Oud-Zuid, as it sleeps
The hotels of Oud-Zuid sit at the upper end of what the city offers. There are five-star properties along the Van Baerlestraat and around the P.C. Hooftstraat, converted villas with garden rooms, and elegant townhouse hotels on the quieter streets toward the Vondelpark. Rooms are generous, ceilings high and beds wide, which gives an oil session something the canal-house districts cannot: space to move around the bed instead of working from one side. The trade-off is formality. Many of these hotels keep a doorman or a concierge on duty all night, and the woman who visits dresses for that lobby, in clothes that would suit a late drink at the hotel bar. If your hotel sends visitors to reception before the lifts, let us know the name she should give. High windows here mostly look onto quiet residential streets, and the heavy curtains most rooms carry are enough to close the evening off entirely.