Chapter Wanderlust: Amsterdam Central Bed and Breakfast

After a super long bus ride from Brussels I am finally in Amsterdam, it is a little bucketlist checked. I will not say that Amsterdam is high up on my list but everyone have been like Amsterdam this Amsterdam than. Oh yea you definitely have to go see Amsterdam! Now I can finally check this place out for myself. To share a little on the journey. It was my very first time taking the intereurope bus this time around. I went with Flixbus! It is one of the most famous companies in Europe. Pricing on its affordable, convenient and trustworthy ride. It connects many cities around europe. Comparing to trains sometimes it may be alot cheaper. It is actually only a 2 hours ride to Amsterdam from Brussels, after a sad goodbye with Chloe, off i go. First, it was a replacement bus, so no wifi! Yes Flixbus offers wifi onboard. Then the lucky me got a customs check, just by luck and random, where we were delayed about 30mins since the police came up and check one by one! I will share more on bus journeys in Europe in a separately post shortly! To cut things short, the whole journey took more than 3 hours, with the traffic and everything. After a couple mins train ride into the Amsterdam Central Station off I go in look for the Bed and Breakfast!

Seemingly, I had a hard time looking for an accommodation in Amsterdam, prices were expensive, lets not talk about hotel, but even airbnb were going for like close to 200 sing a night. Way out of my budget, while a decent hostel would be like 50 to 60 sing. Given the pampered me, I was like, so not worth for a hostel. I chance upon Amsterdam Central Bed and Breakfast, the price was high, but seems to be the decent and most affordable one. After some research and looking at the website, I decide to go for it. The best thing about this accommodation is the location, it was said to be a 5 mins walk from the central station and amsterdam is pretty compact with a strong legs or by bikes, if you were like to do it the local way. The rate that I paid was 115 Euros a night for a double room, around 185 SGD. You can paid in cash or card. I will share a little on my research, there are only two rooms in the bnb, known as The Lower Room and The Loft Room, beside that there is also a breakfast room, breakfast is actually included, which I will share more later. It is located in a historical or typical Amsterdam house! I guess living like the Dutch is checked for me! Some of the reviews that I read were the noise issues and also the steeps stairs, it created some conflicted views for me!

It is actually located super close to the station, but the dump me get lost in all the tiny little canals and roads and took me some time to find it. Another important fact that I have to point out is the entrance. It was so hard to find and google maps doesn’t bring you to the correct place, there are no signs or anything! Anyway this is always an issue with airbnb or bed and breakfast! But after the first time, you will definitely remember it! I used the chinese food restaurant and the doner joint as a mark to remember the door. The food is pretty good and affordable as well. If you ever choose to stay here, you can remember this restaurant! Look for the doner sign and the takeaway box as a clue, the door is right next to it.

I rang the bell and was buzz in. Wao! Amazing! The stairs are really really steep. It was really hard. Steep Stairs and low celling. Coming from Brussels, Amsterdam was so hot as well! Thankfully Gani came down and help me with one of my bags. Gani is actually the owner of the place, from what I can tell, he is not a local, but a student in Amsterdam, he just started doing this bed and breakfast business, he is nice and approachable. In fact he help me with directions and also lending me a adapter. Gani showed me around the place including the breakfast room and also gave me guidance of the keys. Basically you get two keys, one to the room and one to the main door downstairs.

The room was pretty huge. It was nice too. The bed was comfy and huge. Both the rooms inside have its own toilets and a queen size bed. There was no air conditioning in the room which makes me doubt how life would be like in the summer although in the dates that I was there, I am pretty fine with a fan. It was clean, huge and the bed was my liking. It isn’t too soft till it gave me a backach. The pillows was a pillow as well and not like some softie I used to encounter.

The toilet was small but good enough. I mean you can’t ask too much. My only concern is the basin as it was really small. Imagine the size of your laptop. It was smaller than that. It makes it pretty hard to wash things, which is really important for me to do my laundry given the length of my trip! At least one thing that I have to point out was the good water pressure in the bath! Recently I really had too much encounter with bad water pressure! A 5 mins shower could turn into 20 mins. I really hate low water pressure. Hotels and Bnb please stop being stingy with water supply by turning them down. There was a fridge, small dining table and tv as well. The room also had convenient outlets around, especially near the bed, since I love to use my phone in the bed.

The Lower Room was on the second floor and the Kitchen is on the third with the Loft Room above it. Gani also stays in the house with a room near the kitchen. He is always contactable and gives his number as well so you can always what’s app him. The place is really nice, especially The Kitchen, decked out in wood, the finishing was really classy.

The breakfast actually means the stuff that was provided in the fridge, you have eggs, cheese, ham, salami. Juices, Milk, Coffee and Tea was also available as well as all the different utensils,  pots, pans and spices……you are welcomed to use the kitchen to cook and you don’t have to wash the stuff. Gani will takes care of it even though you try to wash up. There isn’t really a time for breakfast since the stuffs are always in the fridge, you can have it any way you like it.

I really had a nice stay here, the wifi was strong and the bed is comfy. I even made my own breakfast and choose to cook my dinner once, The supermarket is 5 mins away and after it became one of my cheapest meal in Europe! I really didn’t have a issue with the noise since I was staying from Mon to Wed, so I guess there wasn’t any heavy partying going on. It is located near the Red Light District, but in Amsterdam, it is extremely safe here! Anyway, the windows are double layer, so I guess it filter out a huge bulk of the noise. If you are really afraid you can choose to go for the Loft Room, but I don’t think the climb is worth it. It is really steep! I struggle with my bags, but without it you just have to be careful! I will really recommend this place. It may be on of the cheapest one in town!

Hope you guys like this little sharing of mine! If you are ever in Amsterdam, you could give this a try. This is the website https://www.amsterdamcentralbedandbreakfast.nl/ next up, I am going to share on one of the highlights I had in Amsterdam, NAH IT IS NOT CANNABIS, but the Heineken Experience! Stay Tuned!