<p>I get such great suggestions here on CC that I have decided to ask once again for your help. I am planning a trip to Amsterdam at the end of summer and would like to know if there are any “must see” suggestions from those of you who have been to this area.
I have received numerous suggestions from friends to go the the Anne Frank house. My husband also wants to take a trip to Brugge.
Any other ideas? We don’t want to travel much more than 3 hours in any one direction from Amsterdam as we have some plans in Amsterdam already.
Thanks in advance for any ideas!</p>
<p>Lego’s City in Amsterdam might be interesting to you.</p>
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<p>Thanks for that info - we will actually be there on that weekend so I will plan to check out the Uitmarkt! I guess I’d better get my hotel reservations made pretty soon if it’s that big of a weekend though.
We will need to go to Almere on Saturday for a race but Thursday and Friday night we will try to stay in Amsterdam to enjoy this event. I will have an 18 year old with me as well so this sounds right up her alley.
Not sure about the Lego’s City though…any more info?</p>
<p>Find a good Indonesian restaurant. It’s cuisine you don’t find very often here, and it’s very good. Amsterdam has several fantastic options.</p>
<p>Definitely visit Brugges, Belgium while you’re there. In Holland you might also want to visit - </p>
<ul>
<li><p>Kinderdijk - An area with a lot of windmills. [Welcome</a> to Kinderdijk!](<a href=“http://www.kinderdijk.nl/]Welcome”>http://www.kinderdijk.nl/)</p></li>
<li><p>Den Haag (The Hague) - It has a beach that’s interesting if the weather is nice (but it usually isn’t). It also has an interesting park called Madurodam that’s a park that has reconstructed many buildings in Holland on a 1:25 scale. I visited over 40 years ago when I was a kid and visited again a few years ago. It was interesting to see how a few things changed (prop planes to 747s at the ‘airport’). <a href=“http://www.madurodam.nl/default.php?language=1&sqlmode=1&fid=479[/url]”>http://www.madurodam.nl/default.php?language=1&sqlmode=1&fid=479</a></p></li>
<li><p>Make sure to see some castles and cathedrals.</p></li>
<li><p>If you have a car, get out and drive through some of the smaller towns. Check out some of the thatched roof houses.</p></li>
<li><p>Holland is very bicycle friendly so if you like riding a bike at all, you might want to rent one and ride around the countryside.</p></li>
<li><p>Visit some cheese places - Holland is a big dairy area. Try their cream also. A great dessert is strawberries and cream or raspberries and cream (Erdbeer??).</p></li>
<li><p>Buy some wooden shoes.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Nothing in Holland is too far away compared to what we’re used to - at least those of us in the West. I hope you have a good time.</p>
<p>The Van Gogh Museum is a must - I was captivated by his paintings. Amsterdam has a wonderful transportation system and is very, very easy to navigate. We ended up in the Red District because we visited Amstelkring (the secret, old Catholic Church). Amstelkring is definitely worth the visit. The Red District, on the other hand, well, it is a Red District and a tad different (understatement) from red districts in the US; I would not bring young children in this area.</p>
<p>If you’re into gardening, you may want to consider buying tulip bulbs - just make sure you buy the ones approved to be brought out of the country.</p>
<p>Harleem, a gorgeous little town outside Amsterdam, is great for a day trip. I loved the outside market.</p>
<p>We spent a day in Madurodam (in Den Haag) and we enjoyed that a lot.</p>
<p>I wish we had time to visit Brugges, but maybe some other time.</p>
<p>Have a wonderful time, watch out for bicycles and make sure you try their stroopwafels and cinnamon ice cream.</p>
<p>we took a bike ride around Haarlem and the countryside, it was smaller and easier to navigate on bike than Amsterdam and only a short train ride from the city. They had maps and a route that you could take, as well as rental bikes everywhere.</p>
<p>Lego’s (the plastic building units) headquarters is in Amsterdam. There is a huge mid-scale city built of Lego’s. Hey, if you are going to be a tourist, check it out.</p>
<p>[C</a> * a* r * m * e * n: Amsterdam’s Lego City](<a href=“http://carmenfoong.blogspot.com/2006/12/amsterdams-lego-city.html]C”>http://carmenfoong.blogspot.com/2006/12/amsterdams-lego-city.html)</p>
<p>I second the Indonesian food. The Red District is an education, but you might need to see if it is something that you want to experience.</p>
<p>Take a bus to the weekly cheese auction - it was hysterical! The war museum - “Cheese Heads Unite!”
Must sees - Van Gogh Museum, Rijkmuseum (sp?) Anne Frank House, Dam Square, Nieumarket, this little museum where Vermeer worked and if you’re bringing kids - the Science museum, way cool!!<br>
Other fun stuff - Go find the narrowest house. And if you’re not bringing kids - one of “those bars”. If you quilt, I found the most amazing fabric shop. Find the street with the nine canals—unbelievable sunset. The “cat museum”- actually someone’s house.</p>
<p>If you want restaurant names - let me know and I’ll ask H.
Re: the redlight district…
We went a few years ago with H on business. My S and D were 11 and 10. S was really into map reading so I let him do the planning. (H was at work.) Well, before you know it, we were seeing the “the girls in the windows” - at 3 in the afternoon! I told the kids to grab my hands , keep their eyes down and KEEP WALKING! Other folks were laughing their heads off at us.</p>
<p>We went on a soccer trip a few years ago.</p>
<p>Can’t give specifics, but visited a factory where they make wooden shoes. Everyone enjoyed this, even the kids. Great place to buy the obligatory wooden shoes.</p>
<p>Take a boat trip on the canals.</p>
<p>Brugges, Belgium was my favorite. It’s worth a day. Like you’re in a medieval fairyland. Of course you must walk the red light district in Amsterdam. If so inclined visit one of the smoke houses. Interesting!</p>
<p>Oh and don’t bother schlepping Belgian chocolates around…the airport (we went in and out of Schiphol (sp?))is loaded with candy stores.</p>
<p>We only had time for one museum…picked VanGogh. Loved it. You can see Rijksmuseum from Van Gogh, it’s not far to walk from one to the other.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the great advice - I am doing more research now so I can have somewhat of an itinerary before I complete all of my reservations.
It will just be my husband and I , and our 18 year old daughter so I’m not too worried about corrupting her LOL We will probably have to peek into a smokeshop and take a quick walk/drive by the red-light area just because… Who knows when we will be in Amsterdam again?
Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated ,including hotel recommendations!</p>
<p>VanGogh Museum, Rijksmuseum, Anne Frank’s house of course. I enjoyed a side trip to Delft - you can see Delft pottery being made. It’s a nice place to rent a bike and just tool around the canals.</p>
<p>My favorite thing to eat are waffle cookies filled with honey (STROOPWAFEL). You let them warm up on top of your coffee mug first.</p>
<p>If you are looking for a budget place with some character we really enjoyed the Hotel Brouwer. It is a canal house that has been converted into a small hotel (6 or 8 rooms). Not fancy but we really enjoyed it. Easy walk to most of the sights and the train station if you want to go out of the city. If you like fancy it will not be right for you. If you like the idea of some local character you would like it. We had the top floor room which had a window opening onto a great view of the canals. </p>
<p>By the way The red light district is not limited to just one area. We were nowhere near the official red light district but there were red lights in a street near us. We were on a girl scout trip to Europe and the girls were about 16 so would just look the other way (of course initially we made the mistake of saying ‘don’t look to the right’ so their automatic reaction was to look right). They did get a couple of whifs when we walked past the odd ‘coffee shop’ - one of the girls thought it was gas. Oh the innocence of being reared in a rural area in the US. They were not corrupted by the experience.</p>
<p>One thing we did in Paris that we really enjoyed was a segway tour. I think they have them in Amsterdam also.</p>
<p>Museums are great. I recommend you spend a few extra dollars to get the head sets which provide information on specific paintings. Having that information really added to the experience. The paintings at the Rijksmuseum are spectacular as are the ones at the Van Gogh. There’s also a small museum of the City of Amsterdam that’s really interesting. Take a canal boat tour and sit at an outdoor cafe and have something to drink. Great people watching.</p>
<p>Negatives–not too many except for all the graffiti and the tendency for some male locals to use the streets as bathrooms.</p>
<p>I started looking at hotels and I’m running into the same problem I had in Paris - most are single or doubles only. We will be three ( my husband and I, along with our 18 y/o daughter). I hate to pay for 2 rooms when we are the type of travelers that literally sleep, shower and go. Also - I don’t know how much my daughter would like to be in a room all by herself. We spend little time in the room as we try to get out and see as much as we can while we travel, so I guess it wouldn’t be so bad, but I’d rather have her with us.<br>
Are we unusual in this sense? Do most families get 2 or more rooms?
Also, can anybody recommend a hotel that will accomodate 3 adults? ( I don’t really want to add her in a double with a cot or rollaway…I want her to be comfortable as well).
I just wonder what others do when they travel with young adults. Thanks for any input!</p>
<p>i believe amsterdam is somewhat known as a hotbed for a particular plant that many enjoy…uh…drying and smoking?</p>
<p>as for the above question re: rooms, my family of 6 (mom, dad, 19, 18, 15, 12) usually gets 2 rooms, one of the boys and one for the girls (my mom, sister, and i DO NOT like dealing with all their nasty shenanigans…). it’s pretty much a given that the kids share a bed and the parent gets his or her own. it’s really not a big deal. </p>
<p>if you guys are looking for a new experience, could you find a homestay family? it’s where you would stay with a local family for a certain amount of time and live with them. it’s popular for study abroad kids, but my friend’s family did one in italy (i believe) and absolutely RAVED about how inexpensively they could stay there while meeting new people, finding all the local hotspots, and living like a european. they swear by it, and even had their italian family come visit last summer!</p>
<p>I googled “homestay Amsterdam”</p>
<p>Here’s a triple.</p>
<p>[Guest</a> House Amsterdam: Albay Homestay - Hostels Central](<a href=“http://www.hostelscentral.com/structure-552.html]Guest”>http://www.hostelscentral.com/structure-552.html)</p>
<p>You have to come back to CC and tell us about “our” trip now that we are all getting into the planning.</p>
<p>We stayed at Hotel Estherea, which is a lovely hotel in a terrific location, but may be too expensive for your dates. They do have triples. Try booking through bookings.com; they had the best deals for us. Hotels.com has great features for mapping your hotel and nearby tourist sites, but not the best prices.</p>
<p>You do want to consider your hotel choice carefully, as Amsterdam attracts groups of partiers - a hotel with a number of triples or quads would be pretty rambunctious.</p>
<p>The Anne Frank House is very small, as I’m sure you’ve guessed, but they have some evening hours that are much less crowded than the daytime.</p>
<p>I stayed at the NH Museum Quarter. Great location. Quite comfortable. Good breakfast buffet.</p>
<p>[NH</a> Museum Quarter - NH Hotels](<a href=“NH Hotel Group | Encuentra tu hotel y reserva online”>NH Hotel Group | Encuentra tu hotel y reserva online)</p>
<p>My room had two twin beds pushed together. Don’t know about the availability of triples.</p>
<p>I was in Amsterdam for three weeks during Thanksgiving. This was a helpful website for me: [Amsterdam</a> travel guide - Wikitravel](<a href=“http://wikitravel.org/en/Amsterdam]Amsterdam”>http://wikitravel.org/en/Amsterdam). Contact me if you would like to see my trip photos. I had a fabulous trip.</p>