The charming exterior of The Hoxton Amsterdam, a boutique hotel located on the Herengracht Canal, one of Amsterdam’s three original canals.
One of the coolest and most unique hotels I’ve ever visited is The Hoxton Amsterdam, a charming boutique hotel located in a historic building along the Herengracht Canal, one of Amsterdam’s three original canals, and now a designated Unesco World Heritage Site.
One of several buzzy common areas at The Hoxton Amsterdam.
According to their website, The Hoxton Amsterdam is home to 111 rooms in a historic building that used to be home to the city’s mayor. It is located in a prime location near Amsterdam’s popular Little Nine Streets shopping district. The main floor features several comfortable seating areas where guests and locals alike meet for craft cocktails and casual dining.
The lobby bar at The Hoxton Amsterdam.
The lobby bar features original brick walls complimented by reclaimed wood floors, leather bar stools, faded Oriental rugs and an array of comfortable seating.
Bicycles abound at The Hoxton Amsterdam.
As you head upstairs to your room, you’ll walk through hallways lined with modern black subway tile and cheeky black and white enamel signage. There are bicycles everywhere in Amsterdam, and here is no exception.
A canal-side room at The Hoxton Amsterdam.
We opted for a canal-side room, which afforded us views of the Herengracht Canal. Our room featured beautiful dark wood floors laid in a classic herringbone pattern, as well as a comfortable bed with a leather upholstered headboard installed on a wood-paneled wall. Other furniture included a Mid-Century Modern sofa, a desk and chair, and a free-standing closet.
Roomy bathrooms featuring lots of hot water and house-branded toiletries.
Our roomy bathroom came with all the standard amenities, including fluffy towels, great-smelling toiletries and plenty of hot water. Every inch was perfectly on brand, from the logo-embossed hairdryer bags to the cute custom-made maps on the nightstand.
Every little thing is on-brand at The Hoxton Amsterdam.
The room’s low ceilings, coupled with the natural light streaming in from the large vintage windows, gave the impression of standing in the hull of an old luxury liner. It was a unique experience, far different from any hotel I’d ever visited.
Checking out the view of the canal.
One of the great things about the hotel is its close proximity to great locations, including the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, the Vondelpark and great shopping. There are also plenty of charming cafes nearby, like Pluk Amsterdam, Ree7 and Jansz.
I highly recommend this as an option if you plan to visit Amsterdam–even if you just stop by for cocktails.
Amsterdam is one of the coolest and most interesting destinations I’ve ever been. It was a unique blend of youthful irreverence and classic antiquity, and visiting there really made me feel as if I’d been transported to another time and place.
The exterior of our charming hotel, The Hoxton.
Upon arrival, we checked in to our hotel, The Hoxton, which was a really cool spot. It was definitely a hipster hangout. Our room offered a great view of the Herengracht Canal, one of the three original canals of Amsterdam, all of which have been classified a Unesco World Heritage Site.
Our lovely room at The Hoxton.
It featured dark hardwood floors laid in a herringbone pattern, with Mid-Century Modern furniture and a really pretty bathroom. The lobby area featured a restaurant and bar, with lots of common seating areas to relax.
One of several cool common areas at our hotel, The Hoxton.
Our central location was perfect, making it easy for us to walk to every destination we hoped to visit during our stay. Everywhere we turned, we were charmed by centuries-old buildings from Amsterdam’s Golden Age.
A typical scene along the canals.
After taking a stroll around our neighborhood, we got ready for dinner at The French Connection. We followed that with drinks at The Pulitzer Bar, which was located at what quickly became my favorite spot, The Pulitzer Hotel. It was very sophisticated and elegant, with an excellent bar, a really nice restaurant and beautiful common areas.
The sophisticated bar at The Pulitzer Hotel.
We started the next morning with a visit Rijksmuseum, where we had breakfast and viewed lots of Rembrandt, Vermeer and other Dutch masters. We walked to the adjacent Van Gogh Museum, featuring the world’s largest collection of Van Gogh’s art, plus a special exhibit of the French Belle Epoque, which included amazing posters advertising cafes, burlesques and more. I loved it!
Oh hey, Rembrandt.
After, we toured the gorgeous Vondelpark, Amsterdam’s most famous park. It was incredibly beautiful, and featured several acres of cultivated green spaces. It was also a great place for people-watching, with locals picnicking, bike riding and strolling.
The beautiful grounds of the Vondelpark.
We spent the afternoon touring two more museums. The first was the Museum Van Loon, a house museum previously owned by the family that started the Dutch East India Company. The interior has been perfectly preserved, and provides you with a unique view into the city’s past.
An interior shot of the Van Loon House Museum.
Next, we made our way to the nearby Hermitage Amsterdam, an outpost of Russia’s Hermitage Museum, where we viewed more Dutch masterworks, as well as a special exhibit about the fall of the Tsar of Russia.
Outside the Hermitage Amsterdam, located on the banks of the Amstel River, shown here in the background.
In the afternoon, we did a little shopping in the Nine Streets area, which was filled with cute little hipster boutiques full of clothing, original art and adorable cafes. We then stopped for fresh juice and matcha tea bread at Pluk, which was a real treat.
A view from the balcony at Pluk, the perfect spot for breakfast or an afternoon snack.
That evening, we walked around the city, including a stop in the Red Light District, which was busy and much tamer than I expected. Instead of dinner in a restaurant, we stopped by one of the city’s many cheese shops and purchased excellent aged Gouda, along with crackers, ginger jam and mini strop waffles, which were so good.
Breakfast at Ree7, one of countless adorable little cafes located throughout the city.
The next morning, we had tea and lemon poppyseed cake at Ree7, a cute Nine Streets cafe.
After, we had a canal-side picnic featuring amazing Lebanese wraps from The Lebanese Sajeria, which the chef prepared in front of us. Mine featured delicious spicy ground beef, hummus, cucumbers, tomatoes and mint. It was truly one of our best meals.
Awesome Lebanese wraps were perfect for eating during a canal-side picnic.
After lunch, we walked through the flower market, then took a canal cruise, which was too hot, crowded and touristy for our taste. I feel certain we would have enjoyed it much more if we had arranged for a private boat tour. We followed with dinner at Jansz, the beautiful restaurant inside The Pulitzer Hotel.
Dinner at the beautiful Jansz, the restaurant inside The Pulitzer Hotel.
On our final morning, we sat outside our hotel and watched the canal as we ate stroop waffles and drank tea. We toured the neighborhood one final time before heading to the airport to come home.
I ended up falling in love with Amsterdam, and it is now one of my husband’s favorite places. We can’t wait to return.
Have you been to Amsterdam? What were some of your favorite sites? I’d love to hear your recommendations.
One of the things I love about traveling to major cities is that it gives me an opportunity to visit world-class museums. I’ve had the good fortune to be able to tour some of the greats—the Musee du Louvre, the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to name a few—and I always look forward to discovering new gems.
A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to visit Amsterdam, and I was really impressed by the amazing art scene there. During our stay, we toured three very different art museums, each offering a unique setting and featuring incredible art.
We started with the Rijksmuseum, where we viewed Dutch Masterworks by Rembrandt van Rijn and Johannes Vermeer. The fact that I was viewing these paintings in Amsterdam, the city that played home to these great artists, made the experience even more special.
The Night Watch, one of Rembrandt’s most famous paintings, at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
After exiting the Rijksmuseum, we crossed a lovely courtyard to visit the adjacent Van Gogh Museum, home to the world’s largest collection of paintings by Vincent Van Gogh. This amazing collection was housed in a beautiful, modern space flooded with natural light. We were fortunate enough to visit during a special exhibit of original French Belle Epoque posters, which I loved.
In addition to an incredible collection of paintings by Van Gogh, the Van Gogh Museum featured a special exhibit of original French Belle Epoque posters.
Later in the day, we visited the Hermitage Amsterdam, an outpost of the Hermitage Museum in Russia. Located on the Amstel River, this museum afforded us the opportunity to view more Dutch masterworks, along with a special exhibit about the fall of the Tsar of Russia.
The portrait gallery at the Hermitage Amsterdam.
Later in the week, I visited the cute boutiques located in the Little Nine Streets, a shopping district near the three original canals of Amsterdam, all of which have been classified a Unesco World Heritage Site. While browsing, I noticed that many of the shops and cafes featured whimsical modern art and fresh graphic posters, a testament to this city’s abiding love of art and design.
I like to purchase postcards and small prints to commemorate my travels, and I found the perfect option at a clothing store called King Louie: a set of charming postcards featuring portraits of animals styled like 17thcentury Dutch merchants. I felt they were a whimsical, irreverent take on the classic Dutch Masterworks I’d seen earlier in the week—a perfect blend of the old Amsterdam and the new.
When I arrived home, I decided to create a small gallery wall in my living room featuring the postcards and a few other lovely prints I’d purchased as mementos.
A gallery wall in my home, featuring the charming postcards and small prints I purchased during our trip to Amsterdam. Gallery frames by Pottery Barn.
This is one of several gallery walls in my home, each featuring a different destination. I like to use simple black gallery frames with creamy-white mattes, and I often augment the framed prints with fun three-dimensional pieces that accent the art. In this case, I added papier mache bird heads from Cody Foster.
This is one of the focal points of our great room, and I think of our trip every time I walk past it.
Have you ever found a great piece of art during your travels? I’d love to hear about your finds.
The World at Home 