Toro Hotel

Koningslaan 64 1075 AG Amsterdam  Voice: + 31 (0)20-6737223.  Fax: + 31 (0)20-6750031.

Reservations can be made through any number of reservation services.  Compare several to look for pricing variation.

Description

A wonderful little hotel with 22 rooms on the edge of Vondelpark in Amsterdam.  The hotel used to be a mansion.  Parts of the mansion still show through the renovation.  The dining room has a conservatory at the end that overlooks the park.  And the parlor still looks a mansion parlor.  We knew we were going to enjoy the hotel when we saw that they had a cat.  The cat's room is the parlor.  The cat has its place and allows guests to pet it when it is in the mood.

The Toro Hotel is a good value.  There are less expensive places to stay in Amsterdam, but few have the combination of elegance and location combined with reasonable cost.

Rooms

The rooms are spacious by European standards.  They were clean and well maintained.  The preferred rooms are those that face Vondelpark.  Normal street traffic noises can be heard in rooms facing the street. 

Service

The service was gracious and professional.  The concierge was always ready with helpful suggestions and accurate directions.

Food

Breakfast is served in the elegant dining room on the first floor.  The dining room overlooks Vondelpark through a conservatory-like glassed in porch.  Early diners get the prime seating near the window.

Breakfast consists of a soft boiled egg served in an egg cup, cold meats, cheeses, cereal, yogurt, fruit, and breads.  Coffee, teas, and juices are also provided.  Americans may find the breakfast lacking in variety and quantity.  A snack before lunch at a museum or one of the many downtown coffee shops should solve any food anxieties. 

Location

The hotel is located on the edge of a large park called Vondelpark which is about ten minutes from the city center by trolley car.  The trolley car stop is about three blocks away from the hotel.  The trolley cars run frequently, so getting to the shopping and museum district is easy and rapid.

Miscellany

Europe and especially the Netherlands are not yet enlightened about the dangers and the rudeness of cigarette smoking.  It is very likely that the guests sitting all around the breakfast dining room will light up a smoke when they are finished eating.  They won't smoke when they are eating, most of the time.  They will smoke when you are eating.  Smokers are aggressive in the Netherlands and in France.  If they sense that you are a non-smoker they will go out of their way to smoke a pack of cigarettes during your meal.  This actually happened to us at a restaurant a couple of blocks away from the Toro Hotel.  I used to get uptight about this behavior.  I've now mellowed out and dismiss it as part of the price for interacting with another culture.