Hotel Okura stands on the water at the southern edge of De Pijp, a 23-storey tower that has been one of the landmarks of the Amsterdam skyline since 1971. It is a different starting point from the canal ring hotels, and a good one: the finest Amsterdam School housing in the city is seven minutes away, the Albert Cuyp market fourteen and the Rijksmuseum under a quarter of an hour by car. Walks begin at the hotel entrance, and for the centre and the countryside we bring a car.
The Okura was the Okura group’s first hotel outside Japan. It was designed by the Dutch architects Bernard Bijvoet and Gerard Holt with the Japanese architects Yoshiro Taniguchi and Yozo Shibata, rises 78 metres over 23 floors, and on completion was the second tallest building in Amsterdam. Prince Claus opened it on 24 September 1971.
Two weeks later, on 9 October 1971, Emperor Hirohito and Empress Nagako of Japan visited the hotel during their state visit to the Netherlands. Few buildings in Amsterdam tell the story of the post-war relationship between the two countries as directly.
The hotel describes itself as five-star superior, and it counts three Michelin stars under one roof: two for Ciel Bleu on the 23rd floor and one for Yamazato, which in 2002 became the first traditional kaiseki restaurant outside Japan to win a star.
Seven minutes from the hotel, around the Pieter Lodewijk Takstraat, is De Dageraad, the Dawn. Michel de Klerk and Piet Kramer designed it in the early 1920s for a socialist housing association, as part of Berlage’s Plan Zuid, and it is one of the high points of the Amsterdam School: brick that curves and rolls like fabric, tiled roofs that sweep down the corners, and sculpture by John Rädecker. It is a place of pilgrimage for architecture lovers, yet most visitors to Amsterdam never find it.
Walk on and you reach the Sarphatipark, laid out in the 1880s and named after Samuel Sarphati, the doctor and city reformer who also founded the Amstel Hotel. During the occupation the Germans renamed the park because Sarphati was Jewish. His name came back in 1945, and the monument in the middle calls him the founder of the new Amsterdam.
Dam Square is more than forty minutes on foot, so for the old centre we use the tram or a car.
These are the places our guides work into a morning on foot. The Private Dutch Food Tour, Eat Like a Local and the Private Architecture Tour Amsterdam both take them in, and the six tours further down cover the rest of the city.
Six more we suggest from the Okura. The Van Gogh tour is ten minutes away by car and pairs well with the Rijksmuseum, while the Anne Frank and Jewish history tour and City Highlights take you north into the canal ring. Brews and T’Ales is a natural fit for De Pijp. Guide for a Day keeps the plan loose, and Zaanse Schans is an easy windmill day by car.
Private Van Gogh Museum TourFrom 325 euroView this tour
Private Anne Frank and Jewish History Walking TourFrom 515 euroView this tour
Amsterdam City Highlights Private TourFrom 400 euroView this tour
Brews and T’Ales, Private Craft Beer TourFrom 500 euroView this tour
Guide for a DayFrom 1,000 euroView this tour
Private Zaanse Schans Windmill and Dutch Villages TourFrom 1,100 euroView this tourSee all our private tours from Amsterdam about Private Tours Amsterdam
The Okura is close to the A10 ring road, so day trips start faster here than almost anywhere in the city. Your guide collects you at the entrance and you are out of Amsterdam in minutes, bound for Zaanse Schans, Keukenhof in spring, Delft and The Hague, Utrecht or the windmills of Kinderdijk. Everything is on our private driving tours page.
We confirm the pick-up time with you personally the evening before.
Many Okura guests are in Amsterdam for business with a free morning or afternoon, and we plan for exactly that: tours that fit around meetings, a written plan in advance and a car when time is short. You deal with one person on our side throughout, and we speak to your clients ourselves before each tour. Commission terms are on our travel advisor page.
The concierge desk can also book with us on a guest’s behalf.
Yes. Walks start at the hotel entrance on the Ferdinand Bolstraat, and for driving tours the car collects you there. We confirm the exact time with you the evening before.
Very much so. We can shape our Dutch food tour around De Pijp and the Albert Cuyp market fourteen minutes away, and the Amsterdam School streets near the hotel are among the best in the city.
About twenty-four minutes on foot or thirteen by car. Our private Rijksmuseum tour can include the transfer from the hotel.
Yes. De Dageraad by Michel de Klerk and Piet Kramer is seven minutes away, and our architecture tour can be built around Plan Zuid and the streets of De Pijp.
Yes. The Okura concierge can book on your behalf, or you can get in touch with us yourself. We confirm the details with you personally either way.
Often. A few weeks ahead gives the widest choice of guides, but we arrange next-day tours regularly. The fastest way is our contact page or a phone call.
