The Golden Tulip in Velp is a typical modern construction, very boxy in shape almost as if it was designed in Lego. As already commented in previous posts it looks like a large motel, tucked at the bottom of a couple of car parks with office blocks nearby. Not particularly inspiring and definitely feels a bit out on a limb.

However, it offers spacious, clean rooms and very comfortable beds. The doubles are doubles and not two singles pushed together. There are also two restaurants which seem to open on alternate evenings. We ate in the more intimate of the two on our first night of a three night stay and found the food to be well cooked to order, if a little fussy. My cod with shrimp macaroni (2) and a shell fish sauce was the least rich of the offerings and still felt a little OTT. Despite this not something to complain about and price-wise the restaurant equates to many in the Arnhem area. The concept is fine dining and not fast food.

The hotel does lack in atmosphere, part of this being driven by its design (boring) and part because it is a business hotel. However, over the weekend things do change and the suits are replaced by families and the extra touches, such as sugar sprinkles to go on bread - a Dutch children’s treat, appear at the already very extensive and good breakfast.

One or two previous posts note that the hotel is rather isolated and that expensive taxi rides are called for to go into Arnhem centre. This may be the case, but Velp boasts some extensive shopping and a number of restaurants of various calibre nearby to and around the church. We ate at one of these, De Watermoelan (the Water Mill), which is situated very close to the hotel - turn left onto the main road from the car park, cross over the lights, heading for Centrum, over a railway crossing and the restaurant is on the righthand side. Total driving time, less than 5 minutes. This restaurant is an old watermill, as the name suggests, and given it is housed in the original wooden building, has bags of character and atmosphere. We were there on a damp evening, but there is a lovely courtyard outside, which on a fine day would be a great place to sit. The food is very good and menus are priced from 19 Euros for 2 courses to a whacking 65 Euros for a 6 course Chef’s Menu. Wine is not cheap, starting at 19 Euros for relatively bog-standard stuff and rising to three figures for the posh bottles. However, I’ve noticed that in Holland people tend more to drink by the glass than the bottle. Overall, a good recommendation, but one which will cost at least as much as the hotel restaurant.

Our third evening meal was had after a rather frustrating navigation around the centre of Arnhem. We had decided to eat Indonesian that evening and were recommended the Batavia, which is situated near the railway station. We had one of their specialist rijstafels, which I found all tasted rather “brown” and samey. This may be a characteristic of Indonesian food, but not one that really pleased. The total bill for three with a couple of glasses of wine, came to just under 90 Euros.

In conclusion, the Golden Tulip is not a resort hotel, but very much targets business clientele. However, it does offer a good base to explore the Arnhem area: it is well connected by road; it is close to the Kroller Mueller - an important art museum with very large sculpture garden and surrounding heathland on which to walk; the out-door museum, which has been going since the 1930s and comprises buildings taken from all over Holland and reset in a large area, around which old trams will transport you - a full day’s outing; and a host of other sites (e.g. relating to the Battle of Arnhem). Overall, I would come back.