The College Hotel sits in a red brick school of 1894 in Oud-Zuid, a leafy part of the city where the museums are closer than the canals. The Concertgebouw is nine minutes on foot and the Rijksmuseum fourteen, so an art morning needs no planning at all. For the old centre, a car gets you to the Dam in about twenty minutes, or you can walk it through the Vondelpark and the canal ring.
The building on the Roelof Hartstraat opened in 1894 as a secondary school, at a time when this part of Amsterdam was still being laid out beyond the old city limits. Its tall windows and brick gables are typical of the schools the city built for its growing population, and the old gymnasium still stands in the grounds.
In 2005 the school became a boutique hotel, and it later joined Marriott’s Autograph Collection. After a renovation led by Studio Piet Boon it reopened in May 2024 with forty rooms, keeping the classroom proportions and adding references to the building’s past.
A minute or two from the hotel, on the square where the street begins, stands Huize Lydia, finished in 1927 to a design by Jan Boterenbrood. It is a fine example of the Amsterdam School, all rounded corners and patterned brick, yet most visitors walk past it on the way to the museums.
The streets around it form part of Berlage’s plan for Amsterdam Zuid, and our architecture guides like to start here before heading north. Ask them to point out the carved brick details above the doors.
Dam Square is 38 minutes on foot or about twenty by car.
These are the places our guides work into a morning on foot. The Private Rijksmuseum Tour and the Private Van Gogh Museum Tour both take them in, and the six tours further down cover the rest of the city.
These six take you from Oud-Zuid into the heart of the city. For the Anne Frank tour and the food tour your guide can meet you in the centre, or come to the hotel and travel with you. The architecture tour can start in the streets of Zuid. The photo tour and the VIP tour both work well for a full first day, and Zaanse Schans is the one to choose for windmills and villages.
Private Anne Frank and Jewish History Walking TourFrom 515 euroView this tour
Private Architecture Tour AmsterdamFrom 400 euroView this tour
Private Dutch Food Tour, Eat Like a LocalFrom 445 euroView this tour
Private Photo Tour AmsterdamFrom 400 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
Because the hotel is outside the busiest streets, the car can stop at the door and you are on the motorway within minutes. That makes Oud-Zuid a good base for longer days: Delft and The Hague, Haarlem, Utrecht, or Keukenhof when the tulips are out. More options are on our private driving tours page.
The College Hotel is small, and its guests are often in Amsterdam for the museums and concerts. We find a guide who fits their interests, send the plan in writing before they arrive and remain one point of contact from start to finish. We contact the guests directly before their tour as well. Our travel advisor page sets out how we work with advisors.
Reception can also book a tour with us for guests.
At the hotel entrance on the Roelof Hartstraat. The car can stop right outside for driving tours, and we confirm the time with you the evening before.
Yes, it is about fourteen minutes on foot. Your guide for the private Rijksmuseum tour can walk there with you from the hotel.
Very close. Museumplein is a little beyond the Concertgebouw, so the Van Gogh Museum tour is an easy morning from here.
Our Amsterdam in a Day tour combines the museums, the canals and the old centre, with transport arranged so you save your legs.
Yes. Reception can reserve it for you, or you can reach us yourself. Either way we speak with you in advance to plan the day.
Not necessarily. Early booking gives the widest choice, but next-day tours are often possible. Get in touch through our contact page or by phone.
