Our tulip-themed cruise with Uniworld’s new Emilie riverboat gave us a good excuse to spend some time in Amsterdam. This beautiful canal-laced city has struggled with overtourism, but it only takes a little strategy to avoid the crowds. Fortunately, having seen the blue-chip sites on previous visits, I felt no pressure to battle the hordes drawn to them. Instead, my companion and I browsed antique shops, visited lesser-known attractions like the Museum Van Loon, and relaxed over hearty beer and Dutch comfort food in atmospheric brown cafés. 

I complemented these traditional pleasures with a stay in one of Amsterdam’s most traditional hotels: a longtime recommendation that recently underwent a renovation and changed its name.

Amstel Hotel

This 79-room palace-style hotel fronts the Amstel River near the southern edge of the Canal Belt. Our other recommendations in town also occupy historic buildings, but they all have contemporary décors. The Amstel remains resolutely old-fashioned, inside and out. We booked a Junior Suite River View, which overlooked the Amstel and an unremarkable bridge (ask to face north or west).