Stay overnight at Pillows Luxury Boutique Hotel in Deventer

Recently we were guests in the beautiful Hanseatic city of Deventer, courtesy of VVV Deventer. They had put together a tremendously nice program with a cookie tasting at the Deventer Koekwinkel, a museum visit to two beautiful museums, a delicious lunch at Meadow, a city walk with tower climb through Deventer with Truus Schreijer and a beer tasting at DAVO Bieren. But they saved the best for last: because we also got a dinner at the IJssel Restaurant as well as an overnight stay at Pillows Luxury Boutique Hotel!

The Pillows Hotel

The Pillows Hotel in Deventer is located directly on the river IJssel across Deventer on one side and on a park on the other. Not surprisingly, Pillows Hotel Deventer is a popular wedding venue! To get there you can either cross the bridge by car from Deventer or take the ferry by bike or on foot. The ferry sails back and forth all day (until 23:00 at night) and you never have to wait long. A return ticket costs only 1.70. On the hotel side, you can park your car in the hotel’s free parking lot, or a little further down the road in the large parking lot. You pay only 1 euro per day for this, and on Sundays parking is even free! Much cheaper than parking in the center of Deventer!

Beautiful location

When we went to check in in the afternoon, we found that our room was not quite ready. However, we were allowed to leave our suitcases with the friendly staff at the front desk. They would bring our suitcases to our room later. The hotel is small in size and fully equipped. It sits in a wonderful location; namely, in addition to being on the river IJssel, it is also located on the Worpplantsoen. This is the oldest city park in the Netherlands! So we had to wait a while before we could see the room, but that wasn’t a problem at all.

Delightful luxury

After we arrived at the hotel in the evening after our earlier adventures in Deventer that day, we were able to check out the room. This one was not big, but very luxurious! The bed was perfect and everything we needed was in it. The bathroom with shower was also totally fine and we could let our wet rain shoes dry on the heater for a while. Luckily we also had a dry pair with us because we didn’t have much time to freshen up: we had a table at the IJssel Restaurant at 19:00!

The IJssel Restaurant

Fortunately, the IJssel Restaurant is in the same building as the hotel, so we didn’t have to travel far. There we were kindly welcomed by our own waiter (how chic!) and asked if we had any special dietary requirements. We were to have the 5-course Chef’s Choice menu with accompanying wine pairing. We were extremely curious!

Fine dining

The IJssel Restaurant serves dishes inspired by Dutch Cuisine. Local products are mainly used. The dishes all looked beautiful! We first received an oyster starter with a lovely glass of bubbles. The oyster was followed by an amuse with steak tartare and this too was accompanied by a nice, white wine. This was followed by a wonderful appetizer with corn tortilla and a wonderful dish with Kingfish and a scallop that I had never eaten before but found very tasty. All again with a lovely wine. The main course was a beautiful (and wonderfully tender) piece of beef with accompanying red wine. For dessert we had delicious ice cream. We skipped the dessert wine for a while, but the coffee afterwards was a great finish! We enjoyed and were really pampered.

Luxury breakfast

Then, tired but satisfied, we went upstairs where our hotel room was. We fell asleep like a log after a quick shower. Since we had a late check-out and breakfast was served until 10:30, we could take it easy the next morning. At 9 a.m. we went at our leisure to the breakfast room where quite a few people were already seated. Breakfast went differently than we were normally used to. Next to our plate was a bill with different A La Carte Breakfast dishes on it. We were given coffee and a tray of croissants, jams and rolls. Meanwhile, our a la carte order was taken and then brought to us! So we didn’t have to wait in line for the buffet. What a luxury again! Everything tasted delicious, especially the sugar bread French toast that we decided to have for dessert.

Into town!

After breakfast, we took a walk through the oldest city walking park in the Netherlands. Then we got all our stuff together and it was time to check out. The sun was shining wonderfully and it was a perfect day to see the city in the sun now too. Thank you Pillows Hotel Deventer and IJssel Restaurant for all the good care and delicious food! And of course a big thank you also to VVV Deventer for organizing!

Photos: OpstapmetLisa