Nuru massage Dam Square: marble bathrooms at the old heart of the city

The square has been the centre of Amsterdam since the dam that gave the city its name, and the buildings around it are among the grandest the centre keeps: the palace on one side, and on the others, and along the two broad streets running to the station and to the river, large hotels in nineteenth-century blocks and newer ones built into former banks and office buildings. The historic rooms are generous, carpeted or laid with wood, with double glazing against the trams and a bathroom finished in marble. The most common arrangement is a long bathtub with a half-height glass screen and a fixed shower above it, with a separate cubicle in the larger categories. The conversions behind the shopping streets are more modern, with walk-in showers, level floors and darker, quieter rooms. Bathroom doors in the historic blocks are solid and heavy, and they keep steam in well once closed. Heated towel rails are close to standard in both, and they turn out to be one of the quiet pleasures of a gel session.

Getting in, and getting the room right

A half-glass bath screen is the one thing to think through. It keeps most of the water in the tub during an ordinary shower, but a gel rinse needs space, and water tends to escape past the open end onto a marble floor that becomes very slippery indeed. A bath mat and a towel on the floor alongside the tub, and a steady hand on the rail when stepping in and out, solve it. The warmth of these rooms is good, and heating in the older grand hotels usually runs generously, though windows facing the square can be cold to the touch, so draw the heavy curtains. Hanging the clean towels on the heated rail as soon as she arrives means every one of them is warm when it is needed. The larger rooms often have a sitting area with a sofa and a low table, which becomes a convenient place to lay out the gel and fresh towels within arm's reach of the bed. Entry is formal but unfussy: a doorman or a night desk, a large lift, and corridors long enough that giving your room number in advance saves a phone call.

Nuru massage in Dam Square, technique by technique

A nuru massage at Dam Square is well suited to two hours, because the rooms are large, the beds wide and the bathroom comfortable enough for a long closing rinse. Soapy massage finds its natural home in the long tubs of the historic rooms, and a separate cubicle, where there is one, makes it easier still. Four-hand sessions suit the executive rooms and suites, which have the floor space around the bed that two therapists need. Body-to-body in oil matches the compact converted rooms behind the shopping streets, and sensual massage is the quiet option for a first night in the city, when jet lag has not yet decided what it wants. Rooms at the rear of the conversions look onto quiet lanes and stay darker, which some guests prefer for a long session. Guests staying several nights often move between formats across visits, starting with sensual and graduating to the gel.

Reply, crossing and settling up

Book on WhatsApp and you will have a confirmed therapist and time in about ten minutes; the centre is reached in twenty to thirty minutes, and few addresses are more central than this one. The rates match everywhere else we go: €180 an hour, €360 an hour when two therapists attend, €1,250 for an eight-hour overnight. Money is settled at the door: a card, crypto, or notes in any major currency. We come to your room only, and every guest has to be twenty-one or older.