Where to stay in Amsterdam?

With its beautiful canals, spectacular architecture and various attractions for the tourists of every age and taste Amsterdam is one of the most popular cities in Europe to visit. Amsterdam city center which dates back to Middle Ages is a must see. In fact, Amsterdam presents its visitors one of the biggest historical city center of Europe. There are 7,000 registered historical buildings in the city and since the city is barely bombed in the World War II, many of the buildings are in their original state. But what makes Amsterdam what it is now is its countless, beautifully lit bridges, especially in the nights. Amsterdam city center is actually 90 islands connected through with 400 bridges.

For most of the tourists, Amsterdam is the half circle-shaped city center where Central Train Station is located in the center.  Until 1850, the city was actually all about these areas. The historical city center Amsterdam Centrium, is inside of 6 circles of canals; Singel, Herengracht, Keizersgracht, Prinsengracht, Lijnbaansgracht and Singelgracht. All together, these canals are called the Canal Ring. Other neighborhoods in the center are Jordaan and Plantage. Nassaukade, Stadhouderskade and Murtiskdae avenues circling the city were once the places where cities then-standing walls and moots found. Rests of the avenues in Amsterdam are from post 1870 era.

Even though Amsterdam is famous with its window-popping sex tourism and free light drugs trade, it’s a place you can visit with your family as long as you don’t go around Red Light District.

An important question of course is where to stay in Amsterdam. Amsterdam hotels are spread on a wide scale that go from budget to most expensive in Europe. Amsterdam Old Center provides many hotels and hostels especially around the south of the central station and Museum Quarter. Best of the authentic hotels can be found around the Canal Ring. Even though it’s an elite neighborhood, the famous Jordaan is an area where you can find mid-range and upper class hotels. Amsterdam’s cheapest and shabbiest hostels are in the Red Light District.

In this post, we’ll introduce notable neighborhoods of Amsterdam you can stay. Later, we’ll list the best hotels in different ranges and give out Amsterdam hotel recommendations.

Amsterdam neighborhoods map

Amsterdam City Center (Amsterdam-Centrum, Canal Ring, Jordaan and Plantage)

Historical, middle ages era Amsterdam Centrum is also the most popular and visited tourist area of the city. It’s popular for its traditional architecture, canals, shopping facilities and of course the coffee shops.  Dam Square is actually the center of this area but the real interesting places are Nieuwmarkt and Spui. Amsterdam’s famous Red Light District is also in this area.

Dug in 17th century and a UNESCO World Heritage Area today, Canal Ring is the area where wealthy people built their homes to this day. Today, Leidseplein and Rembrandtplein, home to many of the famous and rich Dutch people, are two of the most important places of Amsterdam night life.

Once a workers neighborhood, today Jordaan is one of the well-off neighborhoods of Amsterdam with its art galleries, hip boutiques and nice restaurants. The Haarlemmerbuurt and the Western Islands are also in this area. Plantage is a place where Amsterdam’s most of the museums are located. Jewish Historical Museum in Waterlooplein, the Hermitage Amsterdam and its botanical gardens, Artis Zoo, the Tropical Museum and the amazing Scheepvart Museum are some of the places that you have to see here.


Amsterdam-Zuid (South Amsterdam)

Amsterdam-Zuid is one of the most beautiful neighborhoods here and a must-see in an Amsterdam vacation. Museum Quarter is also in this area. Sipping a wine in Vondelpark or shopping in Albert Cuyp Market has to be on your to do list in Amsterdam.

Even though answer to the question of “Where to stay in Amsterdam?” is the places that we listed above, hotels in the Amsterdam city center are really expensive. Amsterdam-Zuid, is the most popular accommodation area because it’s cheaper than the city center. If you don’t have deep pockets, we advise you to check Amsterdam-Zuid hotels first. Like most of the cities in Europe, Amsterdam has a very good public transit network so it’s easy to go from here to the city center. Amsterdam’s business and finance hub is also located here.

Amsterdam-West, Amsterdam-Noord, Amsterdam-Oost 

Amsterdam’s west, north (or noord) and east (or oost) regions are usually the places where local population lives. These are not the areas where the tourists stay despite being interesting places.

Bijlmer

Biljmer neighborhood in Amsterdam is the answer to where not to stay in Amsterdam. Although the security problem has gotten better over the last years, it’s still advised not to stay and not even travel to this area.

Where to stay in Antalya?

Where to stay in Antalya? You actually have two options: You can either stay in Lara Beach area which is the “all inclusive” jumbo 5-star luxury beach hotel capital of Turkey or nice and mystical Antalya Old Town (Kaleiçi(*)). The Old Town is in the Antalya city center and is a beautiful place with some nice restored buildings, small guest houses and some luxury boutique hotels. Lara Beach on the other hand outside Antalya city and about 17 kilometers away from Antalya. It offers a beautiful beach and sea as well as luxurious 5 Star hotels.

Lara Beach in Antalya takes the lion share of the tourists. The hotels here operate “all inclusive” system. Despite this, Old Town is still a very charming alternative for tourists. There are many hotels (or Pansiyon) in Kaleiçi with quite high facility and room standards. And thanks to Lara which is sucking out foreign and local tourists from Kaleiçi, supply of nice hotels with relatively low prices are high in old town. Even if you go to Antalya without booking a hotel (not advisable anyway) you can still find a nice room with quite good standards and price here.

Otantik Butik Hotel Antalya (from €29), Elegance East Hotel (from €29), Mediterra Art Hotel (from €25) and Puding Suite Antalya (from €98) are high-end hotels you can find in Antalya Old Town. There are also many nice 2 to 3 star hotels in Kaleici with very high customer ratings such as Urcu Hotel (from €22), Candles House (from €19), Tuvana Hotel (from €49).

If you really want to dig into more information on hotels in Antalya Kaleici, you can refer to Antalya Old Town hotels page which compares the prices and compiles ratings from many online booking sites.

Antalya Marina in the old town (kaleici)

Antalya Lara Beach is full of 4/5 star beach hotels that cater for the all inclusive holiday market. These large hotels offer large pools, restaurants, private beach, see view rooms, many activities and easy access (tours) to many attractions around Antalya.

Some hotels which are topping the list in Antalya Lara Beach based on guest reviews are Barut Lara Resort Spa & Suites, Delphin Diva Premiere, Liberty Hotels Lara, Delphin Palace Hotel, Limak Lara De Luxe Hotel & Resort, Royal Wings Hotel, Delphin Imperial Hotel Lara, Saturn Palace Resort and IC Green Palace.

If you really want to dig into more information on hotels in Antalya Lara Beach, you can refer to Antalya Lara Beach hotels page which compares the prices and compiles ratings from many online booking sites.

And Aladdin wishes a 5-star luxurious hotel from the jinn.

(*) - "Kaleiçi" means inside the castle (kale)

Thermal Tourism in Turkey

Turkey is very gifted when it comes to thermal tourism and its potential.There are 1,500 thermomineral springs in Turkey and almost all provinces in Turkey has some thermal springs. Thermal waters have traditionally been used for health and SPA purposes in Turkey since ancient times. The oldest thermal therapy center in Anatolia was Allianoi, an ancient spa settlement, with remains dating predominantly from the Roman Empire period (2nd century AD) located near the city of Bergama (ancient Pergamon) in Turkey. The SPAs in Turkey are used by 7 million locals and 200,000 foreigners each year.

Bursa
Bursa was the most important city with thermal baths in Ottoman times. Today, it is still a popular thermal SPA destination in Turkey with most of its thermal baths. There are many traditional hamam in Bursa and thermal tourism is mostly concentrated in Cekirge and Oylat. Still Bursa itself also offers very nice thermal baths.

Yeni Kaplica (Termal Hotel and Baths), for example, is one of the best hamams in Turkey and offers an experience not to be missed while visiting Bursa for anyone interested in a relaxing thermal bath. The bath is serving people since Suleyman The Magnificent time and is built in 1555. Be warned, the water is quite hot here with around 80 Celcius.

Most thermal springs of Bursa are in Cekirge region. Çekirge Thermal Springs originate from a place named Vakifbahce and all hotels and spas receive their thermal waters from there. It is known (or believed) that this spa is good, as bath water, for rheumatic syndromes, motion systems, painful diseases, vascularto obstruction, diabetes, gout and metabolic disorders, and as drinking it cures the liver and biliary tractdiseases.

Types of spas you can find in Bursa are rehabilitation spa, wellness and traditional spas.

Denizli
Denizli area is a historical thermal places since acient times. Hierapolis, Laodikeia, Herakleia,
Tripolis and Afrodisyas were historical cities in the area offering thermal sources to antic era people. Among these Hierapolis is a the most famous thermal treatment city. Right next to the Pamukkale, Hierapolis, became the most famous thermal treatment center of the Romans.

In Denizli there are Pamukkale, Karahayıt, Sarayköy thermal tourism areas. Pamukkale is the most famous of all these and offers some of the best thermal hotels in the region. Pamukkale is famous for its Cotton Castles or PamukkaleThermal Pools.

Pam Thermal Hotel in Pamukkale for example features a sauna, an outdoor pool and a jacuzzi. Guests can enjoy the on-site day spa, which features a mineral bath and hydrotherapy facilities, as well as a range of body treatments.

PamukkaleThermal Pools

İzmir

Aegean Coastal city of İzmir is host to the oldest historical thermal treatment center in the world, Allianoi located in İzmir-Bergama. Balçova Thermal Tourism area, Çeşme Thermal Tourism area, Seferihisar Thermal Tourism area and Dikili-Bergama Thermal Tourism area are the main thermal centers in Izmir.

Thermal Pools in Cesme Altin Yunus

Where to stay in Izmir?

Port city of Izmir is one of the biggest cities in Turkey and the largest city on Aegan Coast. Izmir is not only an important business city, it is also closed to many tourist resorts on Aegan and Mediterranean Coast of Turkey and important tourist attractions like Ephesus.

Most business and leisure travelers stay at the old center of Izmir named Konak. Most of the top luxurious Izmir hotels are located near Konak and Kordonboyu, the coastline.

Konak area has some 4-5 star hotels operated by international hotel chains like Swissotel, Moevenpick and Hilton as well as luzurious boutique hotels.

Hilton İzmir (Çankaya Mahallesi Gazi Osman Paşa Bulvarı No:7 Küçükyalı, Konak, İzmir) is one of the most famous hotels in Izmir. Its 35 storey landmark building is the highest building in Izmir and Aegan Region of Turkey and offers an unparalleled view of Izmir Harbour. Hilton İzmir is very centrally located and offers the high standards of Hilton hotel chain in Izmir.

Swissotel Grand Efes İzmir (Gaziosmanpaşa Bulvarı No: 1, İzmir 35210) is a little inside from Kordonboyu. This 5-Star centrally located Izmir hotel is for ones who are looking for luxurious and large hotel with 402 large rooms and facilities. Swissotel Grand Efes İzmir offers a pool, SPA, fitness center and located to business centers in Izmir.

Another centrally located chain hotel in Izmir is Moevenpick Hotel İzmir (Cumhuriyet Bulvarı. 138, İzmir 35210) which is very near to Cumhuriyet Square and Izmir Pasaport Jetty. Moevenpick Hotel İzmir is one of the best business hotels in Izmir and in Turkey. Hotel has185 modern rooms and highly reviewed by its service standards, comfort, cleanless and location.

Park Hotel İzmir (1367 Sok. No:9 Basmane, Konak, İzmir 35240) is a centrally located boutique hotel. It is a new hotel serving since 2007 and Park Otel İzmir is 3 minutes to İzmir Exhibition Center and 5 minıutes to Kordon. Hotels interior design is made by an artist instead of an interior architect.

Key Hotel (Mimar Kemalettin Caddesi No:1 | Konak, İzmir 35260) is on Izmir Kordonboyu and just 500 metres away from Konak Square. Key Hotel is one of the best rated central hotel in Izmir. It has 34 rooms (24 standard rooms, 7 superior rooms, 1 executive room, 1 deluxe suite and 1 grand suite) and offers one of the best price-to-value in the city.

Moevenpick Hotel İzmir

Met Butik Otel (Çankaya Mahallesi, Gazi Bulvarı. No:124, İzmir) has 30 standart rooms and 8 suites in different classes. Met Butik Otel is very central and closed to 9 Eylül Square and 5 minutes walking distance to subway station.

Tempo Residence Comfort (Gaziler Caddesi No:206 Basmane, Konak, İzmir 35240) is one of the best serviced apartments in Izmir. Tempo Residence Comfort offers 1+1 rooms with American kitchen. You can cook in these luzurious flats or can order food to there. You can even prepare a shopping list which will be bought by a hotel staff and brought to you.

Where to stay in Seattle?

Seattle is the most important city of the North West of United States and home to largest firms in the world, like Boeing, Microsoft, Amazon.com and Costco. Seattle has developed thanks to Boeing in the past and later on Microsoft, and has a large university like the University of Washington.

A very rough and gloomy weather reigns in Seattle between November till March but it’s pleasant and soft in summer. Inside the city, there’s a well-run bus network compatible with Google Maps Trip Planner, called Metro Transit. There’s one thing though, you have to pay when you’re getting on the bus, and drivers don’t have any change so you have to have your change ready.

Seattle is one of the most solid museum cities of the United States. You have to see museums like Seattle Art Museum, Seattle Asian Art Museum, and The Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience. Aside from these, the historical buildings confined to the city center and its several small and large parks are worth seeing. Pike Palace Market, a tourist attraction by itself in Downtown, is a must see in terms of both eating-drinking and sightseeing, if you ever visit Seattle.
The city is usually safe but the southern neighborhoods in particular (Around Rainier Beach is where it’s worst) are not really safe places, especially at nights. Try not to roam alone even when you’re in the city center. Although they are mostly harmless, the homeless of Seattle are gathered around in Seattle city center, so be careful.

Now let’s move on to the question of where to stay in Seattle. Before answering the question of where to stay, let’s give some important information. It’s hard to find a room in Seattle hotels during summer months. Especially in the mid-class and upper mid-class hotels, even if you can find somewhere to stay, prices are over 200$ for one night. If you’re planning to stay in Seattle during summer months, try to book your hotel online, way in advance. During summer months, Seattle is filled with tourists not just from land, but also tens of thousands of people getting off from the cruise ships.

If you’re thinking of staying in Seattle, Downtown, Belltown and South Lake Union are your first alternatives. The city center of Seattle (known as Downtown) is pretty small and can be travelled on foot. The city has three hotel districts. Almost all of the main hotels of the city are in the area that’s been confined between 8th Avenue, and from Pine to James Street. The big names like Westin, Sheraton, Grand Hyatt, Homewood Suites, Paramount, Olive 8 by Hyatt, Red Lion, Hilton and Crown Plaza are all here. This place is also the main shopping and sightseeing area.

South Lake Union is another newer area where hotels are located. This place is right outside of Downtown and it’s connected to Downtown/Westlake Center with Seattle Streetcar. And most of the hotels here also have minibuses to the city center. Hotels here are cheaper compared to Downtown. Marriot Courtyard, Marriott Residence Inn, Silver Cloud Inn and Pan Pacific are located here.

Around Space Needle and Seattle Center, is the third area in the city high in hotel concentration. Here, you can find hotels that are both for family and budget-friendly. Travelling to Downtown from this area is also easy. Hampton Inn, Comfort Suites and Best Western Executive Inn are some of the hotels you can find here.

If you’re looking for cheap hotels in Seattle, keep on reading. The most popular cheap hotels of Seattle are Travelodge by Space Needle, Best Western Loyal Inn and Moore Hotel. But if you’re looking for even cheaper options, you can look at the hotels around the airport, 16 miles away from the city. This area is 40 minutes away from the city center via light-rail system.

Let’s answer the important question of where to not stay in Seattle. Seattle is usually a safe place but stay away from Aurora neighborhood. (Don’t go and don’t stay there).

Where to stay in Lyon?

Situated between Paris and Marseille, Lyon is the largest city in France after these two. Lyon’s magical Old Town (Vieux-Lyon), a UNESCO World Heritage Site, its capital of gastronomy in France status as well as famous ‘Fête des Lumières‘ light festival makes it one of the most popular city in France to visit.

Lyon is 2,000 years old and was founded by Romans. Since then the city had no major earthquake, fire or air strike so its historic buildings from Roman times to medieval buildings to Renaissance Palaces are still standing still and are original. Add the modern skyscapers to the mix and you will have an architectural wealth you can only witness in Lyon on the planet.

The most popular time to visit Lyon is during Fête des Lumières (Lights Festival) which was a local religious ritual but have become an internationally known large scale event in the past decade. For 4 days around December 8th, artists from all around the world display fantastic light shows and exibitions throughout Lyon.  With them, 4 million tourists flow to the city. So if you are not into Lights Festival, this is probably the time to avoid to visit Lyon since the weather will be cold, city and hotels will be packed and everything will be very expensive. Other than Fête des Lumières, some important professional trade shows like SIRHA (food, hotels and restaurants) and POLLUTEC (environment technology) also draw high number of visitors to the city and makes finding a Lyon hotel room very challenging and expensive.

Lyon is 470 kilometers south-east of Paris and two rivers passes through the city: Rhône in the east and Saône in the west. Some important districts of Lyon are Fourvière hill, Vieux Lyon (Old Lyon), Presqu’île, Croix-Rousse and Part-Dieu. You can see these districts and their orientation in the Lyon map below. Here we will answer where to stay in Lyon question by introducing the popular and convenient districts among tourists to stay in Lyon.

Lyon map and its main districts. Fourvière, Vieux Lyon,
Croix-Rousse and a significant part of  Presqu’île 
is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Presqu’île

Presqu’île is the hearth of Lyon and is the best place to stay in Lyon for visitors. Located between two rivers (Presqu’île means peninsula in French), the cafes, restaurants, luxury shops, banks, government buildings, museums, cultural centers and lots of historic buildings dot Presqu’île starting from Croix Rousse Hill all the way down to the point where the Rhône and Saône meets. For visitors as well as Lyonnais (residents of Lyon), Presqu’île is the center of economic, cultural and the night life in Lyon.

The most important areas in Presqu’île are Terreaux and Bellecour. Bellecour and Hôtel de Ville at the north end of Presqu’île are the centre for high-end shopping, the National Opera and restaurants of all kinds and is home to Lyon’s top museums such as Museum of Fine Arts and the Museum of Textiles. The Place des Terreaux and Place Bellecour are here.

Perrache to the south of Presqu’île was an industrial area to avoid until recently but is slowly transforming itself into a cultural area.

Presqu’île is the heart of Lyon and is the “happening” place in the city. If you would like to stay here, you can check Lyon Presqu’île hotels page for latest hotels and room prices lists as well as customer review rankings.

La Place des Terreaux (Terreaux Square) in Presqu’île Lyon

Vieux Lyon (Old Lyon) and Fourvière Hill

Vieux-Lyon is the oldest area in Lyon and with its 424 hectare area right under Fourvière hill,  it is the largest Renaissance era old town in Europe after Venice. With its narrow, cobblestone medieval streets and 15.th to 17th century buildings once housing German, Flemish and Italian merchants (in the past the buildings in Lyon were the highest in Europe) offers a magical historic town experience to its visitors. Since the place is very crowded with tourists and many stalls catering to them, try to visit  Vieux Lyon in the early morning and even better stay there if you are in Lyon for the history.

Fourvière Hill to the west of Old Lyon is the place where Roman’s founded Lugdunum settlement, which will later become Lyon.

If you would like to stay in Vieux Lyon, you can check Vieux Lyon hotels page for latest hotels and room prices lists as well as customer review rankings.

Vieux Lyon Saint-Jean Square and Saint-Jean Cathedral from montée des Chazeaux

La Part-Dieu and Les Brotteaux

La Part-Dieu is the largest business and finance center in France after La Defense in Paris (Lyon is a major centre for banking as well as for chemical, pharmaceutical, and biotech industries) and is the second most important area in Lyon after Presqu’île. For people visiting Lyon for business, the focal point as well as the place to stay would be either Presqu’île or La Part-Dieu since most of the commercial centers are here. Lyon Part-Dieu Shopping Mall here is one of the largest shopping malls in Europe. Lyon-Part-Dieu Train Station in La Part-Dieu is one of the most important railway hubs in Europe.

Even if you are not in Lyon for business, you can still stay here because the city has a fantastic public transportation network and it is easy to access other districts from here by public transport.

Les Brotteaux hosts a large number of renowned restaurants such as the Splendid of Georges Blanc, a restaurant which is in front of the Est of Paul Bocuse. La Brasserie des Brotteaux is also an ideal place for those who like the Lyon’s culinary traditions.

If you would like to stay in La Part-Dieu, you can check Lyon La Part-Dieu hotels page for latest hotels and room prices lists as well as customer review rankings.

Cité Internationale

Just northeast entrance of the city, Cité Internationale is ideally served by a dense network of infrastructure, skilled hand of the Genoese architect drew light pavilions, transparent, inspired greenhouses nineteenth century. The complex, designed by Renzo Piano, houses luxury apartments, hotels, restaurants, a convention centre, vast amphitheatre and the radical Musée d’Art Contemporain.

Where to stay in Langkawi?

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