Nassau Canal Apartments

The balcony was a nice spot to get some air, and the location was excellent. The listing didn’t mention the stairs, though. They’re extremely steep, and there are 35 of them to reach our floor, so people should know ahead of time.

The stairs are quite a challenge, so pack light. Otherwise, this was a cosy, clean, well-kept place, with a comfortable bed, good WiFi, a fairly big room by Amsterdam standards, a large bathroom, and a separate WC. It has no reception and doesn’t serve breakfast, but everything you need is close by.

The price was 1900 euros a week, apparently raised because there was a convention in town, and the apartment was a letdown from the start. The floors were so dirty that my slippers turned black after a week. Gum was stuck on the bedroom walls, and the drapes were held up with clothespins. When we tried opening the bedroom window, the whole curtain rod fell; we got it back up with one screw. We found a mouse in the kitchen and reported it, even offering to put down traps ourselves, but none ever arrived. The freezer was solidly frozen over and unusable, so we defrosted it ourselves. There were no dish towels, so we bought our own, though one was brought over a couple of days later. The bathtub drain was clogged with hair, and they came to fix it. The power also went out in one part of the apartment, making the stairs extremely dangerous in the dark. They came later that day and fixed that too.

Nice location, but the room smelled far too strongly of weed, even with signs on the walls.