Amsterdam recs

[ESF]

My original plans to go to St. Kitts this winter got shelved, so H and I are going in the complete opposite direction, and doing a long weekend in Amsterdam in January. 

We'll have three full days. There's a light festival around the canals at night and some winter tulip festival in the main square while we are there. The other main sights we want to see are the Rijksmusueum, Anne Frank House, and Van Gogh museum, plus wandering the red light district and various neighborhoods. Not interested in the Rembrandt museum.

Any attractions there that you loved?

Thoughts on whether we should try to do a day trip somewhere (Utrecht, or maybe Antwerp)?  H and I are pretty ambitious, resilient travelers, so we are good with long days, but I don't know if it's too much to try to cram the entire city in in two days.

Also, any suggestions on footwear or other clothing tips for this? I imagine it will be wet and cold. 

[dutchgirl678]

Three days is not a lot so I think you will want to split each museum into its own day. Make sure you get tickets ahead of time, so you don't stand in line for hours. The Rijksmuseum is great but huge. Loved the Van Gogh museum. And the Anne Frank house is very impressive. If you have never been, I would definitely focus on those. Check out Brouwerij 't IJ or Brouwerij Oedipus for good craft beer. 't IJ now also has a location in the Vondelpark which is a huge city park close to the van Gogh museum. I never really cared to visit the Red Light district myself. The Jordaan is a great neighborhood to wander, it is near the Anne Frank house.

Other cities that are easy to get to by train, should you have more time. Haarlem, The Hague, Rotterdam, Utrecht. I used to live near Utrecht and it also has canals but is much less touristy than Amsterdam. The Hague is beautiful, it is where the parliamentary buildings are as well as the royal palace. The Mauritshuis is a great museum with lots of paintings by Vermeer and Rembrandt. It is also an easy tram ride to Delft where Vermeer was from. But again, not sure if I would cram Amsterdam into two days if you have never been.

Clothing, casual and comfortable. You will be walking a lot, despite trams and trains. A warm raincoat?

[RockNVoll]

You're covering the main sites in Amsterdam that I would've recommended. Regarding day trip, I wouldn't go far given the amount of time you have, but if you can fit it in I'd consider going to Zaanse Schans. I know it's essentially built for tourism but they created the site to preserve some authentic windmills and I enjoyed exploring the various types and checking out different demos like how clogs are made.

[ESF]

Nov 12, 2019 13:04:17 GMT -5 dutchgirl678 said:

Three days is not a lot so I think you will want to split each museum into its own day. Make sure you get tickets ahead of time, so you don't stand in line for hours. The Rijksmuseum is great but huge. Loved the Van Gogh museum. And the Anne Frank house is very impressive. If you have never been, I would definitely focus on those. Check out Brouwerij 't IJ or Brouwerij Oedipus for good craft beer. 't IJ now also has a location in the Vondelpark which is a huge city park close to the van Gogh museum. I never really cared to visit the Red Light district myself. The Jordaan is a great neighborhood to wander, it is near the Anne Frank house.

Other cities that are easy to get to by train, should you have more time. Haarlem, The Hague, Rotterdam, Utrecht. I used to live near Utrecht and it also has canals but is much less touristy than Amsterdam. The Hague is beautiful, it is where the parliamentary buildings are as well as the royal palace. The Mauritshuis is a great museum with lots of paintings by Vermeer and Rembrandt. It is also an easy tram ride to Delft where Vermeer was from. But again, not sure if I would cram Amsterdam into two days if you have never been.

Clothing, casual and comfortable. You will be walking a lot, despite trams and trains. A warm raincoat?

Thanks. I've got a question - the pictures online make Utrecht look very similar to Amsterdam, and given that it's going to be January and not very touristy, is it really going to be that different of an experience? Same with Haarlem?

I'm not really a fan of older art, like Rembrant, Vermeer, etc, so I don't see myself spending a ton of time in the Rijksmuseum, but I do want to hit the highlights inside. So I think I may try to schedule the three museums for my first two days, and then on day 3, we can decide if we want to leave town for a day or not. Weather may really dictate what we do.

[majesty318]

I would not do a day trip with only 3 days.

I enjoyed this really unusual museum:
www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g188590-d190585-Reviews-Museum_Ons_Lieve_Heer_Op_Solder-Amsterdam_North_Holland_Province.html

Wanted to do this tour of the Red Light district run by a nonprofit to protect the sex workers. It was not running while I was there though.
www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g188590-d3750282-Reviews-Prostitution_Information_Center_PIC-Amsterdam_North_Holland_Province.html

Food tour:
www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g188590-d4480916-Reviews-Hungry_Birds_Amsterdam_Street_Food_Tours-Amsterdam_North_Holland_Province.html

ETA - I was there in November and it was freezing and rainy. Definitely bring warm clothes and waterproof shoes.

[dutchgirl678]

Utrecht is not really that different. As I said, it is less touristy but there is not that much to do in the winter besides shopping and eating IMO. The only cool thing is the Dom tower and the museum which is underneath the Dom square, but it is not a big priority. Haarlem probably similar.

As RockNVoll said, the Zaanse Schans is really cute. Lots of windmills and demos of making clogs and Dutch cheese.

That sounds like a good plan. Rijksmuseum and van Gogh are really close together. You could do Rijksmuseum first and then lunch and then van Gogh. Hopefully the weather won't be too cold and dreary.

[RockNVoll]

Nov 12, 2019 16:05:42 GMT -5 dutchgirl678 said:

As RockNVoll said, the Zaanse Schans is really cute. Lots of windmills and demos of making clogs and Dutch cheese.

I'm so glad to hear you approve of this   I don't normally go for things that are completely made for tourists (though I guess this is a little different since there's a historical preservation aspect to it), but we really did enjoy our time here and in retrospect wished we'd just spent the whole day there and not gone on to Marken and Volendam.

[dutchgirl678]

Nov 12, 2019 16:43:34 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

Nov 12, 2019 16:05:42 GMT -5 dutchgirl678 said:

As RockNVoll said, the Zaanse Schans is really cute. Lots of windmills and demos of making clogs and Dutch cheese.

I'm so glad to hear you approve of this   I don't normally go for things that are completely made for tourists (though I guess this is a little different since there's a historical preservation aspect to it), but we really did enjoy our time here and in retrospect wished we'd just spent the whole day there and not gone on to Marken and Volendam.

My husband is American and when I first took him to the Netherlands we went to the Zaanse Schans. But even more recently, when we lived there for a few years with the kids, we always loved doing touristy things. Zaanse Schans is just very cute. There are other places where you get a similar feel (Arnhem Open Air Museum, Zuiderzeemuseum) but those are further away. The windmills on Kinderdijk are also beautiful but there are millions of tourists that go there every year that is currently more like a Disneyland of windmills, except that some people actually still live in the windmills.

[RockNVoll]

Nov 12, 2019 17:02:46 GMT -5 dutchgirl678 said:

Nov 12, 2019 16:43:34 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

I'm so glad to hear you approve of this   I don't normally go for things that are completely made for tourists (though I guess this is a little different since there's a historical preservation aspect to it), but we really did enjoy our time here and in retrospect wished we'd just spent the whole day there and not gone on to Marken and Volendam.

My husband is American and when I first took him to the Netherlands we went to the Zaanse Schans. But even more recently, when we lived there for a few years with the kids, we always loved doing touristy things. Zaanse Schans is just very cute. There are other places where you get a similar feel (Arnhem Open Air Museum, Zuiderzeemuseum) but those are further away. The windmills on Kinderdijk are also beautiful but there are millions of tourists that go there every year that is currently more like a Disneyland of windmills, except that some people actually still live in the windmills.

Oh wow, I didn't know that was still done anywhere!  

We loved Amsterdam and hope we'll get to go back to explore more of The Netherlands someday.

[dutchgirl678]

www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-tuesday-edition-1.4903336/windmill-operators-in-tiny-dutch-village-say-they-re-overwhelmed-by-tourists-1.4903344

[joenali]

Utrecht is awesome and so easy to get to!

I also recommend Rick Steves’ Amsterdam walking tours! They are free!

[mich1]

I recently read an article that you need to get tickets to Anne Frank’s house months in advance. You might want to check into that.

I went to Rijksmuseum last month. It’s HUGE and can kill a full day. BYW, Nightwatch is under restoration, and a lot of it is obscured.

[joenali]

Nov 12, 2019 19:26:24 GMT -5 mich1 said:

I recently read an article that you need to get tickets to Anne Frank’s house months in advance. You might want to check into that.

I went to Rijksmuseum last month. It’s HUGE and can kill a full day. BYW, Nightwatch is under restoration, and a lot of it is obscured.

We didn’t get tickets and went during height of tourist season. I dont know the winter hours but we stood in line at 6:30pm and got in about 90 minutes later without tickets.

Also, right around the corner from the Anne Frank house is the homomonument that memorializes persecuted gay and lesbian people throughout history. It’s very subtle and you might miss it if you didn’t know it was there.

[mich1]

Nov 12, 2019 19:32:17 GMT -5 joenali said:

Nov 12, 2019 19:26:24 GMT -5 mich1 said:

I recently read an article that you need to get tickets to Anne Frank’s house months in advance. You might want to check into that.

I went to Rijksmuseum last month. It’s HUGE and can kill a full day. BYW, Nightwatch is under restoration, and a lot of it is obscured.

We didn’t get tickets and went during height of tourist season. I dont know the winter hours but we stood in line at 6:30pm and got in about 90 minutes later without tickets.

Also, right around the corner from the Anne Frank house is the homomonument that memorializes persecuted gay and lesbian people throughout history. It’s very subtle and you might miss it if you didn’t know it was there.

Not sure when you went, but this is relatively new.  The article said that they will release tickets 2 months in advance, and only 20% of tickets are available for same day sales, and only from the website.  

The article was one that was looking at a lot of tourist locations that are starting to restrict visitors.  

[joenali]

Nov 12, 2019 20:40:34 GMT -5 mich1 said:

Nov 12, 2019 19:32:17 GMT -5 joenali said:

We didn’t get tickets and went during height of tourist season. I dont know the winter hours but we stood in line at 6:30pm and got in about 90 minutes later without tickets.

Also, right around the corner from the Anne Frank house is the homomonument that memorializes persecuted gay and lesbian people throughout history. It’s very subtle and you might miss it if you didn’t know it was there.

Not sure when you went, but this is relatively new.  The article said that they will release tickets 2 months in advance, and only 20% of tickets are available for same day sales, and only from the website.  

The article was one that was looking at a lot of tourist locations that are starting to restrict visitors.  

Two years ago.

[neonpink]

The Van Gogh museum was one of my all time favorites. I highly recommend the audio guide. It's told from letters Vincent and his brother Theo wrote to each other. Its a small museum and really didn't take to long to tour. You see everything and don't feel burnt out at the end.

The Rijksmuseum was also very good. As an art major both museums held paintings and things I had always wanted to see in person. The building is so pretty it's almost distracting from the art. It is large though and takes time to see all of it.

I really enjoyed a genever bar Wynand Fockink, they have all sorts of flavors and the history of the place is really cool. It's near Damm Square.

Also don't hold back on the cheese, It's delicious and you can bring gouda home since it's a hard cheese. I absolutely love cheese. Also keeping with the food thing I really enjoyed rijsttafel. It's Indonesian small plates.

[dreamcrisp1]

Nov 12, 2019 19:32:17 GMT -5 joenali said:

Nov 12, 2019 19:26:24 GMT -5 mich1 said:

I recently read an article that you need to get tickets to Anne Frank’s house months in advance. You might want to check into that.

I went to Rijksmuseum last month. It’s HUGE and can kill a full day. BYW, Nightwatch is under restoration, and a lot of it is obscured.

We didn’t get tickets and went during height of tourist season. I dont know the winter hours but we stood in line at 6:30pm and got in about 90 minutes later without tickets.

Also, right around the corner from the Anne Frank house is the homomonument that memorializes persecuted gay and lesbian people throughout history. It’s very subtle and you might miss it if you didn’t know it was there.

You can no longer do this. You have to get tickets online.

[dreamcrisp1]

The resistance museum is also incredible.

This is my list I send anyone who visits me:

Amsterdam:

Museums:

MOCO
Rijksmuseum
Anne Frank
Resistance museum

Places to go/things to do:

Foodhallen
Jordaan
Albert Cuyp market
Free walking tour (2-2.5 hours) of city
Cheese tasting at Henri Willig
Vondelpark - go to cafe/restaurant then spend time walking around
Westerpark
Oosterpark
Pick a side of the city each day and explore (West, East, Zuid, and central) and eat!
Noord - lookout tower and swing
Nieuwmarkt
Picnic at museumplein
Power zone

Day trips:

Rotterdam
Haarlem

Eating:

Bar Fisk
Omelegg
Mr Stacks
Pho 91
Fou fow ramen
Ugga bakery
Plato Loco
Primi
The Butcher (has a speakeasy but you have to make a reservation to get in - can email them)
Coffee and coconuts
Van’t spit
Bar Bukowski
Louie Louie for drinks
Waldo bakery
4850

[dreamcrisp1]

This for a free walking tour: www.neweuropetours.eu/amsterdam-walking-tours/?gclid=CjwKCAiA8K7uBRBBEiwACOm4dytdnHJufMY9dafucwWAkS7gIixYCHNwda-6urey2VSGQTd5QNAvzRoCY3AQAvD_BwE

[ESF]

Nov 12, 2019 22:45:02 GMT -5 neonpink said:

The Van Gogh museum was one of my all time favorites. I highly recommend the audio guide. It's told from letters Vincent and his brother Theo wrote to each other. Its a small museum and really didn't take to long to tour. You see everything and don't feel burnt out at the end.

The Rijksmuseum was also very good. As an art major both museums held paintings and things I had always wanted to see in person. The building is so pretty it's almost distracting from the art. It is large though and takes time to see all of it.

I really enjoyed a genever bar Wynand Fockink, they have all sorts of flavors and the history of the place is really cool. It's near Damm Square.

Also don't hold back on the cheese, It's delicious and you can bring gouda home since it's a hard cheese. I absolutely love cheese. Also keeping with the food thing I really enjoyed rijsttafel. It's Indonesian small plates.

Oh thank you for this! I love gin, and I've liked the genevers that I've tried, but I don't know much about it. I was thinking of doing a visit to Bols, but this sounds like it's right up my alley too.

[ESF]

And yes, I'm familiar with the Anne Frank house ticketing process. Tickets become available two months out, which is a few days away. That's a big part of reason I want to get a head start on planning my trip!!

[dutchgirl678]

Last time I visited the van Gogh museum I bought the book with letters from Vincent to his brother Theo. It is such an amazing read. He really took his art seriously, and would study a scene endlessly. There is a reason why there are so many of his paintings with the sun flowers. The museum is so well done. The paintings are hung chronologically so you really see his progression as an artist.

[RockNVoll]

Nov 12, 2019 18:41:39 GMT -5 dutchgirl678 said:

www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-tuesday-edition-1.4903336/windmill-operators-in-tiny-dutch-village-say-they-re-overwhelmed-by-tourists-1.4903344

Wow!

• "Town of 60 gets 600,000 visitors a year"
  
  
• "I understand some people have come home to find people eating on their table, or even on their toilet.
  Yes, that's true. And people are walking in our gardens, using our bikes.
  That's not really a big issue. We understand that it's difficult for people to understand that we live here." [She is a hell of a lot more understanding than I am!]
  
  

I feel bad for the residents.  I love exploring but tourism really can wreak havoc on delicate places.  Such a difficult balance to strike.

[dutchgirl678]

Nov 13, 2019 10:57:27 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

Nov 12, 2019 18:41:39 GMT -5 dutchgirl678 said:

www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-tuesday-edition-1.4903336/windmill-operators-in-tiny-dutch-village-say-they-re-overwhelmed-by-tourists-1.4903344

Wow!

• "Town of 60 gets 600,000 visitors a year"
  
  
• "I understand some people have come home to find people eating on their table, or even on their toilet.
  Yes, that's true. And people are walking in our gardens, using our bikes.
  That's not really a big issue. We understand that it's difficult for people to understand that we live here." [She is a hell of a lot more understanding than I am!]
  
  

I feel bad for the residents.  I love exploring but tourism really can wreak havoc on delicate places.  Such a difficult balance to strike.

We visited here a few years ago with MIL and SIL. The parking lot for cars was tiny and we had to backtrack to find a spot in the neighboring town. I feel bad for the residents as well. It is really getting out of hand. There are signs everywhere that tell people which mill is open for viewing and which ones are not.

Also, check out Giethoorn, a small car-free town not too far from Amsterdam. Similar story. It is a super cute little town with canals where people can rent a boat to get around. But it is getting so crowded in the summer that the canals are just traffic jams of boats and local residents are being treated very disrespectfully by some tourists.

[AnnaConda]

I second the recommendation of the Resistance Museum. It was really interesting and made for a good preview of Anne Frank House.

I would also recommend Pancakes Amsterdam for breakfast (or any time, really). There's a location near the Red Light District, and one next to Anne Frank House. pancakes.amsterdam/ The Amsterdam Cheese Museum is across the canal from Anne Frank House. We didn't even go downstairs to see the actual museum. We just stayed upstairs and ate all the cheese!

[sillygoosegirl]

If you decide to do a day trip, these are a couple cool off the beaten path museums that we really enjoyed. Both focused on different aspects of local history and also technology.

www.haarlemmermeermuseum.nl/ Giant steam engine pump housing a museum about reclaimed land. South of Haarlem. We went here as part of an all day bicycle trip where we started by taking the train to the beach and then cycled back to Amsterdam. Cycling the Dutch countryside is pretty cool.

www.waterliniemuseum.nl/ Fort along the defensive Dutch waterline. Museum about how the Dutch used their unique geography to avoid being conquered by other European countries. East of Utrecht.

[lightbulbsun]

I literally just got back from Amsterdam yesterday.

I would suggest getting tickets for the Van Gogh museum before you go. If you want to buy them at the door they don't have ticket machines, and they just had a small area with wifi so you have to buy it on your phone anyway. If you buy it before you can just get in the line. We also did the multimedia tour, which I thought was worth it.

The light festival was very cool. We took a night river cruise to see it and it was nice, and then we also walked around afterwards to get better pictures. You can see everything by walking, but the boat tour had explanations all of the artwork.

We also did a walking tour, which I like to do every place I go. If you do it at the beginning of the trip then it can help you get oriented in the city. We did a free walking tour, and tipped the guide at the end. It's all outside, but they make a stop half way so you can get coffee or tea to warm up. We considered doing a bike tour out of the city, but it seemed like it would be too cold for us to enjoy.

We also went to the Amsterdam Museum, which is a history museum. It had a good overview of history from the beginning of the city.

[ESF]

Dec 9, 2019 9:49:52 GMT -5 lightbulbsun said:

I literally just got back from Amsterdam yesterday.

I would suggest getting tickets for the Van Gogh museum before you go. If you want to buy them at the door they don't have ticket machines, and they just had a small area with wifi so you have to buy it on your phone anyway. If you buy it before you can just get in the line. We also did the multimedia tour, which I thought was worth it.

The light festival was very cool. We took a night river cruise to see it and it was nice, and then we also walked around afterwards to get better pictures. You can see everything by walking, but the boat tour had explanations all of the artwork.

We also did a walking tour, which I like to do every place I go. If you do it at the beginning of the trip then it can help you get oriented in the city. We did a free walking tour, and tipped the guide at the end. It's all outside, but they make a stop half way so you can get coffee or tea to warm up. We considered doing a bike tour out of the city, but it seemed like it would be too cold for us to enjoy.

We also went to the Amsterdam Museum, which is a history museum. It had a good overview of history from the beginning of the city.

Thanks so much for the report! Light festival info is especially useful.  

We got our Anne Frank tickets but still need to get Van Gogh.

Our plan is:

Day 1: Rijksmuseum and the Bols genever tasting

Day 2: Anne Frank museum, the tulip festival in the Dam,the genever bar mentioned upthread, red light district and time permitting, the resistance museum

Day 3: Van Gogh museum and the Museum of Bags and Purses because I love that sort of stuff (H might need to spend that time in a coffee house, LOL)

That should give us plenty of time for wandering canals, and popping into bars or a random small museum that catches our eyes. We'll figure out the light festival once we are there, so we don't book a tour for a night that it's raining.


Trying to decide if I should get one of those iAmsterdam cards. I tend to think it's not worth it, but if anyone has any thoughts, let me know.

[lightbulbsun]

Dec 9, 2019 15:08:29 GMT -5 ESF said:

Dec 9, 2019 9:49:52 GMT -5 lightbulbsun said:

I literally just got back from Amsterdam yesterday.

I would suggest getting tickets for the Van Gogh museum before you go. If you want to buy them at the door they don't have ticket machines, and they just had a small area with wifi so you have to buy it on your phone anyway. If you buy it before you can just get in the line. We also did the multimedia tour, which I thought was worth it.

The light festival was very cool. We took a night river cruise to see it and it was nice, and then we also walked around afterwards to get better pictures. You can see everything by walking, but the boat tour had explanations all of the artwork.

We also did a walking tour, which I like to do every place I go. If you do it at the beginning of the trip then it can help you get oriented in the city. We did a free walking tour, and tipped the guide at the end. It's all outside, but they make a stop half way so you can get coffee or tea to warm up. We considered doing a bike tour out of the city, but it seemed like it would be too cold for us to enjoy.

We also went to the Amsterdam Museum, which is a history museum. It had a good overview of history from the beginning of the city.

Thanks so much for the report! Light festival info is especially useful.  

We got our Anne Frank tickets but still need to get Van Gogh.

Our plan is:

Day 1: Rijksmuseum and the Bols genever tasting

Day 2: Anne Frank museum, the tulip festival in the Dam,the genever bar mentioned upthread, red light district and time permitting, the resistance museum

Day 3: Van Gogh museum and the Museum of Bags and Purses because I love that sort of stuff (H might need to spend that time in a coffee house, LOL)

That should give us plenty of time for wandering canals, and popping into bars or a random small museum that catches our eyes. We'll figure out the light festival once we are there, so we don't book a tour for a night that it's raining.


Trying to decide if I should get one of those iAmsterdam cards. I tend to think it's not worth it, but if anyone has any thoughts, let me know.

A clarification on the Van Gogh museum, you can buy tickets in your hotel when you're in Amsterdam, just buy them before you head to the actual museum. That way you don't have to stand in the cold waiting for the wifi to work!

Have fun!  

[chailattelover]

Not sure if you're into more exotic food but when I was there I got to try cuisines from two of the Netherlands' former colonies-Indonesian and Surinamese. There are a ton of Indonesian restaurants there, specifically offering the rijsttafel (rice table, an elaborate Indonesian meal with many courses) but my food tour guide had specifically recommended trying Surinamese food and I'm so glad she did! I had a fabulous and cheap take out meal from Tokoman which was about a five minute walk from Centraal Station. It was definitely unique and memorable (and ideal if you're into hot and spicy fare ).