The comfy traveller's diaries

Category: Travel recommendations

When tulips are no longer in season
The best time to visit The Netherlands – and I think many people would agree with me on this – is undoubtedly mid-March to mid-April when tulips are in season in this part of the world. However, I would argue that your chances for good weather increase sharply when you delay your trip until about June to August.

The tiny country of The netherlands actually has a lot to offer in terms of picturesque scenery and grand museums and today I will focus on The Hague, also known and the city of peace and justice, with the imposing building of the Peace Palace serving as the seat of the International Court of Justice.

While The Hague does not have many canals and therefore distinguishes itself somewhat from other Dutch towns, such as Delft or Utrecht you may have already seen on instagram, it houses the beautiful building of the Dutch parliament right next to the Mauritshuis in the very heart of the city. For connaisseurs of the Old Masters and their paintings, you may have actually already seen the Buitenhof and hence the Dutch parliament buildings on maginificent paintings exhibited in Madrid’s Prado museum in Spain.

The Mauritshuis on the other hand is a relatively small museum and displays the maginificent painting of the girl with the pearl earring by Johannes Vermeer as well as works of Rubens and Rembrandt. You are well advised to purchase tickets in advance, as you will have to select a time slot for your visit. However, this museum is not as frquented as, for example, the van Gogh museum in Amsterdam and it should suffice to order your tickets a few days in advance.

I don’t know about you, but I always feel mentally exhausted after a visit to the museum and definitely need to distract with the simple pleasures of life, such as a beautiful walk and or a cup of coffee. If the weather permits, you should absolutely enjoy Dutch coffee culture and join the locals in the numerous cafés on the Plaatsacross or along the Denneweg nearby, which, among summer; the first houses several restaurants and higher end clothing boutiques and spas.

Behind the Plaats, you’ll get to the Noordeinde that houses the city’s high-end stores as well as more cafésand hipster shops. If you like matcha tea for instance, I can recommend the Hug the Tea in Papestraat for nice matcha; unfortunately, they do have the most uncomfortable chairs in the world, which means, you might prefer to get a takeaway instead.

When it comes to food, I think Denneweg is a better choice; Vincenzo’s offers great pizza and Walter Benedictis a very unique blend of Dutch and international cuisine. It is an all-day-place, and whether you just want to people watch while having a cappuccino (even in the afternoon, because this is not Italy and no one will care) or indulge on local oysters or a simple burger, you are at the right place. The menu isn’t extensive, but that is usually a good sign. There are a number of other restaurants on this street, but I haven’t tried them, so I do not want to recommend anything I haven’t tried.

From Denneweg, you can also continue on to Frederikstraat where you will find more restaurants, cafés and a few interior design shops. I can particularly recommend the Barista café, which has a cool vibe, and is frequented by a wide range of people of all ages, which I like very much. I am not really into places that are so niche that they only attract one kind of clientele; I am not sure whether that makes sense, but this is my opinion. Barista café is also a great choice for rainy days because you can sit for a long time and just enjoy the vibe on one of their cozy armchairs or sofas.

I don’t know whether you are anything like me, but I really love just walking around the tiny streets and beautiful old houses to take in that very unique Dutch atmosphere. For instance, parallel to the Denneweg (take a right turn after Hotel des Indes if you are coming from the direction of the Mauritshuis) is a quiet canal that always looks so pretty, no matter what time of the year you get to visit. It’s nothing special or famous, but I think it is very pretty and not touristy at all, so that you may even have a seat on one of the public benches and enjoy the scenery in its authenticity.

I find this to be much harder in the touristic center of Amsterdam for example where masses of tourists taking pictures kind of ruins it for me. I also like to stroll along the big plane tree ally away from the Hotel des Indes, walking past the imposing buildings of embassies and consulates until you reach the summer residence palace on the other side of the street.

While the weather is often a big downer in The Netherlands, it is such a pretty place to visit, and I do recommend you pick the time wisely. While tulip season is of course amazingly beautiful, summer until about mid-September shouldn’t be overlooked at all. And if the weather is indeed terrible, there are plenty of stunning museums to be visited and coffees to be had.

In my opinion, being a tourist is not so much about checking things off a bucket list, or worse, a to do list. I think that the art of being a comfy tourist is to blend in with the locals and see those places that you wouldn’t otherwise experience. The center of the Hague is a very small and safe place to navigate. You can’t really get it wrong. So, try to venture about a bit and don’t just stop at the museum.
17.08.2025
It’s all about the location
Location is everything. It does not mean that you need to have a direct view on a sparkling Eiffel-tower. Or not necessarily. No, when I say location is everything, I am talking about a lot of different factors that make a hotel right for me. Location is what makes your stay comfortable in a way that serves you, your needs and the occasion. Christmas 2019 I spent in Athens with only one part of my family, as the other part could not make it to Europe that year. I went for the Acropolis view and proximity to the main cathedral and city centre, because it made sense for the occasion.

But, last winter, for instance, I took my mum on a trip to Istanbul, as it is her favourite city and she had just completed a serious milestone in her life that needed to be celebrated in style. I chose a beautiful, luxurious hotel with all the amenities we wanted. The room was spacious (with the twin beds at a nice far distance of each other! Not a given unfortunately!), the coffee was amazing and the food wonderful. The hotel had different restaurants, a fantastic gym and an indoor pool. Yet, the location was a disaster. Not because the view was bad or anything like that, but because it was so awkwardly located next to several highways looping up the hill, that there was no way it could safely or comfortably be reached on foot from the riverbank that was only a stone throw away. We were entirely dependent on taxis, which unfortunately sometimes proved to be more stressful than I like to recall, with most drivers unable to understand and speak English and one driver, after I had shown him the hotel address on a hotel business card about 3 times already, taking us down the highway to God knows where. It was a very scary moment, especially when you find yourself at the mercy of that driver who you cannot even communicate with. We were able to get him to turn around and eventually made it back to the hotel, but I would have preferred to skip this experience in my life. The take-away of that story for me was that I completely failed at choosing a good location and it won’t happen to me again.

Similarly taxi-related a.k.a. avoiding to have to sit in the car of a stranger is how I like to choose hotels in big cities now (through lots of trial and error). And this is why I want to share these tips with you. Some cities, such as Milan or London have an excellent tube or rail connection to the airport that will relieve you from having to be stuck in a taxi (and traffic) at an exorbitant price when you can just as well take the tube. In Paris, I can also recommend that when it comes to arrivals by train (Gare du Nord, for example); personally, I am not a big fan of the rail connection to Charles de Gaulle airport and try to avoid it where possible.

The key here is to choose your hotel location wisely, based on the metro lines. What you want to avoid is to have to schlepp your suitcase through different line-changes. It will not be comfortable and you won’t get there looking cute but rather like a sweaty mess, which is not a look I recommend going for under any circumstance. You’ll have to keep it basic. One line, no changes or a maximum of one change.

This works exceptionally well for me in Milan, London and Paris. It obviously does not work if you bring more than one big suitcase.

Another question you have to ask yourself is what you value most (unless you don’t need to look at price tags and can stay at the Ritz or Plaza Athene). Do you need a Duomo view in Milan or would you rather have a spacious room? Some years back, I travelled on a rather tight budget but was able to find a really good deal on a room of a four star hotel chain located somewhat far from the city centre. However, the same budget would have only gotten me something truly awful closer to the centre. So, I chose the far-out location instead.

There was a direct tram to the Duomo, and it was the beginning of September which meant the days were still reasonably long and I felt safe travelling by tram in the evening. Since I had no shopping budget, I also did not have the issue of having to leave things or bags at the hotel throughout the day. It was a wonderful choice. I saw so much of the city simply by way of the tram ride. I also enjoyed a beautiful, huge room, a fantastic hotel gym (not easy to find, I am telling you) and all the amenities of a good hotel normally out of my price league. It was great.

So next time you book, ask yourself what it is you value the most and start your search accordingly. If money isn’t an issue, go for it and get that Duomo view and a private car pick-up from the hotel, but if you enjoy luxury more than your wallet allows (like myself), you got to start somewhere and make smarter choices in getting the most out of what you can afford. And sometimes, it is truly not only about the money. For me, it has a lot to do with my peace of mind and I would take the tube/subway/metro ten times over having to sit in a car alone with a stranger.

It took a few years and trips, but for Milan, I have now found my perfect match: The Radisson Collection hotel in Santa Sofia with direct metro access (M4) to Linate airport in the front of the hotel, excellent breakfast and coffee, a reasonable gym, very kind and friendly staff, and located not too far from the Duomo (with a direct tram).

In London, I like to stay at the Royal Garden Hotel on Kensington High Street, as it is well connected to everywhere, including the airport, and right on the edge of beautiful Hyde Park where I like to recall my student days going for a morning run.

None of my recommendations are sponsored. They come from the heart and are the result of lots of trial and error.
20.07.2025
A little bit of Paris

The other day, my sister in-law asked me whether I would have some recommendations for food and pastries in Paris, since a good friend of hers was visiting the city of light very soon. I immediately jumped at this opportunity, although I was incredibly busy at work. But we are talking Paris. I’d drop anything to be reminiscing about Paris. In the last couple of years, I have been to Paris on a number of occasions and I also always preferred the Air France flight to Paris from Tel Aviv over any other flight that would bring me to Europe in summer. Arriving in the French capital from what felt like a nasty red eye, I loved strolling around a deserted August Paris, doing some sales shopping and enjoying the café culture. I have since left the Middle East and now tend to travel to Paris by train, but Paris still remains a constant travel destination for me.

As I was thinking about restaurant and pastry places, I realized that there are a few places in particular that I appreciate very much. Most of these are, however, morning/afternoon kind of places.

I haven’t really been dining out much in Paris, although there is a very cute Japanese Ramen place near the Opéra that I can highly recommend for a hearty dinner. It’s called Takesan Donabe Ramen on 20 Rue de la Michodière, just off Boulevard de Cappucine. They do not take reservations, so you’d have to just show up. Apart from the ramen being really nice, I very much liked the vibe of the place. There were all kinds of people and all kinds of age-groups at the restaurant.

I am very used to my early morning routine of getting up at the crack of dawn and working out before I do anything else in life, so by the time dinner time rolls around I have usually completed another 17 to 20k steps wandering around this beautiful city and ate too many pastries to justify a full-on dinner. That’s why I tend to have mostly pastry places and bistro lunches in my repertoire.

So, let’s start with the sweet things:

La Durée is kind of a must. I have been to the one just off Rue Saint Honoré on Rue royale and another opposite the Jardin du Luxembourg on 4 Place Edmond Rostand, off Rue de médicis – near the Luxembourg Metro station. If you only want to get take away, both of them are great, but if you want to sit in style, I would recommend the one on Rue royale, as they have a tea salon upstairs. I have been to the Luxembourg store in autumn, and got a take away coffee cup and my macarons on a paper tray even though I was sitting on the terrace, so it felt a bit like McMacaron and not exactly what I had in mind. (As a gym girl, I like to celebrate the calories I consume).

Apart from macarons, I also love a good tartelette, especially those with raspberries. I would even boldly claim that this is my all-time favourite French pastry treat. To be perfectly honest, tartes aux framboises are amazing from almost any patisserie, but I particularly like the ones from Eric Kayser patisserie. This is a chain and I have been to the Rue du bac and Rue du commerce shops. On Rue du bac you can also eat in.

If you make your way to Rue du commerce, I can also recommend the L’Atelier du Chocolat, which is a chocolate artisan; and in any event, Rue du Commerce is a beautiful, chilled street with a little square and its own Metro station. It is just worth going there for a bit of Paris atmosphere and shopping without the crowds. I would recommend starting your stroll down this street from La Motte Picquet/Grenelle metro station though.

I will keep my lunch and morning coffee recommendations for another day. So, please stay tuned.

At the end, I would just like to note that none of the above recommendations are sponsored in any way; they are just honest recommendations from a passionate traveller.

22.06.2025