visitamsterdam.nl
  'The most complete guide to Amsterdam.' Travel guide; city guide; events guide, but also a smart guide which makes it a tailored city guide for every visito