Amsterdam

We spent 3 days exploring all of what Amsterdam has to offer. I loved this city, the vibes here are very chill, relaxed, artsy, open minded, fun, I love it. I felt very relaxed here. Read along to check out what to do and great places to eat in Amsterdam.

Day 1

After London, my best friend and I took the train to Amsterdam. We left early in the morning, the train was about 5 hours long, and we arrived around 2:30pm. You can also fly but we were having trouble finding flights for a decent price where we didn’t have to worry about big bags. We checked into our hotel and got settled in. We stayed at the cutest little hotel in the best location, Amsterdam Weichmann Hotel, it gave cute, cozy, grandma vibes, very comfortable, free breakfast, free coffee & tea all day long, and the entry level was so adorable, it was a great space to hang out. 10/10 recommend this hotel.

Our first stop was getting fries at the famous Fabel Fries which was right by our hotel, these fries are worth the hype! I got the truffle parmesan and they were so freaking good. We ate them by the canal, talk about a picture perfect scene. After, we did some shopping, there’s a lot of adorable boutiques this way, and then we walked around the streets, I just love how the houses look up against the canals.

Then we had dinner down the street from us at Fou Fow, a ramen place that was actually super good. If you’re in the mood for good warm ramen, you should check this place out.

Day 2

We woke up bright and early at 6am and headed off the Keukenhof tulip fields. We took the metro to the bus stop we had to meet at, we bought tickets for the park that included transportation as well, great option if you’re not renting a car. There was a line for the bus stop which we stood in for like 30 minutes and then it was a 50 minute ride to Keukenhof. The tulips are only blooming in April here, which is actually pretty cold, it was about 45 degrees while we were here, so be sure to dress accordingly.

Keukenhof was like a fairytale, there’s so many different kinds of tulips and colors, it was incredibly beautiful. Even though it was packed full of people, it felt very peaceful in most spots. The only downside was that I was wanting the full entire tulip field experience, where it’s just the whole field where you could walk down to. There were fields like this nearby so if you do have a rental car you can stop on the side of the road and check them out.

Definitely carve out about a half day for Keukenhof. We headed back to our hotel and then I walked down the street to a bar and had a local beer relaxing along the canal. I walked around the area a bit, walked past the Ann Frank house, and then I checked out the tulip museum nearby and bought a few things. If you want to purchase flowers to plant, make sure you’re buying from a store that has your country flag on it, they’ll have the proper documentation for you when going through customs. Trust me, another person tried bringing back flowers and unfortunately they were taken from her.

For dinner we headed to Secret Garden, a beautiful up-scale restaurant with delicious food. The decor inside here was insane. Apparently, it’s “the” place to be, towards the end of our dinner we found out we were sitting next to royal members of Amsterdam and across the room was a world known DJ, Tiesto. This place is a little pricey but it was an awesome experience.

Now, I’m sure you’re heard of the red light district, it’s always talked about when you bring up Amsterdam. After dinner, I decided to take a little stroll in the neighborhood just to get of glimpse of what the red light district is like. If you’re wanting to walk by like me or actually hang out there, lookup De Wallen and you should be able to find it.

Day 3

Today was our last day of our London + Amsterdam travels. I decided to go to the Rijksmuseum in the morning, here they have many pieces of art including paintings, drawings, sculptures, doll houses, paper art, furniture, china, dinnerware, glass art, and a beautiful library. The Night Watch painting by Rembrandt was there as well as a few paintings by Van Gogh. I spent an hour touring the museum and my favorite part (and the real reason why I wanted to come) was the library. I love books and this library was multiple levels, extremely peaceful, and had the iconic library spiral staircase. Definitely worth checking out.

There is a small beautiful garden out the back entrance of the museum, I hung out there to relax for a few minutes before walking to a charm making store called Beadazzled. On the way, I walked through a cute market and picked up my first Amsterdam stroop waffle, it was great and only a few euros. In Amsterdam you have to try the fries and stroop waffle, there’s a touristy place to get stroop waffles but I think just picking one up at a market is just as good and saves you money.

I met my friend at the store Beadazzled where we picked out charms to make necklaces. It was a fun activity and our necklaces are going to turn out super cute but a couple downsides are you can’t make them there at the store, you have to make them at home with your own tools or buy tools from them, and they don’t accept credit or debit cards so we had to take out cash. I don’t know if I’d recommend this to you because I think you can do this anywhere & there’s a lot of other cool things you can do in Amsterdam that you may not be able to do back at home. It’s also really lame you can’t make it in the store, because now I feel like I can’t say “I made this charm necklace in Amsterdam with my bestfriend” you know?? But my friend wanted to do it so I did it.

We then had lunch at Arie, recommended by my friend that lives in London, this place was delicious! I had one of the best burgers I’ve ever had here. Then I went back to our hotel, relaxed, and did some more shopping on our street before heading to our canal wine and cheese cruise.

This is one of the top activities to do in Amsterdam and I couldn’t recommend it more, the only thing I wish is that it was longer! We spent an hour cruising the canals, drinking wine and having cheese, whiling listening to stories and history about Amsterdam. The tour guides were super fun, they told some interesting and funny stories and I learned a lot about the history. It was great!

After, we headed back, relaxed, and then walked to foodhallen (bout a 20 min walk). Foodhallen is a very popular food court type area with many different vendors offering all kinds of food, drinks, and some desserts. Honestly, I was disappointed. The food was not great, I tried the famous dutch balls, a few different kinds, and each one I did not like. I tried the pork buns and dumplings, neither of them were good. Lacking in meat & flavor. The only thing I liked was the beer, that was delicious! Now everyone’s taste buds are different and there’s a lot of other food options there that could be great, so try it if you want, but it’s not something I want to recommend.

Summary

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Summary ~

Overall, I loved Amsterdam. I wish I had more time here, I would have loved to take a bike ride and explore more of what to do here. But 2-3 days is a good amount of time to see the city, to really relax and dive into it though, maybe 5 days. The vibes here were great, people seemed nice, food was pretty good, and the adorable streets you can’t beat.

Some must do’s are definitely visiting the tulip fields if you come in April, canal cruise, going to markets, and walking around the streets. You have to try Fabel Fries, if you’re looking for a nice and unique dinner, definitely check out Secret Garden.

I didn’t get to this but this is on my must do list next time and should be on yours too, take a bike ride! Amsterdam is a huge biking city, there’s more bikes here than cars. You’ll be able to see so much this way and it will be fun.

Hope this helps you on your adventure to Amsterdam!