PRICE:
Frommer's Highly Recommended

Living it up at the Hotel Krasnapolsky is no great trick. The "Kras," as it's known locally, began as the graceful Wintertuin (Winter Garden) restaurant, founded in 1866 by a Polish tailor turned entrepreneur. Victorian ladies and gentlemen sipped wine and nibbled pancakes beneath the hanging plants and lofty skylight ceiling, where breakfast and lunch are now served. The Kras was Holland's first hotel to sport parquet floors, central heating, and electric lights. Since then, it has spread amoeba-like over four buildings, including one with a Japanese garden and another with a Dutch roof garden. The rooms' sizes and shapes vary considerably. Some are small, while others have been tastefully reconverted into individually decorated apartments. The state of the rooms varies, too, from worn to recently renovated. Since there are so many rooms, you'd do best to have a look at yours first and to retain an option to change if it's not suitable. The street alongside the hotel leads straight into the Red Light District, which may not be everyone's idea of the perfect route for a casual evening stroll.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Amsterdam, 15th Edition, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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