Hotels along the Wibautstraat, in the old newspaper offices of Amsterdam-Oost

The avenue was cut through the old working streets east of the Amstel in the twentieth century, and for decades it was the street of the press: the newsrooms and printing halls of several national papers stood along it. When the papers moved out, their buildings were taken over by hotels, studios, clubs and offices. One former newspaper building now holds a hotel with a club and a bar on its upper floors; another houses a large hotel for students and travellers. Around them the streets of Oost are residential and mixed, with the Oosterpark and its museum a short walk east.

What the rooms are like

Converted offices make for unusual hotels: long corridors, rooms carved out of former newsrooms, high windows and, often, a generous amount of floor. Most have lifts and desks that work through the night, partly because their bars keep late hours of their own. The avenue in front carries steady traffic, so a room facing the courtyard or a side street is the calmer choice for a session.

From the airport

The quick way in is the airport train to Centraal and the metro a few stops south-east to Weesperplein or Wibautstraat, both stations under the avenue itself. A taxi from the airport follows the ring road around the city and comes in from the south, missing the canal ring entirely, which helps at busy hours. Send the first message from the train or the taxi, with the hotel and a rough time you expect to be in the room.

A neighbourhood that stays up

Unlike the residential lanes of the canal ring, this part of Oost has bars, a club or two and late kitchens, many of them inside the hotels themselves. That suits a guest who lands in the evening and wants a drink before the session, and the desks here are used to visitors at any hour. She will be at the door forty to sixty minutes after the start is agreed; if the lifts need a card, the lobby is the meeting point.

A market morning after

A first night here leaves a short walk in the morning to the Dappermarkt, a long street market beyond the Oosterpark, with the park itself on the way. Guests who have flown overnight often prefer an evening session followed by a long sleep, then that walk. Erotic oil massage is a slow format that a large room suits, and paying in another currency on a first night answers a question many arrivals ask before the knock.