Guide · Schiphol · 2026-10-15
Hotels in Oud-West, from the old tram depot to the Overtoom
West of the Vondelpark and the outer canal, Oud-West is where Amsterdam lives rather than where it shows itself to visitors. A handful of hotels are scattered through its streets, and a first stay here feels more like a neighbourhood than a tour.
Oud-West was built in the late nineteenth century, quickly and densely, as the city spilled out beyond its canals. Its long streets of four-storey brick houses are lined with corner cafés, bakeries and small shops, and the Kinkerstraat and the Overtoom are its two main arteries. In the middle of the district, an old brick tram depot with a row of tall arched doors has been turned into a covered food hall, a cinema, a library, workshops and a hotel.
What the hotels are like
Apart from the hotel in the depot, the places to stay here are mostly small: family-run hotels on the Overtoom, guest rooms above shops and short-let flats in the residential blocks. Rooms are of modest size and the stairs in the older houses are steep, though the larger hotels have lifts. For a session the thread needs the full address, the floor and how the street door opens, because many of these buildings share one entrance with a column of bells beside it.
From the airport
A taxi from the airport reaches Oud-West quickly from the ring road on its western side, without crossing the centre. By public transport, the airport train to Centraal and a tram out along the Overtoom or the Kinkerstraat is simple enough, and so is the express bus to Leidseplein followed by a short tram ride west. Write from the train or the bus, and add the stop you are heading for if you are unsure how long the last stretch will take.
Neighbourhood evenings
Evenings in Oud-West are spent at the food hall, in the cinema, or at a table in one of the cafés on the side streets, and the district quietens early on weeknights. A session after dinner sits easily in that rhythm: write as you pay, walk home, and she will be at the door forty to sixty minutes after the start is agreed. Rooms facing the inner gardens at the back of the blocks are especially quiet.
Close to the park
The Vondelpark runs along the southern edge of the district, and a morning walk under its trees helps shake off the flight. Hotels along the Vondelpark describes the grander townhouses on its northern side, and nuru massage, which needs a shower close to the bed, is worth raising in the thread if you are in a flat with a small bathroom down the hall.