Amsterdam

Amsterdam is a city of canals, gabled merchant houses and an outstanding museum culture. Its Golden Age centre, design scene and quiet waterways create a capital of human scale, where luxury is expressed through discretion, culture and the pleasure of crossing the city by bicycle or boat.

Amsterdam’s centre was laid out in the Dutch Golden Age, when the city was the trading capital of the world. The concentric canals of the Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht, lined with gabled merchant houses, are inscribed by UNESCO; around them lie the Jordaan, the Nine Streets of small shops, the Royal Palace on the Dam and the Anne Frank House.

Museumplein gathers the Rijksmuseum, with Rembrandt’s Night Watch and Vermeer, the Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk, with the Concertgebouw at its end. Across the IJ, reached by free ferries, Amsterdam Noord has turned shipyards into studios and the EYE Film Museum. The city is compact, flat and best crossed by bicycle or by boat along the canals.

April and May are the most popular months: the bulb fields around Lisse and the Keukenhof are in flower, and on 27 April King’s Day turns the city orange, with boats packed onto the canals. Summer brings long light evenings, terraces on the water and the Grachtenfestival of classical music played on and beside the canals in August.

Autumn is mild and often wet, with the Amsterdam Dance Event in October and a full season at the Concertgebouw and the opera. In winter the Amsterdam Light Festival places illuminated works along the canals, best seen from a heated boat, and the museums are at their least crowded. The climate is maritime in every season: pack for rain.

Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam joins six canal palaces on the Herengracht; InterContinental Amstel Amsterdam has stood on the Amstel since 1867; De L’Europe Amsterdam overlooks the water where the Amstel meets the Rokin; Conservatorium Hotel occupies the former music conservatory by Museumplein; and Pulitzer Amsterdam links twenty-five canal houses between the Prinsengracht and the Keizersgracht.

LVXVRY books the Waldorf Astoria through Hilton for Luxury and the Amstel through IHG Destined — at the official hotel rate, with the privileges each programme attaches to the stay. For De L’Europe, the Conservatorium and the Pulitzer, LVXVRY advises on and arranges the stay. For April and King’s Day, early reservations are advisable.