Haarlem - Amsterdam Bruges and Brussels - page 234

$ Bed-and-Breakfast House de Kiefte is a wonderful get-
into-a-local-home option with the best budget beds in town.
Marjet (mar-yet) and Hans (see photo, page 231), a frank and
engaging Dutch couple who speak English well, rent three bright,
cheery rooms on the top floor of their quiet 1892 home (Ds-€60,
T-€83, Qs-€105, Quint/s-€122, cash only, 2-night minimum,
rates include breakfast, very steep stairs, kids older than 4 wel-
come, Coornhertstraat 3, tel. [phone], mobile [phone],
[e-mail]). It's a 15-minute walk or €7.50 taxi ride
from the train station and a 5-minute walk from the center. From
Market Square, walk to the right of the town hall, go straight out
Zijlstraat over the bridge, and take a left on the fourth street.
Rooms in Restaurants
These places are all run as sidelines by restaurants, and you'll know
it by the style of service and rooms. Lobbies are in the restaurant,
and there are no public spaces. Still, they are handy and—for
Haarlem—inexpensive.
$$ Hotel Carillon overlooks the town square and comes
with a little traffic and bell-tower chimes. It rents 20 spartan and
run-down rooms at the top of st-e-e-e-p stairs. The front rooms
come with more street noise and great town-square views (tiny loft
S-€40, Db-€78-80, Tb-€99, Qb-€108, 5 percent discount for Rick
Steves' readers—claim when booking and show book on arrival,
no elevator, free Wi-Fi, Grote Markt 27, tel. [phone], fax
023/531-4909, www.hotelcarillon.com, [e-mail],
owners Kelly Kuo, Andres Haas, and June).
$$ Indrapoera Hotel and Hostel, a humid little place with
too much carpeting, has eight cheap hotel rooms and five new hos-
tel rooms just across the street from the train station. Their stark-
yet-modern, six- to eight-bed dorms have lockers and share one
big modern bathroom (hotel—Db-€75, hostel—€25-30/bed with
sheets and breakfast, trains stop by midnight, Kruisweg 18, tel.
023/532-0393, [e-mail], Yeh family).
$$ Die Raeckse Hotel, family-run and friendly, is not as cen-
tral as the others and has less character and more traffic noise—but
its 21 rooms are decent and comfortable. Noisy rooms on the street
are cheaper than the quiet ones in the back, but it's worth asking
for a quiet room (Sb-€55, small Db-€70, big Db-€85, Tb-€90-110,
Qb-€120-135, €5/night discount for 2-night stay, includes break-
fast, these special Rick Steves prices only for direct bookings, fee
for Internet access and Wi-Fi, Raaks Straat 1, tel. [phone],
fax [phone], www.die-raeckse.nl, [e-mail]).