If you only visited Amsterdam as a student and retain little memory of the experience beyond those tasty space cakes and a lingering desire to live in a canal house, it’s time to return.
In 2024, a blockbuster Vermeer show at the national Rijksmuseum made the city’s renaissance an international conversation. Now, as a spectacular two-part exhibition of Anselm Kiefer’s billboard-size paintings arrives at both the Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, the city is booming (and blooming). The show runs through June 9, so if ever there were an excuse to organize a long weekend in the Low Countries, it’s now.
Where to start? At a charming, historic hotel in a quiet, stylish neighborhood that will not charge you $1,500 for a room or $18 for a cappuccino. That’s rarer than ever in Europe these days. The Pulitzer, where rates start at $500, occupies 25 canal houses dating to the 17th and 18th centuries in the Jordaan district, just two blocks south of the Anne Frank House. (The neighborhood, full of independent boutiques and alluring restaurants, is as pleasant to explore as Marylebone, in London, or Saint-Sulpice, in Paris.) Somehow it contains 225 cozy rooms and spacious suites, arranged higgledy-piggledy and connected by a peaceful courtyard, where someone always seems to be enjoying an Aperol spritz.
Created in 1970 by Peter Pulitzer, the grandson of Pulitzer Prize founder Joseph Pulitzer, it soon became the city’s first five-star hotel. Over the years, it has been expanded and updated to offer the services and amenities of a large hotel—without ever feeling like one.
Most recently, the designer Jacu Strauss mined Dutch art across the centuries to reimagine the layered, cheerful rooms—some of which have canal views—that make up the Pulitzer today. In the Flower Collector’s Suite, the walls are a mosaic of oil paintings, and fresh bouquets are delivered each day. But the more basic accommodations are just as pleasing, especially the snug singles on the top floor. There are Delft tiles, Persian rugs, and midcentury-modern chairs all over the place, but it’s not pure nostalgia. The apothecary-themed Pulitzer’s Bar serves surprisingly delicious cocktails inspired by fragrances from the Brooklyn-based perfumer D.S. & Durga. Don’t worry—they’re based on edible ingredients such as pistachio and grapefruit.
It’s easy to settle in and relax, but resist. Borrow a bicycle (around $15 for three hours) and brave the helmet-less cycling masses en route to the Museum Quarter.
The Van Gogh Museum juxtaposes Kiefer’s paintings with works by its namesake. Kiefer, who was born in 1945, won a study grant as an 18-year-old to travel through the Netherlands and France on the trail of Van Gogh. The experience was formative, and his notebooks, full of sketches, are among the show’s most memorable exhibits.
Then there’s the Rijksmuseum, which holds an embarrassment of riches, including Rembrandt’s The Night Watch and Vermeer’s The Milkmaid.
Amsterdam offers an exhausting amount of culture, so pace yourself by biking (or taking a 20-minute tram) to Restaurant de Kas. It was one of the world’s first farm-to-table affairs, and the dining room occupies a greenhouse that dates to 1967. Even those who avoid set menus won’t hate this one. At $50 for three courses—which on a recent visit included chilled beet soup, cockles in a broth of fresh herbs, and a citrus Pavlova—it’s tempting to order the cheese course for another $10. The same goes for a few glasses of bone-dry German Riesling.
Alternatively, stick closer to home. The roast chicken, braised lamb, and snap-pea salad at Jansz., the Pulitzer’s all-day restaurant, are so reliable that they draw a stylish set of locals, who contribute to the hotel’s lively vibe.
Compared to its fellow European capitals, Amsterdam’s shopping is resistible—with a few notable exceptions. Carmen, a guesthouse and café in the central Canal Belt neighborhood, stocks tempting clothing and accessories from independent designers such as Sophie Buhai, Baserange, and Eckhaus Latta.
Near the Pulitzer, Rika Studios is a tiny boutique that sells its own brand of Italian-made separates, including cashmere polos of an ideal softness and weight, while Love Stories, just across the Herengracht canal, specializes in intimates that skew a bit sporty. Who knew “Dutch lingerie” was a thing?
The writer was a guest of Pulitzer Amsterdam, where rates begin at $500 per night
Ashley Baker is a Deputy Editor at Air Mail