The best budget hotels in central Amsterdam
An insider's guide to the best cheap hotels in central Amsterdam, including the top places to stay for comfortable rooms, canal views, buzzing restaurants and hip bars, in locations close to Jordaan, Rembrantplein and Waterlooplein.
All prices below are rates for double rooms, based on two people sharing. These prices are subject to change in high season and during popular holidays and events.
The former offices of De Volkskrant newspaper have been given vibrant and stylish new life as an affordable hotel, with a club, restaurant, and even artists-in-residence. The rooms are thoughtfully designed, seeming more spacious than they really are. A rooftop bar-restaurant offers adventurous new-Dutch cuisine. There a vibrant this-is-where-it’s-all-happening atmosphere, and constant coming and going, with something of the mood of a busy arts centre.
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A typical, narrow Amsterdam house with perilously steep stairs, modestly done up but with some eye-catching touches (unplastered walls of original centuries-old bricks, or maybe a brightly woven bed-throw). Beds are envelopingly soft, with top-mattresses, and bathrooms are (for Amsterdam) fair-sized. It is situated down a side street in the heart of the Canal District, just a hop from the Carré Theatre and the nightlife area of Rembrandtplein, about 10 minutes’ walk from the Rijksmuseum, and even less to the cafés and restaurants of De Pijp.
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A 17th-century canal-house hotel that has been run by the same family for over a century – time enough to hone an exceedingly friendly and helpful approach to service. The Brouwer occupies a spot on one of the main canals, right in the heart of town; it's convenient for nightlife, shopping, museums… pretty much anything you want to do in Amsterdam. The rooms are done up with classic Dutch taste and sobriety – white walls and bed linen, wooden floors, the odd piece of granny’s attic furniture. Each is named after a Dutch artist, with a relevant print on the walls, and all have canal views.
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A budget hotel with boutique style, and strong green credentials. Ecomama has a warm, welcoming atmosphere, delightfully imaginative design, good food, spot-on staff, a great central location in the heart of the Canal District, and is run with a creativity of thought that puts it in a category of its own. All the rooms are individually decorated, using material from the building’s previous incarnation as a large travel agency office: a bed made from breeze blocks, maybe, lots of raw concrete and different-coloured tiles.
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A converted 1960s office complex, the former headquarters of two Dutch newspapers, given new life as student accommodation and a hotel. Inside, the hard glass and concrete lines are brightened by street-art murals, cheerful banners, and pink, plum and turquoise sixties-style furniture. The atmosphere is relaxed yet busy; up-to-the-minute without being off-puttingly hip. In addition to a bar and restaurant there’s a large lobby lounge, with quieter work areas, a games area (pool, ping pong) with vending machines, a video booth with themed programmes and a gym.
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Two fin de siècle townhouses that have been done up in a tastefully domestic style. Some original features, such as the marble entrance hall, remain intact, though a downstairs lounge-cum-reception area gets a quietly contemporary touch, with chairs from Danish designers HAY. It sits in a well-heeled neighbourhood, behind Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, just 10 minutes’ walk from the main museums and the chic fashion quarter around P.C. Hooftstraat. The Dam (centre of town) is a 10-minute tram journey away.
