Within walking distance of Amsterdam’s historical city centre and its canals, Mövenpick offers a glass cuboid with spectacular views over the city and the river IJ.
Only 20 minutes from Schiphol Airport and within walking distance of the Central Station, Mövenpick Amsterdam City Centre is a large hotel structure with 408 rooms is located surprisingly close of Amsterdam’s renowned Canals and main cultural hotspots. The new library district is virtually “across the street”.
Not surprisingly the generous hotel rooms offer one-of-a-kind views of the harbour and Amsterdam’s city centre.
I’m ashame to disclose the full city view here as I visited the hotel in February after a full-blown snow storm and Amsterdam was covered with snow. And I publish this only now in summer, hence the white photographs look weird… Sorry about that!
Anyway, I fortunately have enough inside takes ;-)
“Silk Road” Hotel Restaurant
The hotel restaurant is located on the 2nd floor with a great view of the river IJ. Nicely enough, dishes are prepared by the chefs in the open live cooking kitchen. The restaurant is open 7 days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
But mind you, you better be well awake before making your way to the breakfast buffet. The choice it offers can be overwhelming, in the positive sense… Even after beaming New Yorker restaurant manager Kevin showed me around I still kept discovering new coffee and tea stations along the way.
And by the way, how could this guy possibly know my hotel room number by heart by the second day already?!
Okay, fine, maybe not all 408 rooms qualify for the executive lounge (one of the little perks you get to enjoy being a travel blogger). It’s at the lounge that Kevin caught my room number in the first place. But still, Well done, man, I’m impressed!
The varied choice of breakfast müslis is clearly inspired by the hotel’s Swiss roots and you may as well start your day with a Swiss style rösti, their mashed potatoe tarts.
Since I was reviewing the hotel I returned to Silk restaurant again in the evening. Given the weather conditions I was glad I could stay inside despite a sunny yet cold day in the stiff wind.
Kevin’s young assistant Thabang Maneli oversaw the evening’s operations. Despite his young age he came across as all professional and he made sure everyone felt comfortable and at ease. Nice job, man!
The table decoration was very stylish and classy. Unusual long and elegant cutlery by German supplier Hepp Exclusiv made me indeed feel exclusive…
Both starters and the main dish were excellent, my US Black Angus was exactly according to my preference! Very yummy!
But even after a strenuous city walk and thorough ‘hotel and restaurant inspection’ you’re still not done. As an aspiring travel blogger you’ll also want to take to the hotel bar and see what the bar man has on display…
“Silk” Hotel Bar
As I always do I asked for a local beer and some typical snacks to go with that. What I got was a De Koninck. It will not make it to my top-3 all time favorites (a list I still have to compile and publish…) but it was very tasty.
The barman assured me that the most local he had were the Bitterballen but that they were not everone’s taste. After I insisted he came up with a small plate with finger food. The round Bitterballen are indeed peculiar but their not as bitter as their name would suggest. Give it a try!
Okay, you caught me, this was not after the Black Angus but on the second evening…
The local digestif I got to have with the Bitterballen was the Ketel 1 Jenever. Not sure whether I did the right thing but it went perfectly together with the beer…
Enjoy more views of this impressive hotel here!
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How to get there
Just for you not to struggle as much as I did at the train station: There is a train on track 14a leaving for the airport every 15 minutes. Get the $6 train ticket at the tellers and pay with credit card or debit direct.
And despite the hotel’s close location they still offer a shuttle transfer from and to the train station. Mind you, the shuttle leaves ‘behind’ the station on the river side and not on the city side!
Thanks a lot!
Many thanks to Dirje van Laar and all her helpful colleagues from Mövenpick Amsterdam for having me! They made sure “their” visiting travel blogger left all impressed ;-)
This visit was supported by Swiss online tour operator travel.ch
