Hotel Okura Amsterdam

We had an amazing stay at The Okura Amsterdam! The hotel’s location in a quiet neighbourhood meant that we could enjoy the city’s vibrancy (easily accessible on foot or by tram) while avoiding the hustle and bustle, with the added bonus that the rooms offer breathtaking, sweeping views over the city and canals. The rooms are spacious, spotlessly clean and elegantly decorated, with notes and accents that remind you of Japan, including the washlet toilets. The staff are warm and friendly, making you feel welcome at all times. Breakfast was amazing as well, we really loved the section with traditional Japanese breakfast - the rice with pickles, miso soup, and the deliciously fragrant noodles were faithful representations and really reminded us of Japan. The hotel also has several restaurants and we had dinner at the Serre, which was fabulous. The set menu was great value and we could not praise the seasonal special, the white asparagus soup, enough - everything was perfect from the texture, the rich flavours of the star ingredient to the temperature. They also had items inspired and/or influenced by Japanese food, such as the tempura shrimp with okonomiyaki sauce, which offered some excitement. Our waitresses were kind and did an amazing job explaining the dishes too. This is the closest you’ll get to the Japanese omotenashi (hospitality) spirit without actually being in Japan. We had a phenomenal experience and memorable stay. Would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Amsterdam, but especially those that enjoy the high standards of Japanese hospitality.