Planning a first Amsterdam trip with a massage in it

First trips to Amsterdam tend to follow a familiar pattern. A flight in on a Thursday or Friday, three or four nights in a hotel in or near the centre, museums and canals by day, restaurants and bars by night, and a flight home that always seems to come round too quickly. A session in the room can fit into almost any part of that, but some evenings suit it better than others, and a little thought before the trip makes the difference between a booking that fits and one that is squeezed in. This guide is for the visitor who is planning ahead, whether that means a week before the flight or on the train in from the airport.

Ahead or on the day

There are two ways to arrange a session, and each has its place.

Booking ahead means writing more than twenty-four hours before the hour you want, often before you have even left home. It gives a wider choice of therapist and time, which matters if you have a particular profile in mind or a particular evening that has to work. It carries a deposit of half the fee, paid once the hour is agreed, and it gives you full flexibility: cancel with more than twenty-four hours' notice and the whole deposit comes back, or move the date once for free to another day within fourteen days.

Booking on the day means writing a few hours before, or less. In central Amsterdam a room is reached within forty to sixty minutes of a confirmed booking, so a same-day session is entirely practical. On a first booking with the house, a deposit still applies, simply because it is a first booking. The choice of therapist and hour is narrower than when you plan ahead, especially at weekends.

For a first trip, a sensible approach is to book one session ahead, on the evening that matters, and leave any second one to be arranged on the day.

Which evening

The evening you arrive

This is the evening visitors choose more often than any other, and with reason. The body is stiff from the flight, the mind is still adjusting to the city, and a slow session in the room turns the end of a travel day into the start of the trip. The one complication is timing: flights run late, check-in can take a while, and the arrival evening is the one where plans are least certain. Booking ahead for the arrival evening works well if you leave a margin, such as asking for an hour two or three hours after landing rather than one. The guide to getting from the airport to the city sets out the timings.

The second or third evening

By the middle of a trip, you have walked more than you would in a week at home. The calves ache from the cobbles, the shoulders from a day bag, and a session on the second or third evening feels less like a treat and more like maintenance. It is also the evening when plans are firmest, which makes it easy to book ahead. Many visitors book for early evening, between six and eight, and go out to dinner afterwards.

The last evening

The last evening before the flight home has a different character. Some visitors spend it in the city; others move out to an airport hotel to make an early departure easier. Either way, a session can close the trip well. If you are at an airport hotel, the booking is arranged with the journey time agreed first and always carries a deposit, so arrange it before you check out of your city hotel. The page on moving to an airport hotel covers that night in detail.

How long to book

An hour is a real session, and it suits a busy evening with dinner plans afterwards. Ninety minutes is the length first-time visitors choose more than any other, because it allows a proper start and an unhurried pace. Two hours suits the arrival evening or a quiet night in. Three hours or more carries a deposit whatever the date, and an overnight of eight hours is a format of its own.

Every one of those lengths has its own line on each therapist's profile, and that page is the one place the figures are kept, so choosing her and reading the cost happen together. Two guests sharing one therapist, or one guest with two, are billed at double the single-guest hour; a couple with a therapist apiece at four times it. All figures are in euro and include all taxes, and there is no travel charge anywhere in the city or at the airport hotels.

The calendar

Peak dates

A few dates fill the city's hotels months in advance. King's Day at the end of April turns the whole city orange and the canals into a moving party. Pride in early August brings the canal parade and a week of events. The Amsterdam Dance Event in October fills the clubs and hotels for several days. The stretch from Christmas to New Year is busy with visitors and lit by the light festival along the canals. And large conference weeks, which vary from year to year, fill the business hotels in particular.

Any booking on a peak date carries a deposit, and it is wise to write several days ahead, since more visitors are writing at the same time. Getting around the city is slower on King's Day and during the Pride parade; an evening booking, once the crowds have thinned, tends to run more smoothly than one in the afternoon.

Seasons

The season makes less difference than visitors expect. In summer the evenings are long and light, and a session at eight feels like late afternoon; a room with heavy curtains helps. In winter it is dark by five, the wind off the water can be cold, and a session in a warm room after a day outside is especially welcome. Spring and autumn bring rain that arrives and leaves quickly. None of this changes the arrangement or the price, but it is worth packing layers, because a room that is warm enough for a coat is not always warm enough for lying still.

A sample long weekend

Friday

Land at four in the afternoon, through the airport by five, on the train to Centraal by half past. Write from the train for ninety minutes at eight, mentioning it is a first booking. The reply names the deposit, half of her ninety minute rate, and confirms the hour; accept, pay, and check in. Shower, eat something light, and be ready by eight. Afterwards, a late walk along the canals, or straight to sleep.

Saturday

Museums in the morning, the Jordaan in the afternoon, dinner in De Pijp. No session today; the day is full, and that is fine.

Sunday

A slower day: the Vondelpark, a boat along the canals. Write at around four for two hours at seven. As a client the house now knows, a same-day booking of an hour or two at a city address is paid in full on arrival with no deposit. Nothing is sent ahead this time; the full two hour fee is settled when she knocks.

Monday

Check out, one last look at the city, and the train back to the airport. If the flight were at seven the next morning instead, this would be the evening to move to an airport hotel and arrange a session there, with the journey time agreed first and a deposit paid ahead.

If the plan changes

Trips change. A flight is moved, a day trip runs late, a cold arrives. The rules are simple. More than twenty-four hours before the booked time, cancelling returns the whole deposit, and moving the date once to a day within fourteen days is free. Within the last twenty-four hours, before she has set out, half the deposit is kept and half returns. Once she is on her way, the deposit is kept, unless the hour is taken by someone else, in which case it comes back in full. A delay on your side, such as a moved flight, is not force majeure, but a genuine outside event such as a transport shutdown turns the deposit into credit. The booking terms give worked examples.

Travelling as a couple

A couple on a first trip together can book a session for both. Say so in the first message: the format, the rate and the room all come into it. With one therapist between two people the hour costs twice the solo rate; with a therapist each, the bill for that hour doubles once more. Everyone present must be twenty-one or over. A larger room makes a difference here, and the quieter hotels of Oud-Zuid or Zuidas tend to suit couples well. The couples page describes the format.

Before you travel

Three things are worth doing before you leave home. Look through the roster and note one or two profiles that appeal. Decide which evening matters and write for it once your hotel is confirmed. And save the booking thread somewhere easy to find, so that on arrival you can write in it without searching. Everything else can wait until you land.