Hotel de Montaña Amersfoort

Around the year 1880, a spa resort was established on the Amersfoortse Berg, named Hotel de Berg. It opened its salon doors for spa guests.

A beautiful, chalet-shaped building with a veranda that spans the width of the facade, shaded by the covered balcony. Above this balcony was an overhanging eaves adorned with beautifully carved decorative woodwork. This spa resort, located in an oxygen-rich green environment, stands on what was then a barren mountain, with slopes covered in shrubbery and mainly low oak coppice.

The view is wonderful, over the Utrechtse Heuvelrug, the Eemdal, and, far in the distance, the old city. The old and then only connection between Amersfoort and Utrecht was a sand road, sheltered on both sides by young beeches. Guests arrived at the spa by horse or in a carriage. These were mainly affluent ladies from the big cities who arrived in a fiacre, after which serving staff quickly rushed to unload their luggage. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the spa resort attracted many wealthy Dutch people to the Amersfoort Bergkwartier due to the pure natural surroundings. An ideal environment to catch one’s breath and allow the weary or sick body to recover. The modest spa hotel had 24 rooms. In 1902, Hotel De Berg came into the hands of the Martens family.

As long as the hotel on the Berg served as a spa, it was open from early spring until late summer. When Hotel De Berg, in 1902, came into the hands of the Martens family, it was converted into the Berghotel, and a wooden lookout tower was added centrally on the tiled roof. From this tower, on clear days, one could even see Utrecht and Ede in the distance. This tower determined the image of the Berghotel until World War II. When the surrounding beeches and oaks had grown so high that there was nothing but green visible from the tower, it was dismantled.

Around 1905, the restaurant facility, housed in a large dining hall, was expanded with a tea house on the opposite side. The large outdoor terrace offered a view over Klein Zwitserland, the green area by Borneoplein. On sunny days, the terrace filled up with day visitors. They rested during a walk with a cup of tea or coffee, or a glass of lemonade for the children. Both the restaurant and the tea house were frequented by the wealthy long after the war. Incidentally, the Berghotel was not the only hotel in Amersfoort around the turn of the century. Other fine outdoor hotels included hotel Birkhoven and hotel Oud Leusden. In 1918, Villa Amersberg was built next to the Berghotel.

During the war years, part of the Berghotel was confiscated by the occupier. The large restaurant hall, now known as the Van Campenzaal, served as a courtroom where swift justice was applied to prisoners from the nearby Camp Amersfoort and people from the resistance. After the war, the restaurant hall gradually regained its original purpose as a space where the wealthy and the cultural and administrative elite of Amersfoort dined and held their wedding receptions. What the Amstelhotel was to Amsterdam and the Des Indes to The Hague, the Berghotel was to Amersfoort and its surroundings. In the mid-fifties, the Martens family withdrew and sold the hotel to the Bindels family.

This family sold the hotel in the late 1980s to the Heilijgers company, making it part of the Dutch Hotel Company. Until the 1980s, the Berghotel remained a restaurant with 24 rooms. Since then, thanks to the rapidly growing prosperity, it has transformed into a modern business hotel with a restaurant and has grown into a 4-star accommodation. Today, Berghotel Amersfoort is still the most talked-about hotel in Amersfoort. We offer comfortable accommodations in 88 hotel rooms, divided into three room types, along with a special bridal suite. There are also 16 multifunctional meeting rooms that are exceptionally suitable for any gathering. The surprising kitchen provides a culinary experience in our brasserie or on the sun terrace. Although much has changed over all these decades, the Berg team still offers the classic service that one can expect from a location with the stature of the Berghotel.

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