A Weekend in Amsterdam

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With its canals, historical buildings, museums and delicious food, Amsterdam is a fascinating and beautiful city to visit and is the perfect place to spend a weekend.

Arriving

We arrived in Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport on a late evening flight. Amsterdam has a large modern airport. If you have time, it’s quite actually quite a nice place to do some shopping. To get into the city centre, there is a direct day and night train connection between Schiphol airport and the Amsterdam central station which takes about 20 minutes. We purchased our tickets from the automatic machines. They are modern and provide multilingual options, but be aware that they only accept coins or bank cards. As the tickets were reasonably expensive, we didn’t have enough Euro coins on us to cover the cost so we attempted to use our UK Visa direct debit cards, but for some reason the machines would not accept them. After a bit of a panic, the machine thankfully accepted my Mastercard credit card. We could see other people having the same problem as us, so be prepared. If you are concerned about this, then you can pre-order your tickets online, or line up and pay a bit extra for your ticket at the ticket office.

From the central station you can catch a tram, bus or metro to your accommodation. To use the trams, be aware that some doors are entry doors and some are exit doors. The doors are marked as such and the conductor is located at the entry doors. You can purchase you ticket onboard from the conductor or, if you already have a ticket, there are electronic touch on devices.

Day 1

Accommodation in the city centre area is expensive in Amsterdam, so in an attempt to save money, we ended up staying on a house boat. We thought it would be a good opportunity to experience the canal living, but unfortunately it was not a very nice house boat and it ended up being a rather cold stay. We were just glad that at least it wasn’t the middle of winter.

Keen to spend as little time as possible on the houseboat, we got up early, jumped on the tram and headed over to the Jordaan area to visit the popular Café Winkel (Noordermarkt 43, 1015 NA Amsterdam). This café is extremely popular with both locals and tourists because of their renowned appeltaart, which is the Dutch version of an apple cake. This place gets really busy, but we were lucky enough to snag ourselves a table. They serve other food here too which looked delicious, but as it was morning we knew we weren’t going to fit both a meal and appeltaart in, so of course we prioritised the cake. I mean, what better way to start your day than with a generous portion of appeltaart and a side of whipped cream? The coffee and hot chocolate were also really good. This place must go through tons of cakes each day. Even in the short time that we were there, they went through several cakes. Before I left I happened to walk past the kitchen on my way to the bathroom and got a peek inside. There were massive buckets of chopped up apples ready to go into cakes, and there were stacks of trays of freshly baked appeltaarts cooling.

Suitably refreshed, we took a stroll around the Jordaan area. This was once a working class neighbourhood, but is now a very expensive upscale area with nice shops, cafés and art galleries. The Noordermarkt ‘Northern Market’ is held in the square here too.

We headed along the canal front and stumbled across the Amsterdam Cheese Museum. There are several cheese shops dotted across the city, and if you love cheese then I would definitely recommend visiting one. Although we were quite full from our appeltaart, we are absolute cheese fanatics so couldn’t help ourselves heading in. The awesome thing about the museum is that they also double as a cheese shop and are very generous with their tasters. They have a small plate them laid out for each of their cheeses around the shop. Now, I am a little ashamed to admit it, but we ended up sampling every kind of cheese that they had in the shop. We almost felt drunk from eating too much cheese. Of course whenever we came across a cheese that we just couldn’t live without, it ended up in our shopping basket, so we spent about 40 euro on cheese. I’m sure this taster strategy must work well for the shop as they more than made their money back on us.

In the basement area of the shop is the actual cheese museum, and although it is small, it is quite entertaining and worth a look. The highlight is the dress up area where you could adorn yourself with the traditional outfit of the Dutch cheese maker and take a photo using their self-service camera.

When we could no longer consume anymore cheese, we headed out for more sightseeing. In this area is also the Anne Frank Huis. This is an extremely popular attraction, and since it is a small space, they can only accommodate a limited number of people at a time. To get tickets, you need to book online. But in the evenings, you can line up to purchase a door ticket. However, expect a very long wait, the line literally winds around the streets for a looong way.

There are lots of beautiful churches in Amsterdam. In this area, there is Westerkirk, built in the Renaissance-era, Church of Our Lady, and De Nieuwe Kerk, a medieval church. Beside De Nieuwe Kerk is the Royal Palace and Dam square which is a popular place for people watching. For a fee you can visit most of the palace rooms on the first floor. As you might expect, the rooms are all richly adorned and provide some historical insight into the Dutch royal family.

Whilst in the city centre, we spent some time wandering around the shopping area. There was a mix of mainstream chain stores and lots of tourist shops. With all this walking we were keen for a snack so we decided to indulge in some ‘frites’ aka fries. We headed for Damrak street where there are lots of places dedicated to selling frites. Frites are very popular here, and are served in paper cones with mayonnaise (they usually offer a long list of other sauces to choose from too). You’re probably thinking, ‘what makes them so different to the usual fries you get anywhere else?’. Well, for a start they have an extra crunchy exterior, but with a lovely fluffy interior, and the potatoes they use are absolutely delicious. We ended up visiting the very popular Manneken Pis, and we were not disappointed, but be warned, the cones are huge!

Being Van Gogh fans, we decided to spend our afternoon at the Van Gogh museum. Amsterdam has a museum area called Museumplein which consists of a park, pond and the popular ‘I Am Amsterdam’ sign, which is usually covered in posing tourists. The Van Gogh museum is just one of several museums in this area, for Banksy fans, there is also a house converted into a Banksy and Dali museum called Moco Museum.

I really enjoyed the Van Gogh museum, especially the way it was laid out and told his story from beginner to talented artist. It also provided an insight into his struggle with mental illness. As well as Van Gogh, there are paintings on display from other talented artists including Maurice de Vlaminck and Kees van Dongen.

By now it was evening and our feet were super tired, so we headed back to our accommodation to rest our feet and then onto a late dinner.

Day 2

The next day, we decided to tackle Rijksmuseum first thing. This museum is gigantic, so if you want to see it all you really need to be prepared to put the time aside. Dedicated to the arts and history, the museum opened in 1885. It consists of two squares with an atrium in each centre, so don’t forget to visit both sides of the building. I have to say that this was one of the best museums I’ve visited, I highly recommend it.

Following our marathon museum session at Rijksmuseum, we headed out into the spring sunshine and walked to Vondelpark, Amsterdam’s large city park. It’s a popular place where everyone goes to enjoy time with friends and families, and is a nice place to escape the hustle and bustle of the city.

After soaking up some sun, we headed back into the city to visit the Floating Flower market. I have to admit that this market was a bit of a disappointment, I expected more fresh flowers. However, if you are keen to buy some bulbs and plant seeds, then this a good place to shop as they have a large selection. There are lots of souvenirs on sale here too, but most was just the junky kind.

After a drinks break, we headed out for a walk around Amsterdam and the canals. Amsterdam is a particularly attractive city and everywhere you stroll you will see lots interesting buildings and picturesque canal scenes. We couldn’t get over how wonky the buildings were and how far some of them leaned to the left or right, or even forward! Some of them looked like they would fall over if you gave them a good shove.

In the evening, we took a stroll around De Wallen, Amsterdam’s infamous Red Light district. Here you will find lots of coffeeshops (or koffieshops) where you can legally buy soft drugs. There are also sex shops and sex workers advertising themselves in the windows. If you are visiting, then please respect the rules and don’t take photos or film. There are plenty of signs reminding you, and if you don’t follow them, expect to be firmly confronted by the security.

Our final meal in Amsterdam was at Instock (Czaar Peterstraat 21, 1018 NW Amsterdam) which I feel is worth a mention. They turn surplus food into delicious, restaurant quality meals. Because they don’t know in advance what food they will have in stock (hence the name ‘Instock’), there are no set menus. You just turn up and get served whatever they’ve made that day. I must admit, when I first arrived and saw the nights set menu it didn’t completely appeal to me. However, I decided to just go with it and give it ago, and I’m really glad I did. The dishes were beautifully presented and delicious. The service was excellent too. It was a great way to end our weekend in Amsterdam.

Practical Tips for Visiting Amsterdam

Language: Dutch, however, apparently over 90% of Dutch people speak English. Even so, do try your hand at a few Dutch words:
- Yes = Ja (yah)
- No = Nee (nay)
- Please = Alstublieft / Alsjeblieft (ahlst-ew-bleeft / ahl-shuh-bleeft)
- Thank you = Dank u wel / Dank je wel (dahnk-ew-vehl / dahnk-yuh-vehl)
- Hello = Hoi / Hallo / Daag / Doei (hoy / hah-loh / dahk / doo-ee)
Currency: Euro
Tipping: Not required, but people usually round up.
Electricity: The electrical current is 220 volts, 50 Hz. Wall outlets generally take the European two round prong plugs. However, you are better off purchasing a worldwide adaptor that can be used in Amsterdam as well other countries. At least then you can potentially get some further use out of it on future vacations. If you’re taking a number of electronics with you, then I would recommend purchasing a couple of these adaptors.
Public transport: Amsterdam has excellent public transport including bus, metro, and tram. The city is quite flat and is a great place to explore of foot if you are able to, or, better yet, hire a bike and cycle round like a local. Unfortunately, we didn’t get time to do this, but it looked like a great way to get around.
Navigating: Use Google’s free Offline Maps. Google Offline Maps allows you to access free maps for navigating that can be used offline i.e. you don’t need WIFI, data, or roaming to be able to use them. Follow this detailed guide on how to use Googles Offline Maps. Using your phone as a GPS will drain your battery quickly, so use a portable battery charger which you can use to charge your phone and any other USB chargeable devices. If you prefer a paper map, then Lonely Planets Amsterdam Pocket Travel Guide comes with a helpful pull out map. At least it’s reliable and won’t run out of battery or malfunction like the electronic options!
A coffeeshop or koffieshop is a place where you can legally buy soft drugs (marijuana or hashish), space cakes, coffee, tea, and sometimes freshly-squeezed juices and sandwiches. All coffeeshops display a green-and-white sign at the entrance, usually along with their license plus notices declaring that no one under the age of 18 is allowed to enter. You can legally buy and use soft drugs at coffeeshops. You can have so-called ‘personal amounts’ of up to 5 gram on you without getting in trouble with the law.
A coffee house or Koffie Huis/ Koffiebar/ Koffiesalon, anything with the word ‘koffie’ or ‘coffee’ or ‘espresso’ — but without the green-and-white sign is a normal café and don’t sell soft drugs.