Amsterdam is tailor-made for an apartment stay. The city's canal-ring houses come with tall windows, steep staircases and more character per square metre than most hotel rooms, and a fresh roundup from Condé Nast Traveller UK sorts through the options with a list of its 20 favourite Airbnbs, from compact city-centre flats to something genuinely unusual: a working windmill on the city's outskirts.
The practical fine print matters here. Under Dutch rules, Airbnbs in the city centre can host a maximum of four adults, so larger groups need to either split up or look further out. The roundup accounts for that: Le Coq Blue in Zaandam, a short train or bike ride away, gets the nod for big groups, while the central picks suit couples and smaller families.
The editors' top picks cover the usual bases. Couples are pointed towards a contemporary apartment in De Pijp, the lively neighbourhood south of the centre known for the Albert Cuyp Market and a dense concentration of cafés and restaurants. Families get Keizers House on Keizersgracht, one of the grandest of the main canal rings. Design fans are steered to a smart loft inside the De Zeven Provinciën building in the centre, and for anyone who cares mainly about the view, there's a bright loft looking straight over a canal.
Selection was based on Superhost status, guest ratings, amenities, location, reviews and decor, so these are vetted listings rather than a random scrape of the platform.
Why bother with an apartment in Amsterdam at all? For a three-day city break, which the roundup reckons is plenty of time, having a kitchen and a bit of space beats a cramped hotel room, and staying in a canal-side townhouse puts you in the middle of the daily rhythm: bike bells, pancake houses, and the walkable, cycleable streets that make the city so easy. The trio of highlights the piece flags for filling your days are familiar but solid: the flower markets, the major galleries, and the bar scene.
The takeaway for travellers: book early and book central if you're a group of four or fewer, since the cap keeps good central listings in demand. If you're a bigger party or fancy something out of the ordinary, the outskirts hold options like that windmill, and the city's excellent public transport and bike hire make a slightly out-of-town base barely feel like a compromise.
