The Dylan

A one-off among Amsterdam's finer institutions, this 40-room boutique hotel named after Welsh poet Dylan Thomas has a lot going for it, at a price. Under the domain known as the Small Luxury Hotels of the World, the Dylan first opened its doors in 1999. A renowned theatre ocupyied the site for much of the 17th and 18th centuries but burnt down in 1772, with just the hotel's present-day doorway surving. A new stone building was erected in 1773 for new occupants the Regents of the Roman Catholic Old and Poor People's Office, and the establishment served the needy and destititute until hands changed in 1998, with a radically different ilk of clientele – including the famous – now being served. The Dylan is nestled within the elegant and quaint shopping-mad ghetto the Nine Streets and features not only a famous and frequented bar in its own right, Bar Brasserie OCCO, but the Michelin-starred restaurant Vinkeles, set in the back area in what was the old bakery that churned out loaves of bread for the poor; the ovens remain as a cosmetic feature. The hotel's rooms are reasonably sumptuous in varying degrees, including three exquisite loft-style chambers for a quintessential Amsterdam feel. This place has a lot going for it.