A sleek and urbane boutique hotel found in a former school (hence the name), the College is a couple of minutes from Amsterdam’s Big Three museums, the Rijksmuseum, Stedelijk, and Van Gogh. It’s also dangerously close to the shockingly expensive designer stores on PC Hoofstraat so you’ll get to spy on plenty of self-consciously glam 30-something European professionals among the vaguely Art Nouveau surroundings of the hotel’s luscious, shady courtyard and bar. The spacious guest rooms are the last word in contemporary cool, in soothing beiges and tans, with stacks of pillows and smart fixtures and fittings.