Bed & Breakfasts in Amsterdam

Amsterdam Bed & BreakfastAmsterdam isn’t really a typical bed & breakfast city, but there are local variations of the B&B to be found here. If you are looking for something very similar to what you’d find in the English countryside you are probably going to be disappointed, however if you are looking for the Dutch, or more precisely the Amsterdam equivalent, then you should be fine.
Breakfast is almost always included anyway
One thing to be aware of first though, virtually every hotel in Amsterdam comes with a rather hearty breakfast included in the room price. The only exceptions are the absolute cheapest places (like most hostels) and curiously, also the most expensive 4 and 5-star hotels that cater primarily to business travelers. One result of this arrangement is there are almost no restaurants in Amsterdam that are open in the morning to serve breakfast. There are a handful of Dutch pancake restaurants, but pancakes here aren’t only relegated to the weekend breakfast table. They come in savory as well as sweet varieties and are served as lunch and dinner as well as breakfast.
Bed & breakfast alternatives in Amsterdam
The Amsterdam equivalent of a B&B is more likely going to be a room in a historic canal house, often with an en suite bathroom. They tend not to be the charming little bedrooms rooms rented out by a family you eat breakfast alongside at their table. The canal houses in the city center are usually dating back to the 16th or 17th centuries, although the interiors are almost always kept up to date and modern.
If you’ve never been in an older Amsterdam house you should be aware that the staircases are unbelievably steep to save floor space. It’s a novelty and photo opportunity for most people, but if you struggle at all with normal stairs these are likely to be much worse. It’s honestly more like climbing a ladder than it is walking up stairs. And since most of the canal houses are four stories high with no elevator, this can be a problem for some people.
The listings
If you are specifically looking for an Amsterdam B&B you’ll find them mixed in with the Amsterdam hotel listings. But you need to read the property description closely if you have your heart set on a certain type of experience. Even websites that advertise themselves as “Amsterdam bed and breakfast listings” will have different kinds of properties mixed in. As mentioned, nearly all hotels in Amsterdam come with a good breakfast included, so a few places purposely advertise themselves as B&Bs even though they are basically just regular hotels.
If you are looking for a romantic or special hotel experience in Amsterdam you’ve got a lot of choices, even if most of them aren’t traditional B&Bs. Obviously these places tend to cost more than the 1 and 2-star family-run hotels all over town, but the prices are often similar to rooms in sterile chain hotels. Amsterdam is a historic and unique city so booking yourself into a boutique canal house hotel should be an unforgettable experience, unlike booking yourself into yet another Marriott. Read the listings carefully and you’ll find exactly what you are looking for.