13 October 2015

HELLO I’M LOCAL HAARLEM

If you’re thinking I’m only writing about expensive hotels, think again. Nowadays hostels can be just as cool as a designer hotel and especially if you’re travelling on a budget it’s good to know where you can stay in style for less. I love The Hat in Madrid, but I’ve became a fan of Hello I’m Local in Haarlem too. For those of you who don’t live in The Netherlands you may think: Haarlem? Where is it and why do we need to go there? Well, for starters it’s the perfect location to explore more than just Amsterdam. Amsterdam is only a a 15-minute train ride away but you can also take a train to the beach and have lunch at Ubuntu for example. Haarlem itself is a beautiful city. Authentic, with small and interesting shops and a lot of great restaurants. Hello I’m Local is located in a beautiful building where you will find double rooms with your own bath room, but also rooms you can sleep with fourteen (!) of your friends and share the bathroom with them.

Every room has a different atmosphere and was named after a historic fact of the Netherlands. Klederdracht for example stands for the typical way of dressing in this country and the room called VOC is obviously named after the Dutch East-India Company, the famous trade company active in the 16th and 17th century. I stayed in the Frans Hals Room which was dedicated to one of the biggest Dutch painters of the Golden Age. Some of the rooms even have a typical Dutch bedstee! For cozy nights.

At Hello I’m Local they don’t have tv’s in the rooms and also there’s no wifi connection, but if you want to update your status you can do it in their lobby. This is a cool place in a former garage where you’re invited to play a traditional board game in stead of yet another game of Bejeweled on your phone. The patio is a great place for long nights around the fire stove and the breakfast is extremely good and very Dutch. So if you’re in for pindakaas and hagelslag, try it out!

Check out: www.helloimlocal.com