T+L’s Resort Assessment of the Rosewood Amsterdam

The Amsterdammers are curious—in fact they’re. They’ve been ready 10 years to see inside the town’s former Palace of Justice, which simply opened because the brand-new Rosewood Amsterdam on Could 1, 2025. As resort builds at the moment are being restricted to fight overtourism and Rosewood was the final to obtain permission to transform an present non-hotel constructing right into a resort, it looks like a monumental, era-defining second for the town, and the locals understand it.

It is opening weekend, and I’ve to weave by way of teams of them swarming the spacious foyer, having a sniff round in that delightfully direct Dutch method. Their faces don’t give away a lot, however one factor is for certain: They’re not dissatisfied.

“It’s a spot for the folks,” Piet Boon, the Dutch inside designer and dreamer behind the brand new resort, tells me. We’re sitting upstairs in The Grand Library, a powerful occasion house that served because the Palace of Justice’s one-time courtroom. The world the place a choose as soon as presided is now dressed with fashionable tapestry evoking Rembrandt’s “The Night time Watch” (probably the most well-known portray from the close by Rijksmuseum), whereas a Nineteen Twenties piano with actual ivory keys sits to the facet. As a result of that is Amsterdam, there are florals—fireworks of forsythia, frilly crown imperials, and lustrous ranunculus in eye-popping-orange—in all places I look.

Nevertheless spectacular this room is, Boon retains returning to the foyer.  “We wished folks to really feel they’re in Amsterdam the second they stroll in,” he says. “Our inspiration got here from the Rijksmuseum, from the museum’s central corridor. We took cues from its dignity and heat.” Any visitor who has walked by way of the museum’s Gallery of Honor, a protracted hall main towards “The Night time Watch,” will see the comparability with the resort’s lengthy foyer, main right here to a digital artwork piece as a focus as an alternative of a Rembrandt.

The foyer has a implausible sense of theatricality, and compared to the town’s dollhouse proportions, it does certainly really feel grand, however it’s no stuffy museum. I’d describe it as the town’s lounge with help-yourself pedestal plates piled with crumbly cookies and artwork designed to be interacted with: The entry is marked with a Studio Molen Statica set up with little movable items. Farther on, an artwork merchandising machine is displayed, promoting limited-edition Casper Braat marble-and-gold sculptures. The mini sculptures pay tribute to the town with designs of canal homes, cones of frites, and stroopwafels. By my go to (on the third day of opening), all the sculptures of joints (a cool €800 a pop) have been bought out from the merchandising machine. The check-in desk is tucked off to the facet as to not really feel like a barrier, and smiley doormen, dressed within the shade of a well-aged Barolo, act as greeters not gatekeepers.

“You are able to do your factor with out feeling like somebody goes to ask you what you’re doing right here,” says Boon. “It’s snug stylish.” After a couple of nights of enjoying with the artwork, sipping house-made gin, and bedding down in a well-appointed room over the ribboning canal and elm bushes, I can’t assist however agree. Listed here are the highlights of my keep.

The Rooms

Piet Boon first rose to fame as a designer of money-is-no-object non-public residences, so it’s no shock that the rooms right here really feel each intimate and upmarket; mini flats with Dutch soul and quirky artwork. Canal-view rooms over the Prinsengracht will little question be hottest, whereas some smaller rooms overlook tiny alleys. All through, there are design nods to the constructing’s former objective with pleated headboards evoking the folds of judicial robes and authorized scales doubling as objets d’artwork, whereas the muted shade palette feels lifted from a Dutch Previous Grasp. On the prime of the providing sits the resort’s 5 Homes, gorgeous of their measurement and elegance, particularly Library Home. Primarily based within the Palace of Justice’s former library, this suite is laid out as an enfilade with an entrance on every finish and detailed touches like snow-white crown molding, colossal mild options, and sufficient books to make Belle jealous.

Meals and Drink

Ten years in the past, when the Palace of Justice first hit the market, Amsterdam’s then-mayor insisted that whoever took over the landmark should infuse some sense of Indian tradition into the house, as a tribute to the Netherlands’ giant Indian inhabitants. Rosewood answered with Advocatuur, outfitted with two tandoori ovens to serve snacks like paneer tikka and baked samosas. However before everything, it is a bar and the star of the present is the cocktails, overseen by Yann Bouvignies, who helped make Scarfes at Rosewood London into an award-winning establishment. Described by Bouvignies as a “conflict of regulation and rise up,” this color-drenched bar even has a copper nonetheless (named Irene, after a key determine in Amsterdam’s Sixties counterculture Provo motion) distilling a home mix of jonge jenever, branded Provo. An unmissable expertise: Go for a Provo tasting in one of many former holding cells. The bar additionally serves its personal beer, POJ (Palace of Justice) Lager, embellished with an illustration of the resort and made in collaboration with Jopen brewery based mostly in Haarlem, Netherlands.

Outfitted like an English nation backyard with stone patio flooring and lemon bushes, Eeuwen (Dutch for “centuries”) is the spot for breakfast, lunch, and formal dinners. Service isn’t there but and errors are aplenty in these early days, however there’s potential—particularly in plates like North Sea shrimp croquettes; oysters from the Dutch province of Zeeland; and pillow-like poffertjes (Dutch pancakes) for breakfast.

Open all day and already successful with the locals is The Court docket, an outside courtyard wearing red-and-cream striped awnings and cheery pink tulips. From Piet Ouldolf (the landscaping legend behind New York’s Highline), that is the spot for tea, served on fairly Richard Ginori porcelain plates, and tompouces, the Netherlands’ model of a mille-feuille.

Actions and Experiences

Rosewood is famed for its sense of place ethos, and right here, friends are very a lot inspired to get out and about to find the town’s close by blockbuster points of interest, in addition to hidden pockets. The resort has its personal traditional saloon boat, a yet-to-be-named magnificence hewn from teak and mahogany and courting again to 1924. The boat has been totally restored and made electrical, and Captain Arnold whisks friends off for close by adventures within the Duivendrechtse Polder for farm visits or the impossibly charming fishing village of Durgerdam for lunch at De Mark Restaurant. Bicycles (together with e-bikes and cargo bikes) can be found to lease from the resort.

With greater than 1,000 artwork items on show, the resort additionally gives excursions of its artwork assortment. Highlights embody the Casper Braat artwork merchandising machine; colourful Frank Stella reliefs from Rosewood’s non-public assortment in Hong Kong; and two Maarten Baas clock reimaginings (‘Grandfather Clock’ and ‘Grandmother Clock’), with comparable items discovered within the Rijksmuseum and Schiphol Airport. There’s additionally a gallery house for rotating exhibitions.

The Spa

Set on a subterranean stage however softly aglow with pure mild due to mild wells within the backyard above, Rosewood’s Asaya spa is a temple to serenity. A rarity within the metropolis, the pale sapphire heated pool stretches practically 40 ft and is flanked by a generously proportioned sizzling tub (in addition to sauna and steam room). Remedies use merchandise by Delicate Energies, Barbara Sturm, and The|Tides, an area wellness model that makes use of elements like seaweed and algae in its potions.

Household-friendly Choices

Regardless of its achingly cool vibes, Rosewood Amsterdam welcomes households with babysitting companies, interconnecting rooms, and household pool time day-after-day from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. On the resort’s retail menu, there are a couple of gadgets for youthful vacationers, like youngsters’s raincoats and stuffed animals of the resort’s unofficial mascot cat Benny, based mostly off of one of many resort’s artwork items by Amsterdam road artist Frankey.

Accessibility and Sustainability

The resort has two totally accessible lodging, and there’s barrier-free entry to public areas, together with the spa and eating shops.

When it comes to sustainability, home windows are power environment friendly to preserve warmth; rainwater and wastewater is used within the backyard; and methods similar to Greenview and Winnow have been applied to trace carbon emissions and handle meals waste in actual time. The resort additionally has a sustainable sourcing coverage, prioritizing licensed sustainable elements for its menus. The resort’s boat can be totally electrical. For the local people, the resort gives Dutch classes and culinary coaching applications for underserved teams.

Location

Rosewood Amsterdam is a couple of 10-minute drive to Centraal Station, which has direct rail connections to Schiphol Airport and Brussels, Paris, and London through Eurostar trains. The resort has a fantastically central tackle (no automotive is required), and well-known websites, together with among the metropolis’s prime theaters and the Museumplein, are only a quick stroll away.

The best way to Get the Most Worth Out of Your Keep

Rosewood Amsterdam is a part of American Specific Fantastic Lodges & Resorts, providing the next advantages: room improve upon availability; every day breakfast for 2; $100 credit score for meals and beverage or spa; and assured late check-out till 4:00 p.m. Centurion gives comparable advantages, however with a assured improve and a $300 resort credit score for stays of two nights or extra.

Nightly charges at Rosewood Amsterdam begin from $1,361.