golden age meets boutique luxe in the heart of amsterdam’s canal ring
They say nothing in life is perfect but after a stay last weekend at Amsterdam’s magnificent Canal House Hotel I get the feeling some things come pretty close.
Amsterdam is packed with hotels – from chain to boutique; affordable to high end – but if you’re looking for the ultimate hotel experience you’ll probably be dreaming of a a stay in a historic building; a picture perfect location on the canal ring and almost certainly a room with a view. Last weekend we were lucky enough to stay in the incredible Canal House and if your Amsterdam dream doesn’t look a lot like this I don’t know what does.
About the Canal House
The Canal House Hotel is part of a small group of delightfully named ‘A Curious Group of Hotels’ with four boutique properties located in Paris, London, Brighton and of course Amsterdam.
The 23 room Amsterdam outpost is located on the wonderful Keizersgracht, the grandest of Amsterdam’s three great seventeenth century canals in the Grachtengordel or canal ring and based in the Jordaan which is the city’s most beautiful neighbourhood, characterised by leafy alleyways, gorgeous boutiques and of course home to the iconic Anne Frank Huis.
The three buildings in which the hotel is housed are 17th century monuments and remain packed with original features. For those interested, the website gives a rich insight into the history of this special place
Our buildings, numbers 148 and 152 were the home to several merchants and their businesses in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, before being turned into a hotel in the 1950s, by an eccentric and flamboyant American hotelier who was an avid collector of Dutch art and knick-knacks which were proudly displayed on walls, shelves and every other flat surface in the buildings in a traditional Dutch fashion.
But this is no museum. Whilst there are echoes of the Dutch Golden Age, it is very much a luxurious modern boutique hotel.
Think of Vermeer, Rembrandt and Van Hals and you think of dark corners, rich materials and shafts of that extraordinary Dutch light. The Canal House evokes this perfectly with its fantastic use of soft black, copper and purple design touches; huge mirrors, dark oak floors and deep velvet fabrics; all designed to offset the light that floods through the windows. And alongside its narrow curling staircases and small dark spaces (so typically Amsterdam where there is a premium on every spare inch) you’ll find the astonishingly grand Great Room with its view of what it has been said is one of the largest gardens in Amsterdam.
An Amsterdam welcome
Marc and I were lucky enough to arrive on a sunny Friday in early March. After catching the train from Schipol Airport to Central Station we jumped onboard the tram and from there it was just a short walk to the hotel.
The welcome at reception ticked all the boxes. Warm, helpful and charming without being fussy or sycophantic. The area doubles up as a bar and the light in the adjacent front room is so perfect that it was tempting to settle down for a drink before even heading up to our room.
sweet dreams in a room with a view
But head up we did and wow, was it worth it. Our room really was the most perfect I’ve ever stayed in, in Amsterdam. Beautifully appointed with a huge window over the canal facing a row of stunning canal houses, a sumptuous bed, a lovely little sofa and a spacious bathroom with both a bath and shower. Indeed the bath is so perfectly placed that lying in it in the late afternoon with the bathroom door open I could slip under the bubbles and watch not only the shifting light reflecting off the canal and casting spectrums on our ceiling, but I somehow also managed to enjoy the Dutch winning the international speed skating which Marc was watching on the TV!
But its always the details the make hotel stays so special for me. The art in the room was breathtaking. I don’t know who the artist is or who curated the collection but they couldn’t have chosen anything better to bring the historic and modern theme together. And the small details stood out too – the personalised welcome note in our room; the Tony’s Chocolonely chocolates left for us at bed time; the wonderful old fashioned light switch/dimmers; the amazing Green and Spring bathroom products made from 100% natural botanicals (I hugely regret not buying a bottle of the bath and body wash when we left) and best of all the incredible smell of baking that wafted up the stairs in the morning.
the great room and garden
To get to breakfast we walked down the winding staircase outside our door (there’s a lift for when you have luggage with you or don’t fancy the stairs); round the corner of the kitchen – all gleaming modern stainless steel – and then out into the hotel centrepiece – the Great Room, overlooking the aforementioned garden.
breakfast of champions
To say breakfast was a lovely affair doesn’t come close to doing it justice. Again, whilst charming. discreet staff are on hand to help if required, everything is laid out for a self-service morning feast, accented with the most amazing lights, gorgeous historic features, perfect flowers and of course a view of that fabulous garden. If you’ve ever wondered what it must have been like being an distinguished guest of one of Amsterdam’s Golden Age merchants, this comes as close as I’ll ever get.
If my review is sounding a bit breathless at this point its because that’s how I felt about our stay. Looking out across to the classic canal house skyline from our bedroom window, seeing into other bedrooms lit up at night (a very Dutch thing where curtains are rare and the ‘gezellig’ scenes are often on full display) gave me a chance to dream of my one-day lottery win when I’d definitely opt to fall asleep and wake up to a view exactly like this every morning.
As you can tell we truly loved our stay. Strolling out in the late afternoon to our favourite nearby restaurant De Belhamel; dropping our shopping back after doing some serious damage in the nearby Nine Little Streets and of course our time in the hotel itself.
If you’re lucky enough to get to Amsterdam I urge you to consider staying in this amazing hotel. You only need to take a look at this blog post about My Perfect Amsterdam day to see how highly it features on my list of favourite Amsterdam experiences.
We are dreaming about coming back.
