Hotels on the Apollolaan, in the quiet south between Oud-Zuid and Zuidas

The Apollobuurt was built between the two world wars in the expressive brick style known as the Amsterdam School, with sculpted corners, decorative bands of masonry and windows set at unexpected angles. The Apollolaan is its grand avenue, lined with trees and wide pavements. A large hotel stands where the avenue meets the water, with a terrace on a junction of canals, and smaller hotels are found along the Beethovenstraat and the side streets.

What the hotels are like

Rooms here are generous by the city's standards, with lifts, wide corridors and solid walls. The large hotel by the water has rooms with canal views; the smaller ones offer quiet streets and a more residential feel. Either suits a long session or a format that needs space, and the calm of the neighbourhood is part of the appeal.

From the airport

The train from the airport to Amsterdam Zuid is a short hop, and from the station a tram or a brief taxi ride brings you to the Apollolaan. A taxi straight from the airport is also quick, since the route avoids the old centre altogether. For a guest landing late, that makes this cluster simpler to reach than the canal ring.

Evenings in the south

The Beethovenstraat has restaurants and cafés that stay open into the evening, but the avenue itself is quiet after dark. A first evening might be dinner nearby, a walk along the canals around the big hotel, then the room. Send your message over coffee, and she will be with you forty to sixty minutes after the reply is accepted.

Corners, archways and finding the door

The brick blocks of this district were built as long, continuous walls around inner gardens, and their entrances are not always where a visitor expects them. A hotel may have its door on the side street rather than the avenue, or set back under an arch in the middle of a block. Give the street and the number in the thread, plus a word on whether the door is on the corner, and she will walk straight to it. Most hotels here keep a staffed desk into the night, so the lobby is usually where the evening begins.

Between the centre and the business district

The Apollolaan sits between Oud-Zuid and Zuidas, which suits a visitor whose trip mixes sightseeing with a meeting or two. Hotels by the Concertgebouw covers the musical end of Oud-Zuid just to the north, and the first-timer room guide compares this side of the city with the canals.