Few hotels anywhere have lived as many lives as The Grand. On the Oudezijds Voorburgwal, in the oldest part of Amsterdam, the same site has been a convent, a lodging for princes, the headquarters of the Admiralty and for 180 years the city hall. Our guides live in the city, and from here Dam Square is five minutes on foot, the Oude Kerk six and the Rembrandt House eight. Walks start in the courtyard, and for day trips we bring a car into it.
In the early fifteenth century two convents stood here, dedicated to Saint Catherine and Saint Cecilia. After Amsterdam turned Protestant in 1578 the Cecilia convent became a lodging for visiting princes and great lords, known as the Prinsenhof, and William of Orange and Marie de’ Medici are among those recorded as staying. From the 1650s the whole complex belonged to the Admiralty of Amsterdam, which ran the city’s navy from here during the Golden Age.
In 1808 Louis Napoleon took the city hall on the Dam as his royal palace, and the city council moved in here. It stayed for 180 years. In the 1920s an Amsterdam School wing was added by the city architects, with wall paintings and stained glass by Chris Lebeau and sculpture by Hildo Krop, and on 10 March 1966 Princess Beatrix married Claus von Amsberg in the council chamber. The council left for the Stopera in 1988 and the building opened as a hotel in 1992.
One more story. In 1949 Karel Appel painted a mural called Vragende Kinderen, Questioning Children, in the city hall canteen. Staff hated it, the council voted to hide it, and in 1950 it disappeared behind plaster and wallpaper. It was uncovered in 1959, Appel restored it himself, and it can still be seen in the hotel today.
A minute along the canal is the Agnietenkapel, a Gothic convent chapel of 1470. In January 1632 the scholars Vossius and Barlaeus gave the first lectures of the Athenaeum Illustre here, the forerunner of the University of Amsterdam, and the university still uses it for ceremonies. Just behind it runs the Oudemanhuispoort, the covered passage of an old almshouse, where booksellers have traded since 1879.
A few minutes east, at Oude Hoogstraat 22, is one of the smallest houses in the city: just over two metres wide and five deep, first recorded in 1738. Our guides can show you all three in less than half an hour, and very few visitors find them on their own.
The museums are further: the Anne Frank House is seventeen minutes on foot and the Rijksmuseum twenty-three.
Ask your guide to include any of these. They feature in the Private Around the Red Light District Tour and in the Amsterdam City Highlights Private Tour, with six more tours listed below.
Six more we suggest from The Grand. The Anne Frank and Jewish history tour crosses the Dam to the canal ring in seventeen minutes, and the food tour and Brews and T’Ales both work their way through the old centre on foot. The Rijksmuseum tour is led by our art historian, and the VIP tour ties the whole city together in one unhurried day. Zaanse Schans is the windmill trip by car.
Private Anne Frank and Jewish History Walking TourFrom 515 euroView this tour
Private Dutch Food Tour, Eat Like a LocalFrom 445 euroView this tour
Brews and T’Ales, Private Craft Beer TourFrom 500 euroView this tour
Private Rijksmuseum TourFrom 360 euroView this tour
Luxury Private Amsterdam VIP TourFrom 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 Grand is one of the few hotels in the old centre with its own courtyard, so our car can come right to the door once the hotel has registered it and lowered the bollard on the Rusland. From there it is a short run to Zaanse Schans and Edam, Keukenhof in tulip season, Haarlem, Delft or Utrecht. You will find every route on our private driving tours page.
We register the car with the hotel ourselves and confirm the time with you the evening before.
The Grand attracts guests who want the history as much as the comfort, so we pair them with guides who can tell the building’s story properly. One person looks after your booking from start to finish, your clients get a written itinerary before they arrive, and we speak to them directly before each tour. Commission terms are on our travel advisor page.
The hotel’s concierge is welcome to book with us for a guest.
Yes. The hotel has a courtyard behind a municipal bollard, and the car can come in once it has been registered with the hotel. We arrange that for you and confirm the pick-up time the evening before.
Yes. Princess Beatrix and Claus von Amsberg were married in the council chamber of what was then the city hall on 10 March 1966. Our architecture tour covers the building’s Amsterdam School rooms and their history.
By day the district is simply the oldest part of Amsterdam, around the Oude Kerk six minutes from the hotel. Our private Red Light District tour is about history and the people who live there, not nightlife.
Twenty-three minutes on foot, and a car is no quicker through the old centre. On our private Rijksmuseum tour we can walk there with you or take the tram.
Yes. The concierge can arrange the tour for you, or you can contact us directly. We then speak to you ourselves so nothing is lost along the way.
Very often. A few weeks’ notice gives you the most choice, but we arrange tours at short notice all the time. Our contact page or a phone call will get you an answer quickly.
