On the canals and in the quieter streets around them, the hotels worth knowing in Amsterdam, from a former courthouse on the Prinsengracht to an old music school a few steps from the Rijksmuseum.
The Herengracht House at Rosewood Amsterdam. Photo: Rosewood Hotels
Amsterdam's best hotels were nearly all something else first. A courthouse, a bank, a row of merchants' houses, a music school. The canal ring has kept its shape since the seventeenth century, and the city guards its old houses closely, so a hotel that moves into one inherits the staircase, the ceilings, and sometimes a garden, and the rooms take their shape from the houses and the history they sit in. These are the eight addresses worth knowing.
The former Palace of Justice stands right on the Prinsengracht, on the canal itself. It was a courthouse for more than 175 years and opened as Rosewood Amsterdam in May 2025, after a decade of work. Studio Piet Boon designed the interiors, and the 134 rooms and suites, which include five private houses, look either onto the canal or into the garden. Eeuwen, the all-day restaurant, sits off the courtyard with a short Mediterranean menu that follows the season. Advocatuur, the bar, distills its own jenever and serves exceptional cocktails. The Asaya spa is downstairs, with a pool, a sauna, and a steam room. More than a thousand works by Dutch artists hang through the building, and the five houses come with their own kitchens and a butler. It is the newest of the hotels on this list and the largest in scale, ideal for a stay built around the hotel itself as much as the city outside. Discover more of Rosewood Amsterdam.
Six canal palaces from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, joined behind their facades on the Golden Bend of the Herengracht, with a private garden behind them, something few hotels in the city have. The 93 rooms and suites keep their marble fireplaces, ceiling beams, and the original carved staircase, and the Vault Bar sits in the strongrooms of the bank that occupied the houses before. The Guerlain Spa has an indoor pool, a sauna and steam room, and three treatment rooms. Goldfinch, the brasserie, opens onto the garden, and the Peacock Lounge is the room for afternoon tea. The Mayor's Residence, a nine-bedroom house of 1665 beside the hotel, built for one of the city's mayors, comes with its own entrance and its own staff. This is the most formal and the most polished, the one to book for the classic grand-hotel stay. Discover more of Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam.
On the Amstel since 1896, where the medieval city wall once stood, with a red-brick front that has become part of the view from the river. The hotel has 107 rooms and suites and has been in the Heineken family since the 1950s. Freddy's Bar, the hotel bar, turns into a small jazz stage after dark, and 't Huys is a wing of suites each designed with a different creative partner. Flore has two Michelin stars, and Marie is the French brasserie on the Amstel, with a terrace on the water in summer. The spa below has a heated indoor pool, saunas, a jacuzzi, and treatment rooms. It is the oldest hotel on this list and the most central, an easy base for a first visit, with the Rembrandtplein and the flower market a few streets away. Discover more of De L'Europe.
The museum quarter's grand hotel, in a former bank from the turn of the last century that later became the city's music conservatory, with a glass atrium across the old courtyard that serves as the hotel's living room from breakfast until the last drink in the evenings. Mandarin Oriental took it over in January 2026, and the 129 rooms and suites are larger than most in Amsterdam, some of them over two floors. Taiko, the Japanese restaurant, serves omakase in the rooms where the conservatory taught percussion, and the Akasha spa below has a pool, a hot tub, a sauna, and a hammam. The Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh are across the square, and the Vondelpark is a few minutes' walk away. It is the closest of the eight to the museums, and has the largest spa of any hotel on this list. Discover more of Mandarin Oriental Conservatorium.
A suite at Mandarin Oriental Conservatorium. Photo: Mandarin Oriental
The Dylan Amsterdam
Behind a seventeenth-century gate on the Keizersgracht, once the entrance to the city's first stone theatre, built in 1638. The Dylan opened in 1999 with 41 rooms and suites around a courtyard, no two the same, and Loft Suites under the old roof beams. Vinkeles, in the old bakery, holds two Michelin stars, and OCCO, the bar and brasserie, is open from breakfast until midnight. The entrance opens onto the Nine Streets, the small shopping streets that cross the canals between the Singel and the Prinsengracht. It is the smallest hotel of the eight, with the feel of a private house, the shops just steps away and a two-star dinner downstairs.
A four-poster room at The Dylan, the windows onto the canal houses. Photo: The Dylan Amsterdam
Pulitzer Amsterdam
Twenty-five canal houses from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, stretching from the Prinsengracht back to the Keizersgracht, with gardens hidden away inside. The Pulitzer opened in 1970 and was redesigned by Jacu Strauss in 2016, with 225 rooms that follow the shape of each house, a set of Collector's Suites with their own front doors, and a 1909 saloon boat that leaves from the hotel's own dock. Jansz., the all-day restaurant, draws its menus from Dutch heritage, and Pulitzer's Bar is the Art Deco cocktail bar with armchairs around the fireplace. The Jordaan neighborhood begins across the bridge. It is the largest hotel on this list and the easiest to find a room in, with the boat and the gardens for slow afternoons.
The canal houses of the Pulitzer, seen from the inner gardens. Photo: Pulitzer Amsterdam
Pillows Maurits at the Park
A university building from 1908 on the edge of the Oosterpark, on the quieter east side of the city, which opened as a hotel in late 2022 after a restoration by Office Winhov with interiors by Studio Linse. The 88 rooms and suites look over the park or the Mauritskade. VanOost, the restaurant, serves tasting menus that move between Japanese and French cooking. There is a champagne terrace on the roof from May to September, and a small spa below with a private sauna. It is the furthest of the eight from the canals, a short ride from the city center, which suits a longer stay or a second visit.
VanOost at Pillows Maurits at the Park. Photo: Chantal Arnts
Carmen
Two rooms above a shop, in a pair of canal houses on the Keizersgracht from the middle of the seventeenth century, run by a couple whose family has owned the houses since 1980. The Big Room on the first floor and the Standard Room below share a reading room, a lounge with a fireplace and a record player, and the garden at the back. Breakfast comes from the kitchen downstairs, which serves the neighborhood lunch as well. It is a guesthouse rather than a hotel, the smallest address on this list, and with two rooms it books out, so write early. It is ideal for anyone who would rather live in a canal house for a few days than stay in a hotel.
From the Prinsengracht to the Oosterpark, these are the eight addresses worth knowing in Amsterdam.
Whether you'd rather stay at a grand hotel, a boutique stay or a private guesthouse, the eight on this list cover it. Rosewood, the Waldorf Astoria and De L'Europe are the grand hotels on the canals and the river. The Conservatorium brings the same scale to the museum quarter, and the Pulitzer spreads across twenty-five canal houses on the edge of the Jordaan. The Dylan and Pillows Maurits at the Park are smaller and quieter, and Carmen is the private guesthouse. Between them there is a room for every kind of visit.
