We rented the apartment for three nights to do a little Amsterdam sightseeing before moving on to business elsewhere in Europe. The unit was large -- my guess between 50 and 60 sq. m., with the bedroom at the entrance and the living space (including kitchen) behind. Cross-ventilation was superb, the neighborhood was very quiet, and the bed was enormous and comfortable, making for comfortable sleeping. The overall flavor of the apartment could be described as "1960s lived-in" (but very clean), with shelves stocked with an eclectic collection of books and DVDs, the kitchen stocked with all the necessary tools to prepare full meals, and the refrigerator stocked with fruit, cheese, and other items supplied by the very gracious proprietor to get you started. A large Albert Heijn supermarket was about a 5 minute walk away. Public transportation was easy, with tram 4 (to the central station) and tram 10 (looping around the canal) one street away. The two negatives were a tight circular staircase to reach the apartment on the second floor, which was tricky to navigate when carrying luggage. (No problem without luggage.) The other issue was that one has to step outside the apartment door into the little-used hallway to enter the WC/bath. We knew this in advance and brought along bathrobes, although it turned out that the owner supplied bathrobes for his guests. We never ran into another soul making the 2.5 m transit from the apartment to the WC.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
16 Jun 2014
We guess by now it's time for a little reaction on the steps to our apartment.
If you read some of the reviews on our apartment, you will see as well some people write about our steps. Whoever comes to visit Amsterdam should know Amsterdam is a beautiful and an old city. The houses in the city centre were 95% constructed (on wooden pillars) from the 16th century till about 1900. And all the land had to be reclaimed from the water. So all, indeed all, Amsterdam houses are relatively narrow, with not much space for the staircases, so foreigners call our steps steep. We, the Dutch, are not especially known as a very sportive or athletic people, though many of us up till our eighties walk up these stairs daily, with our daily shop!! Anyhow this will also explain to you and you all do wonder about this, why all the houses in the city centre have hooks just below the roof: these hooks serve for hoisting up our furniture up to the different floors, since the staircases are too narrow and too steep for this job!!! So if you come to Amsterdam and prefer a nice apartment to a empty hotel room be aware all, indeed all, Amsterdam houses have steep stairways. Anyhow, you all are welcome if we have the availability.
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC