The Dylan

Netherlands
Europe

The Experience

This history-drenched boutique hotel is housed in a 17th-century complex that once contained the city’s first theater and is located alongside Amsterdam’s widest canal, the Keizersgracht (ideal for wintertime ice skating). The glinting water serves as a backdrop to this mod destination decked out in gold-leaf walls and blood-red leather chairs. Naturally, this attracts the smart and beautiful, clad in designer duds and skinny as their cigarettes. Escape the hullabaloo by heading to the nearby Rijksmuseum, Anne Frank House or Van Gogh museum.

The Rooms

Though the Dylan’s rooms are cramped, they’re hardly boring. The regular quarters start at 219 square feet, and come in three decorative styles: the candy-cane-colored “Klassbols,” the Middle Eastern-flavored “La Carmona” and “Kimono,” festooned with painted pottery and plenty of wood. More accommodating are the junior suites, especially the airy “Loft.” Exposed wood beams mix with linen room screens, potted orchids--and, in one loft, an old flagpole attached to a ceiling. Select rooms wisely, lest you be stuck with views of the courtyard instead of the canal.

The Service

The staff run hot and cold. They’ll let ashtrays overflow and dirty glasses linger, then bend over backwards should, say, you complain about your room’s strange odor. The 24-hour concierge always offers on-point recommendation to local spas or after-dark pursuits.

The Highlights

Since Amsterdam is a cycling city, the Dylan keeps a fleet of jet-black rental bikes at the ready. For less-athletic guests, the concierge will arrange low-impact aquatic pursuits like a private canal cruise with your very own captain. What about the fitness room? Forget that offsite afterthought. The hotel excels at food and drink. Behind the building awaits an iron-gated courtyard, beside which Amsterdam’s intelligentsia sipping well-crafted cocktails in Bar Barbou, as well as Vinkeles restaurant. Beamed ceilings mingle with bare-brick walls and dark-wood tables topped with Franco-North African eats.

 

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