Tucked Behind A Leafy Facade in Amsterdam’s Stylish Museum Quarter – Just Steps from the Rijksmuseum and Around the Corner from What can only be described as the dutch answeer to bond Street – Sits a Hotel that had me at hello. Or Rather, Had Me at Fringed Lampshade.
Jan Luyken Amsterdam IsnT Your Average City Bolthole. No Cold Minimalism or Soulless Corridors here. Instead, Think Rich-Heed Walls, Art You’d Happy Take Home (If only them’d Let You) And the Kind of the Hospitality that make you feel more like a vising Friend than a booking refrigement. Within Minutes of Arriving, I was Googling “How to Move INTO A Boutique Hotel Permanently.”
Spoiler: Still No Solid Answeress.
But what really sets this place Apart is it quietly confentent cham-that ever-welusive BLEND of Relaxed Luxury, Creative, and Meticulous Attention to Detail. And yes, there’s a smeg-filled kitchen, a leafy garden terrace, and a gym that actually make you Want To work out (almost).
Becca Monaghan
Not A Hotel, a House (Sort of)
I KNEW This Wasnt Going to Be a TyPical Hotel Sty the Moment I Stepped Through The Door. There was no frating desk, no formal Check-in Zone-Just a Warm Helo from A Young Woman Sitting at a Granite Kitchen Island with iPad and A Latte. Within Minutes, She’d Explained the “Home Away from Home” Concept and Handed Over My Room Key. It was Seamless, Low -Ky, and Honstly A Little Disarming in the Best Possible Way.
At First, It Took a Second to Adjust – No Lobby Bustle, No Background Music Too hard. Just an air, open space that fet like I was going to stay with a rich auntie for the weekend.
Becca Monaghan
But what real money The team at Jan Luyken Amsterdam Are Some of the Best I’ve Encounc – Warm, Funny, and Genuinely Interests in Who You are Beyond Your Booking Reference Reference. One EVINing, I Found Myelf Swapping Netflix Recommendations with One of the Hosts; Another Time, They Scribbled Download their Favourite Local Gems (Shout Out Waterloooplein Market, Highly Recomment).
This wasn’t a place where staff hover or overstep. They Float-in and out, on-hand if you need them, invisible if you don’t. And by the end of my Stay, they feet more like Housemates You have to really like a few people paid to be thre.
The Social Kitchen
The Kitchen at Jan Luyken Amsterdam Quietly Became the backdrop to my entire Stay. Not in a big, dramatic way-it’s not showy or pretentious, and there’s no slick restaurant or buttoneed-up room Service. But thre was always.
MOST MORNINGS, I WAS Up Early, Mug of English Breakfast Tea in Hand Before 7Am, Sipping on the Terrace. A couple of guests was already up and work out in the Gym Next to Me (Braver Souls Than I).
While Inside the Kitchen, The First Signs of Breakfast Were App was: Acai Bowls, Yoghurs, and the Kind of Pastries that Crumble Just by Looking at them. A Friendly “Good Morning” from an American guest as they Wandred Past Remded Me that Yes, Technically, I wasn’t alone – but it still Felt Like My Own Little Mourning Ritual.
Becca Monaghan
Through People Off Come to Aamsterdam with Certain Clichés in Mind, but Honestly, It’s a food city thrive and thrug. And that existence to Jan Luyken Amsterdam. The Fridge and Pantry Never Seemed to Run Out of Goods – and if you did something language more, the Local delivery Scene was Strong (Uber Eats and I BECAME Reacquained, no shame).
Eventings When the Kitchen Shifted En Something A Little More Social. Someone would be Curled up in the corner reading; A couple would be playing cars on the table; And Small Clusters of Guests Swapd Stories Over Wine and Plates of Meats and Cheese. The Bar is Entelyly Self-Serve and Fully Open-AS In, Help yourelf to Wine, Beer, Spirits, Or, As Mentioned and in My Case, A Frankly Indecent Amount of Pepsi.
IT ReMINDE Me of A Dinner Party where you don’t know anyone when you Arrive, but end up staying to look becuse it’s just just That Easy to be there.
BEDROOOOMS That Don’t Feel Like them Belong to A Chain
The first Thing I Notic when I opened the door to my room was the Arched Window. HUGE, Elegant, and Beaming with Natural Light, It Framed A Quiet, Leafy Street Below when Locals Passed by on their Morning Communes. There was the same.
Becca Monaghan
I stayed in a Medium room, though the back It’s refelt comically Large – you count comfortably Fit Three people across it, not that I sharing. It was one of Those Dangerously Cosy SETUPS that Make You Briefly Consider when you actually Need To leave the hotel at all.
Design- Wise, There is Touches of Art Deco that Felt More Playful Than PRETINOUS-The Standout Being A Red Retro House Phone that Took Me Righ Back to Childhood, When Phones Had Cords and Purpose. The lighting was soft and la yayred, with no harsh overheads, Just Enough to make the While Room Feel Like a Ve Well-THOUGHT-Out MOOD.
Becca Monaghan
I Slept Better. No Blinking Lights Outside, No Hallway Noise, Just the Odd Distant Sound from the Street – Bikes, Birds, The Soft Clatter of Morning Routines Happy Ellenhere.
Exploring The Neighbourhood (and Taking Sunscreen from a Machine)
One Thing About Amsterdam … It’s Hit the Nail on the Wellness Head.
With a Location So Prime, I Wandrered Across to the Vondelpark (a ten-minute walk away, if that) when I spotted a vending maker Giveing out free la Roch-Posay Sunscreen-A Small But Genius Touch.
Becca Monaghan
Everything is Walking Distance, and if you know amsteram, you’ll know it’s probably best to leve heels at home and Opt for the Comfiest Traainers You Own.
Between Lazy Museum Morns and Slow Strolls Past Design Shops and Galleries, I KEPT CIRCLING BACK to the Hotel – Partly Because It Was Center, But Mostly Beccause I Genuinely Liked Being there. It fet like a base in the recess sente, not just somewhere to store your life Luggage and Crash.
Who’s it for?
Honestly? Pretty Much everyone. I Saw Couples, Solo Travellers, Friends, and Even A Husky and a Sausage Dog Having A Fabulous Time.
And who it’s not a hotel for Those Looking to Be Waired on Hand and Foot While Ordering Room Service (There’s None), It is Absolutly for Anyone Who Wants to Feel Subtly, Stylishly Loged after – While also being left to do their owl you thing.
By the end of my stay, I wasnt just Relaxed. I was Borderline Plotting How To Stay longer. If not forever, then at least unten I’d working my way thrive every snack on Offer.
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