Hotel City Garden Amsterdam

Pros: Very agreeable front desk staff that checked us in at 12:30 instead of 2pm. Luggage room in case you get there before your check-in time. They even lent me their phone to call the car place. The bathroom is big and the toilet is next to the shower, no separate toilet jn our room, but that was fine. Really nice (free) cappuccino, expresso, latte, etc machine in the reception area. Cons: The price for the room 3 weeks in advance was US$ 220-230 when other who checked in when we arrived paid US$ 155. Wi-Fi is spotty at best; ours went down at least twice when we were there the first day. The shower had a built-in feature that had to be adjusted the whole time you took a shower, so as to not be too hot or too cold and the water pressure kept on decreasing, so you had to use both hot and cold nobs even more often. The hair dryer in our room was more of a blow dryer (cold air and very weak; it was not drying at all). One night, there were people shouting and running in the corridor outside our room and no-one intervened.

I stayed in room 217. The room, bedding and towels were very clean with towels replaced daily. It backed onto the Vondelpark so I looked out onto trees and hear birdsong rather than tram and traffic noise.The decor was a little tired and the bathroom was very small but the shower was good with plentiful hot water and I found it ideal as a solo traveller. Reception staff were helpful and informative. For a weekend trip to see the museums and quieter parts of Amsterdam it is ideally placed.