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The global fashion magazine February 12, 2025 
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The Corendon Hotel near Schiphol Airport, complete with a Boeing 747 outside
 

Tailored for travellers on the go

Volante
With Amsterdam a handy stopover location for so many places, Elyse Glickman checks out two places for the traveller who wants a taste of the Dutch city
Some photographs by the author

 

 

Corendon Hotel lobby Corendon Hotel airport café Sky bar Corendon Hotel suite
Spaces inside the Corendon Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. An impressive lobby. The airport café. Mondi Skybar 747. Inside one of the suites.

 

Amsterdam is en route to many destinations worldwide, and the city centre is a quick and easy commute from Schiphol Airport. Therefore, it’s impossible to resist a 24- or 48-hour layover. However, a five-star luxury property may not be a priority if you’re planning to spend most of your time outside and exploring the city, shopping, doing a food tour (we recommend Eating Europe’s Jordaan and Food & Canals tours), or taking a cultural deep dive in the Museumplein. This is why the Avani Museum Quarter Hotel and the Corendon Amsterdam Schiphol Airport are ideal either before or after you hit your destination.

Built into the former Sony headquarters, Corendon Amsterdam Schiphol Airport embraces aviation and Dutch culture in its clever way to defy the “airport hotel” stigma. Besides the obvious advantage of being located a few minutes by shuttle from the airport, there is more imagination and a sense of fun in the hotel décor and food outlets. While many travellers see Schiphol as the gateway to Europe or the world, this hotel is dedicated to serving as a gateway to the Netherlands, communicated effectively by Dutch design firm D/Dock. Beginning with its ‘The windows of Holland’ tagline and the atrium lobby’s airport hangar feel, one immediately gets a sense of place. The surroundings integrate Dutch cultural heritage motifs, maritime scenes on furniture and carpeting, and wall accents with Delft blue china patterns.

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Bowl of salad Imaginative bar snacks Cocktail made with Corendon's own gin Meeting room Conference room set up with tables

 

The property scores extra coolness points through the integration of an actual aeroplane and recycled aircraft parts into the experience. A former KLM Boeing 747-400 with 30 years of service is parked in its backyard, while the rooftop Mondi Skybar 747 features a bar partially crafted from airplane wings and live music from the house band fronted by Juni Juliet. Cocktails (rum-based Dushi Vibes and Sapphire Breeze, with the hotel’s own branded gin) and imaginative bar snacks and plates such as flavourful vegetarian options pimientos (peppers) de Patron alla Paria and mushroom Hasa, beef Lomito Masa, and Don’t Be a Jerk chicken) also tap into the Dutch’s historical relationships with Curaçao and other Caribbean islands.

Just off the lobby a few yards from the restaurants, guests can take advantage of a cinema showing current movie releases. The Corendon Bar & Bistro, which general manager Evegny Vreijling stresses is popular among residents working in the area, encompasses a grab-and-go concept stocking sandwiches, salads, and sweets made with traditional Dutch ingredients and produce from the area. The sit-down dining restaurant features a well maintained buffet stocked with a good selection of familiar European breakfast staples. Later in the day, the Mediterranean-inspired buffet adds Japanese, Thai, and Indonesian dishes to the mix.

Other conversation-starting features include that 60 per cent of the existing furniture in the revitalized rooms is carried over from the previous hotel configuration in keeping with its sustainability practices. There are Antwerp-based fashion and lifestyle brand Scapa luxury skin and haircare amenities. Guests may also find surprises in the rooms such as tins of stroopwafels and packets of classic Dutch hard candies alongside the Nespresso machines.

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View of Amsterdam canal View of Amsterdam canal
Canals near the Avani Museum Quarter Hotel.

 

Travellers whose journeys allow for a longer city stopover will find the Avani Museum Quarter Hotel feels like a cozy pied-à-terre even for an overnight or 48-hour stay. The 163-room canal-side hotel is nestled into a picturesque residential section of the Oud-Zuid neighbourhood. Amsterdam’s current lifestyle trends and the Stedelijk Museum inspire its interior design. An intermingling of brick, light woods, geometric lines, and floor-to-ceiling windows in many places frame the interplay of Dutch architecture through the centuries and the canal just outside. Bright, cheerful patterns in the carpets, tiles, and soft furnishings in public areas are nods to the country’s best known 20th-century artists, including Piet Mondrian, Anni Albers, Gunta Stolzl, and Sophie Taeuber-Arp. Guest rooms and suites are dressed in Dutch mid-century modern colours, including terracotta, turquoise, mustard yellow, and rich browns.

In-room amenities include Chromecast TV, in-room yoga mats, and a sound system with Bluetooth speakers. The hotel also has an AvaniFit gym with weights and cardio machines open 24-7 as well as a breakfast dining room that offers a handful of made-to-order dishes flanked by a buffet with an impressive number of vegetarian and vegan options. There is also a cheerful grab-and-go pantry and a living room area with a fireplace and books.

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Avani Musem Quarter Hotel lobby Avani Musem Quarter Hotel lobby Avani Musem Quarter Hotel lobby Avani Musem Quarter Hotel suite with angled windows Canal view from hotel room
Avani Museum Quarter Hotel: a distinctive, modern lobby; one of the suites; and a calming view out of the window.

 

The location lends itself to the hotel’s live-like-a-local appeal. Cross the bridge over the canal, and you are in de Pijp, a neighbourhood best known for the Albert Cuyper Market (running Tuesday through Saturday) along shopping street PC Hooftstraat. The market is lined with vendors selling a festive and hearty cross-section of Dutch comfort food and Asian and African street food. Numerous arts-and-crafts booths are interspersed between the food vendors, brimming with interesting souvenir alternatives to refrigerator magnets and mugs. At night, the stylish up-and-coming neighbourhood milieu is further defined, with several pocket-sized restaurants and organic wine bars tucked into alleys and side streets.

A ten-minute walk through residential streets in the other direction gets you to Museumplein, encompassing the Rijksmuseum, van Gogh Museum, and Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art on the other. Vondelpark’s walking and jogging trails, along with prime people-watching, are also front and centre. Trams and busses to other parts of the city, including the Jordaan and the Nine Streets, are readily accessible from different points of Museumplein and Oud Zeid.

To go deeper into the neighbourhoods and the Amsterdam lifestyle, guests can book one of the Avani Museum Quarter Amsterdam’s tours created with the influencer of Girls Who Magazine. A dynamic Street Art Tour includes a map that leads visitors around Amsterdam’s scenic neighbourhoods while hunting for street art. In the warmer months, they can paddle through the city’s canals with Canal SUP, stopping to refuel with pizza and craft beer before cooling off at a local swim spot. There is also a wellness experience with This Is Eden, staged in a variety of settings including parks and clubs. It combines dance with meditation and a soundtrack delivered through individual headsets. •

 

Elyse Glickman is US west coast editor of Lucire.

 

Hotel interior Food at Balls & Glory Food at Balls & Glory Fritteur Tartaar Beers at Dok Brewing Co.
Around the museum quarter: street art, the hotel gym, and scenes from the Albert de Cuyp market

 

 

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