Amsterdam end of July-early August

Parent Cafe
1

Chick and some friends are going to Amsterdam to hang out for about 10 days and are looking for recommendations on hotels and restaurants. I told her never underestimate the parent forum.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated on where to eat and where to stay would’ve appreciated. Thx S

2

10 days seems like a long time to spend just in Amsterdam. Do they have any specific interests or friends living there?

3

I think they are also going to see some friends in Coatia and make a side trip on ryan air. They are flying in and out of Amsterdam ( one of D’s friends got her a buddy pass. She has a friend who lives in amsterdam who she could crash with, but because other people are also going, she can’t take them all to someone else’s home)

4

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/amsterdam-my-favorite-things.cfm

When we were in Amsterdam 1.5 years ago, we used the linked Fodors thread for ideas. There was was more to do than we had time for in 3.5 days.
We stayed at the Dikker & Thijs hotel on the Prinsengracht Canal. Huge rooms. Busy, lively area.
Priceline is often recommended for finding well priced hotels in Amsterdam - I think biddingfortravel.com had recent data when we were considering it.

Ghent and Bruges aren’t that far away by train.

5

We had that discussion also. One of her good friends from college will be based in Amsterdam for the next 6 months, so she was going to visit. She talked about taking the train to different places, while she was there. Glad to know that there is not a lot to do that is worth staying 10 days for

6

Rijksmseum, Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank house are must-sees. The Netherlands is tiny, relatively speaking; your daughter could go to Germany or France, too.

7

I don’t have any particular lodging to recommend but would suggest looking at airbnb. Since she’s traveling with several others, they could rent out an entire place in the city center and there are some great looking options on airbnb.

8

I was in Amsterdam this past March and stayed in the Sir Albert Hotel. It was quite nice and a little quirky. I think it’s an old mansion or something converted into a hotel, so it’s not like a Marriott or Hyatt with uniform rooms and accommodations.

It’s located right downtown, in walking distance from the museum district. There were lots of good restaurants also in walking distance. I used Google maps app a lot to find stuff. On Saturdays there is huge street market on one of the streets near the hotel. All kinds of stuff for sale. If you see a kiosk cooking and selling poffertjes (little Dutch pancakes), be sure to buy some and eat them hot. Poffertjes are sold in restaurants everywhere, but the ones from tiny shops and cafes are the best.

I agree that Rijksmseum, Van Gogh Museum, and Anne Frank House are must sees. There are more museums in the museum district as well. You can also see the church in which Rembrandt is buried just around the corner from the Anne Frank House. The spire of that church is the one that Anne could see from the window of their hiding place.

One thing I learned there - the legal dope shops in Amsterdam are all euphemistically called “coffee shops.” I’m not sure where you go if you want actual coffee. Starbucks I guess.

9

Amsterdam has many coffee houses that are not Starbucks. :slight_smile: All cafes and almost all bars will serve coffee/expresso. Specialty coffee houses also exist, which will often use the Dutch spelling (koffie) in the name, so as not to be confused with a coffee shop.

A coffee shop (the smoke shop kind), will have a green and white sign (license) in the window, just to make it a bit more clear.

10

Get tickets online for the Anne Frank house. We also got online tickets for the Van Gogh Museum. Online tickets were not necessary for the Rijksmuseum or the Rembrandt House (which is actually a house he lived in-- so some art as well as a look at old Dutch houses. It was really neat). Make sure you eat some Indonesian rice table!

11

Agreed. Additionally, I’d suggest:
• Begijnhof
• Picnic in Vondelpark
• Stroopwafels from a street vendor

12

We visited Amsterdam in April. Online timed tickets to Anne Frank House were sold out 2 months in advance. If that is something they would like to see, start looking ASAP. I think you can purchase up to 3 months in advance.

Restaurants:

  • MUST DO: we loved Cafe Winkel 43 (http://winkel43.nl), which is at the corner of the Noorderkerk (northern church). They have an Appeltaart which is a cross between apple cake & pie that is to die for! Have coffee & Appeltaart. Next to Cafe Winkel is where they hold the Noordermarkt on Saturdays. This is a weekly market which features fresh produce, cheese & baked goods, as well as vintage clothes & handcrafted items. Great shopping!
  • Restaurant Max (http://www.maxrestaurant.nl) on Herenstraat features fresh Indonesian food, the Rijsttafel. It was the best rice table that we sampled in Amsterdam. Max himself waited on our table.
  • next door to Max is Seasons Restaurant, which is equally wonderful and innovative cooking. Make reservations to both Max & Seasons because they are very popular.
  • the Arendsnest (http://www.arendsnest.nl) is a popular Dutch beer bar with over 100 Dutch beers served. It is located along the canal at Herengracht 90. But there are tons of pubs & beer bars in Amsterdam, so don’t worry if there is no room at Arendsnest - there are plenty of other options.
  • the Jordaan is a trendy neighborhood for shopping and restaurants. We didn't have enough time to do the food tour of Jordaan, although it sounded interesting. You can look it up on TripAdvisor.

Lodging:
We rented an apartment in Jordaan through VRBO/Homeaway, although Airbnb also also has a lot of rental properties. I think it would be fun for a group to rent a houseboat in the summer (although it might be rather cold in the winter). You can find houseboat rentals on Airbnb & VRBO/Homeaway. The houseboat prices are comparable to apartment rentals.

Museums:
We loved the Rijksmuseum & Van Gogh Museum, which are located very close to each other. The streetcar drops you off in front of the museum district. Get a multi-day pass to the streetcar - you can purchase those at the office in front of the Centraal train station.

13

You can see the Anne Frank House without advance tickets. You’ll just have to stand in line for about an hour to get in. So don’t pass up the Anne Frank House just because the online tickets are already sold out.

14

You can also take a day trip from Amsterdam to the Hague. When I was there about 3 years ago, I visited the Mauritshaus and had the entire gallery to myself to see “The Girl With the Pearl Earring”. The museum then closed for renovation and the painting travelled to NYC to The Frick where people waited on line for hours. Another day trip is to the national park that houses the Kroller Muller Museum, lovely grounds and many fine art treasures to enjoy.

We did not have reservations for the Anne Frank House but went at 9 AM and did not have a long wait to get in but this was not in summer tourist season. There is also the Jewish Historical Museum in which the ruins of several synagogues have been combined. The Spanish & Portuguese synagogue is intact as was not destroyed during WWII.

Did not get to to go Museum of Dutch Resistance because we had a day of torrential rain and too far to walk but that is my agenda next time around. Very easy to get around Amsterdam just by walking around. We stayed at small guest house near the Leidseplan and Museum District, easy bus to get there from the airport.