Amsterdam for 4

Schiphol is the airport - do you really want to be in walking distance of Amsterdam's airport, or do you mean something else?

Your budget is VERY low for Amsterdam. Right now, $100 (assuming you mean US dollars) is about 88 euros. For four people, you'll need either a large room or two normal rooms. So, you're probably looking at hostels, or apartments outside the center.

You can start with the listings here on EuroCheapo, but you'll see that even with that name, most of their listings are over your budget: http://www.eurocheapo.com/amsterdam/

Sorry, I meant $200 and yes, I know what Schipol is 😊

Most of Schiphol's hotels are actually a few km away, mostly in or near Hoofddorp which is a nice small town with its own train station. Virtually all of the hotels in Hoofddorp operate round the clock free shuttles to and from the airport, and as they are chain hotels the shuttle often calls at the other hotels in the same owning group. For example, the Accor shuttle will call at all the Accor properties, the Novotel, the Ibis, Ibis Styles, Ibis Budget, etc.

Does that sound at all appealing?

Your budget of around €160 for 4 people sounds impossible at any of the few hotels actually on the airport, nothing is within safe walking distance that is off the airport (the airport is surrounded by major highways and train lines) and the chains, while cheaper, won't fit very comfortably in your price range.

The Netherlands, and around the airport and in Amsterdam is not a cheap place to sleep.

Can you share when your trip will be - the time of year makes a huge difference in hotel prices, and if there is a trade fair or special activity - like the spring bulb season - the availability goes way down and the prices up.

Are your teens over 15 or 16?

It is extremely rare in Europe to find rooms which will hold 4. And rooms are per person, not per room.

Can you share a little more please, to get a better and custom answer?

Nigel -'thank you for your thoughtful response! You information has helped immensely! Our kids will be 15 and 17. We are traveling late November. We are spending 3 nights there before flying home. That's why I was thinking near the airport. We are actually fine with anywhere (except near the red light district) as long as we can get to the airport easily the day we leave. I didn't realize how expensive Amsterdam would be. We've had pretty good luck finding accomodations in the other cities we are visiting. We can spend more, but want to be wise about how we use it. We aren't fancy people and don't need all the bells and whistles many higher end places offer.

Please don't stay near the airport. Amsterdam has one of the best, cheapest and fastest airport to downtown connections by train, so there is no need listen to planes all night. And Amsterdam is just made for walking in the evenings. Stay where you can walk along side the canals in the evenings.

Housing for four can be pricy. I suggest renting an apartment. This June we got two bedrooms, dining room, a comfy sitting room, balcony, a full kitchen, and washer and dryer, in the Jordan for just over €100 a night. It wasn't the only apartment in that price range. For a little more you could have one on a canal. Ours was a block off the canals and three blocks from The Anne Frank House in The Jordan.

The apartment itself was a Dutch experince. It was four stories tall (three if you count European) with a room per floor. Our teenage girls loved the steep ladder-like staircases. So did we. It is not for the unenergetic though. Three stories is long way to climb for bed.

Airbnb or Homeaway.com are the places to look.

I spend hours.. I do mean literally hours.. finding good , clean, well located and as CHEAP as possible accomadations for our Europe trips.

Amsterdam is hard. Its harder than Paris for me..

Since we generally only spend a few days there ( been four times now) , usually flying either in or out of Schipol I like to maximize our time and stay as central as possible. When we visit places for 4 or more days I may stay less central and not mind the time spent commuting.

This past June ( first week ) we stayed 3 nights in Amsterdam before our flight home.. after spending almost a month visiting many other places in Europe.
There were three of us, hubby, myself and young adult stepdaughter.

I could not find anything suitable for less then 150 euros a night.. and I tried.. and that was for a triple, admittedly in june as opposed to off season.. but I had to stretch our budget for Amsterdam ( we paid 100 euros for a two room suite in Greece for four of us , a friend flew in) .. to 180 euros ..

Brouwer Hotel. They put us in the coolest room. You go up a narrow winding stair case ( just one flight) .. and enter a landing area level with a full modern bathroom, then you go up 4 stairs to a bedroom then another 3 stairs to an open area, which had a huge old dining room table, several chairs, a beautiful old wardrobe, and a single bed against one wall.. but in corner of room was an amazing old bed in box.. I am not explaining this well,,lol Its an old fashioned bed that has partial walls build around it..hmm still not doing it justice. Point is.. you would all fit in this room.. one child takes single bed, one takes double bed in box, and you and hubby get the bed in the separate bedroom. A simple but filling breakfast is included.

Great location. We walked every where,never took a tram.

Look at using priceline.com. Their express deals can give you some really good hotels at good prices. This July we entered Museum District, Four Star Hotel and were offered a deal of $98/night. The location was good, the star rating was good and we accepted. We ended up in the Hotel Vondel and we could not have been more pleased. The airport express bus stops just 1/2 block away. Time to the airport approx. 30-40 minutes. Cost 5 euros.

There were plenty of restaurants, grocery stores, and trams nearby. If you were able to get a similar deal, you would have 2 rooms for your family, at budget, and in a great location.