Small hotels and guest rooms in the heart of the Jordaan

The Jordaan was built in the seventeenth century as a district for workers and craftspeople, its narrow canals and streets laid out along the lines of the old field ditches. It has since become a much-loved neighbourhood of galleries, cafés and hidden almshouse courtyards, but it remains a residential district first. Around the Noordermarkt, a church square that holds markets on Saturdays and Mondays, and along the Westerstraat and the Lindengracht, the streets are full of small shops and corner cafés.

What the rooms are like

Small hotels in the Jordaan typically have only a few rooms, often spread over several floors with steep stairs and no lift. Some are guest rooms run by the owner, with a key handed over in the afternoon and no desk in the evening. Houseboat rooms are moored on the canals at the edges of the district. In each case the thread is her only guide to the door, so it needs the full address, the floor and how to get in.

From the airport

From Centraal, a short tram ride to the Westermarkt or a walk west along the Haarlemmerstraat brings you to the edge of the district. Taxis can enter the Jordaan, but the streets are narrow and many are one-way, so being dropped at a corner is often quicker. With a small bag, the walk through the lanes is part of the pleasure of arriving.

A quiet neighbourhood at night

The old brown cafés stay open into the evening, but the district goes quiet around them. Rooms on the canals or the side streets are calm, and the walls of the older houses are thin enough that a lower voice is a kindness to the neighbours. Several therapists on the roster live in or near the Jordaan, and the forty to sixty minutes apply here as everywhere in the centre.

Houseboats and guest rooms

A room on a houseboat is its own experience: the gentle movement, the water beside the window, the compact space. For a session the space is the thing to mention, since some houseboat rooms are narrow. Erotic oil massage needs only a bed and warmth, and the FAQ covers the questions first-time visitors usually ask before a booking.