My Fiancée and I have just got home after a wonderful weekend stay at the Hotel de Harmonie in Giethoorn. I booked through booking.com and got confirmation immediately. To be on the safe side, I also emailed the hotel direct who replied with confirmation of my booking quickly too.

Hotel is on the edge of the old part of the town and is one of the last bus stops before the roads finish. The bus stop is called “Hotel Harmonie” and a bus from Steenwijk only cost a couple of Euro’s each.

We arrived at the hotel and received a warm welcome. The lady behind the counter took some time to show us a map of the village and explain where the most picturesque places were. She also explained that bikes and whisper boats could be rented through the hotel.
We were asked if we wanted to book a table for dinner that evening. We said we might take a look around first – no pressure to book at all.

We were then shown to our room at the back of the hotel. Extremely clean and tidy – nice décor – very large bed (which was also very comfortable), a 42” Panasonic Viera Plasma TV (not that it would get used much) and safe in the wardrobe. There was also a very large shower in the bathroom – water was always hot and pressure was always good.

Breakfast was a buffet style. Freshly baked Croissants, bread rolls, bread, spreads, cereals, tea, coffee, fresh meats, cheese, fruit, orange juice, scrambled egg, bacon, boiled eggs – all very nice. Breakfast was from 8am to 10am. The latest we were down was about 8:15 as we wanted to get out exploring. Always plenty of food, always hot, really impressed.

We rented bikes from the hotel on our second day. Think they were about 9.50 Euros each for the day which seemed to be the going rate. We were taken outside and shown how to use the locks by the hotel manager. He was very polite, funny & helpful and even took the time to show us the Netherlands Weather Radar System website which predicts when and where the rain will fall (I should say this was very accurate on the Saturday but not so accurate on the Sunday due to changing wind speeds – Free internet available). He also gave us another map and took the time to highlight and explain some possible routes to us. Bikes were very comfortable (we spent about 5 hours on them). They have 3 gears which is fine as everywhere is very flat & the chains are covered meaning no oil marks on your trouser legs! I highly recommend renting bikes – quick way to explore the town and the nearby areas. We did pop into Steenwijk briefly and this took us about 15-20 minutes to cycle.

I proposed to my girlfriend (now Fiancée!) that day and we decided to eat in the hotel restaurant that evening as it is Michelin recommended. The two members of the waiting staff were very friendly, very efficient and really helped make it a special night. The do tend to joke about a little bit but this just added to the atmosphere and really made our night. They even put some sparklers in our desert and were happy to snap a few photos for us. The food was delicious and reasonably priced. Really pleased we chose to go here to eat on our special night.

We rented a whisper boat the next day. It was raining quite badly. The manager was encouraging us to wait for it to stop however we were quite impatient and wanted to get out exploring. By 2pm, we couldn’t wait any longer (The weather radar first said the rain would stop at 11:30am, then 12:30, then 1:30pm etc). The manager gave us another map, showed us possible routes and explained the one way system and how we had to follow the arrows. He then took us to the boat, wiped all the seats down, bailed out the small bit of water that had collected due to the rain and showed us how to work the boat. Pretty simple. Lever for forward & reverse & a steering wheel. Again, the prices seemed to be on par with other places in the village. For convenience of starting and finishing at the hotel I recommend using one of their boats. Also, it means you do the most picturesque part of the village last.

In summary, room décor was very good and cleaned to a high standard everyday. Safe was simple to use. Staff were friendly, funny and made every effort to help us and answer any questions. Even upon leaving, the manager (who wasn’t at the desk when we checked out) made an effort to walk across to the bus stop to say good bye, wish us a safe journey and say he hoped to see us again in a few years to celebrate our anniversary. Food was great at the hotel with a good selection and brilliant waiting staff. Bikes and Boats were maintained well.

It was a special weekend and Im glad I picked the right hotel. My Fiancée was really impressed and it earned me a lot of brownie points. I cant recommend this hotel enough.