Hotel on a boat in Amsterdam: 3-star Botel

Botel: 3-Star Hotel on a Boat

About a quart of Amsterdam consists of water¹, so why not book a hotel on a boat?

The Botel in brief:

• small but adequate rooms (in a former river cruise ship) with comfortable beds
• appreciated for its good price/location value
• the location gets high marks from guests
• gets good reviews and many return visitors
• close to the city center: reached via a free, 14-minute ferry ride
• praised for its friendly staff
• Awesome free high speed WiFi

Book your room at the Botel via Booking.com

In 2008, the 175-room Botel — an erstwhile river cruiser converted into a floating hotel — was moved from its former location near Amsterdam Central Station to the NDSM Wharf, a former shipyard that is now a popular cultural hotspot in Amsterdam-North.

Oosterdok, the ship’s former location, was — and is — undergoing a metamorphosis in which there no longer is room for the eyesore huge boat.

The Botel — hotel on a boat — at NDSM. Yes, it’s the huge, white ship

Botel (formerly known as the Amstel Botel) and the City negotiated long and hard over an alternative location. The management said it was sad about the fact that their hotel on a boat is no longer located just outside of Central Station.

However, then manager Martin Been was pragmatic about the move, pointing out that the new location offers many advantages and opportunities.

Those include views, for many of the rooms, across the river IJ. Also: a unique location at a popular, world-renowned hot-spot. Plus the center of town is just a free, 14-minute ferry ride away (a fun experience in its own right, actually).

By the way, see our Guide to Hotels in Amsterdam

Moored at NDSM Wharf, world-renowned cultural hot-spot

The NDSM Wharf is a colorful and vital dockside area. A center for underground culture in Amsterdam, it houses workshops and artists’ studios, hip cafes and restaurants, exhibitions and performances. Among others the ‘media wharf’ houses MTV, Robodock, and the IJ-festival.

Docked at the wharf’s piers are a number of historical ships — from a Russian submarine² to Radio Veronica’s Norderney³. Other neighbors include an old, wooden-hulled minesweeper, and the majestic 3-master, The Pollux, formerly a maritime training vessel and currently a café/restaurant.

You’ll often see Greenpeace ships as well, as the organization’s Netherlands offices are located on the NDSM terrain.

Moored at the NDSM wharf in Amsterdam North, the Botel is only a 10-minute (free) ferry ride from Central Station and the center of Amsterdam

Colorful Eyesore?

Many NDSM business owners — and visitors to the area — were not happy with the City’s plans to move the otel to its new location. They cited the fact that the huge, stark-white boat was — and is — an eyesore, especially since it dwarfs other ships docked at the wharf’s piers.

However, as often is the case, economic considerations trumped aesthetic concerns. Rumor had it that the hotel boat would be transformed into a “colorful work of art” — with pundits claiming that meant the botel would then become a colorful eyesore.

But the boat remained as white as a dentist’s coat.

Then, in March 2015, the floating hotel managed to turn itself into an even bigger eyesore when the word ‘BOTEL’ was spelled out in huge, 6.5 meter (7 yard) tall letters hoisted onto the roof of the boat.

Visible even from Central Station, the letters also serve as 5 unusual hotel rooms.

The letter B features a halfpipe for skaters. The interior of room O is inspired by the erotic novel, Histoire d’O. The T houses the elevator and is also the Captain’s Room. Designed in coöperation with the Eye Film Institute Netherlands room E includes Holland’s smallest cinema, and the letter L is an ‘oasis’.

In March 2015 the Botel (formerly known as the Amstel Botel) managed to turn itself into an even bigger eyesore — ‘IJ-sore‘ ⁴ — with the addition of huge letters on top of the boat.

We applaud the City for cleaning up Damrak — part of the ‘Red Carpet’ into Amsterdam.

Forcing businesses to remove a virtual forest of gaudy, glaring and over-sized advertising signs was a good move. Allowing the Botel to then advertise its name across the river IJ was a bad decision that may well set a precedent resulting in ‘Damrak at the IJ.’⁵

Small consolation: the letters were originally envisioned as each having a different color — a concept the city rejected as too Toys “R” Us-like.

Anyway, when you stay at the Botel you don’t have to look at it, right?

Botel: a Good Hotel Choice

Book your room at the Botel via Booking.com


Eyesore or not, the Botel remains a popular budget hotel choice that attracts young and old (including many repeat visitors). It gets mostly positive reviews. Expect a basic hotel, smallish rooms (which some say have rather thin walls), and a very friendly staff.

And while its current location may not be as close to the city’s center as before, downtown Amsterdam is only a free, 14-minute boat ride away. This map shows the new location in relation to Amsterdam Central Station.

Free WiFi, rated ‘excellent’ in guest reviews, is available throughout the hotel. (Note: in 2019 the Botel’s wifi network was upgraded in such as way that it now has a average speed of 133Mbit per user — which is probably quite a bit faster, and more stable, than your wifi connection at home).

For your convenience, you can book the Botel — your Amsterdam hotel on a boat — right here.

Are you looking for a different kind of hotel? There is plenty of choice — anything from youth hostels to luxury accommodation.

Check out Amsterdam hotel guide for more information.

This entry was first published on January 10, 2008. We update it on a regular basis.