Hotel Spaander, BW Signature Collection

Volendam is the picture-postcard Holland of a working harbour, traditional costume, and smoked eel straight off the boats, strung along the shore of the Markermeer. Right on that waterfront, the Hotel Spaander, BW Signature Collection, Volendam, Netherlands, has been an icon since 1881, its walls hung with more than 1,400 paintings from the Volendam art school it once welcomed. Half of the rooms and suites face the lake, with stunning water views from the balconies, the kind of room you linger in as the light shifts over the water. A wellness area with an indoor pool, a bar, the historic inn restaurant, and several terraces round out a stay in this entirely smoke-free hotel. From the harbour out front, the Marken Express ferry has been crossing the Gouwzee to the old island village of Marken for almost a century, a scenic thirty-minute trip well worth making while you're here. Book your stay and let Volendam set the pace.