My girlfriend and I have just returned from a fantastic 2 night stay at the Bellevue Hotel. We stayed Thurs 27 July-Sat 29 July 2006. This was our first visit to Amsterdam and it took us quite a long time to choose our hotel. Tripadvisor made up our mind though and we decided on the Bellevue. We wanted somewhere central, reasonably priced and a nice hotel. The Bellevue delivered in every department.
We arrived in Amsterdam at around 11am on the Thursday morning. We exited Centraal Station and found the hotel extremely easy to find. Simply exit the station and turn right and the Bellevue is on the first street on your left. You can literally see it from Centraal station! The hotel looks very smart from the outside. It is situated on a busy street with plenty of tourists, cars, trams and of course, bikes! The door to let you into the hotel was controlled by reception staff so not just anyone could walk in, good safety. We were greeted by the lady at the desk and were quickly checked in. We were surprised to find that our room was ready for us and that we had been given a free upgrade to a superior room. Room 205. We were told breakfast times (7am-10am and 7:30am-10:30am at weekends). We headed off to our room on the second floor. We used our door card to gain access to the lift (again, good safety). What a lovely room. Quite spacious, lovely design. Mostly white with a feature wall. Flat screen tv with plenty of channels. Large windows with nets and block out curtains with a nice view onto the road and up to Centraal station and of St Nicolaaskerk. Two single beds together with comfortable mattresses and pillows. Ikea style table and chairs. Telephone. Very nice under lighting that set a nice mood to the room. Bedside cupboard for hanging clothes complete with hangers. Free safe. Three plug sockets. Bathroom was very nice also. Large mirror, trendy sink. Complimentary toiletries. Bath and shower but no shower screen but didn't really have a problem with a wet floor, just tilted the shower to the right and put a towel on the floor to stand on. WC and fresh towels. Hairdryer. Overall, the room was spotless, very well equipped and extremely well designed. The room also had good air conditioning which we had on all the time due to the baking heat! The room was also quiet considering the road below and a tram stop. This was due to a double glazed window and another single glazed window.
Breakfast at the hotel was taken in the small dining area on the ground floor (or could be taken in your room for a few euros extra). Again, very nice breakfast room. Breakfast was: Juices, hot drinks, cereals, Croissants, uncut bread, meats, cheeses, fruit, and a hot breakfast of: sausage, beans, bacon, boiled or scrambled eggs and of course to finish with, pancakes! We really enjoyed breakfasts and never had to wait for a table at around 8:30-9am although guests arriving later sometimes had to wait in the nearby lounge area.
The hotel has a Brasserij which always seemed to be very busy and appeared to do nice meals. Next door to that on the street corner is the oldest brown café in Amsterdam, this is a very nice place to stop for a drink and a people watch!
We loved our stay at the Bellevue. Everything was as we would want, very central but quiet rooms, reasonably priced, good breakfasts, safe and secure, very well decorated/furnished and good staff on hand.
It was perfect. We extremely recommend it and on our return to Amsterdam we will be returning to the Bellevue.