After receiving a wonderful surprise trip away from Sam's parents for Christmas last year, we were so excited to visit Amsterdam over the May day bank holiday weekend. We hopped on a flight at Birmingham airport on a Saturday morning super early and were in Amsterdam city centre by 11am that day! This post is dedicated to recommending the best places to eat, drink, stay and visit within 72 hours in Amsterdam!
Accommodation:
After arriving at the airport, getting to the City Centre was super quick and easy. We bought a 3 day travel card which allowed us unlimited rail travel between Schiphol airport and any train station in Amsterdam and also unlimited travel on all buses, trams, metros and ferries operated by GVB. (Be careful there are some buses which are operated by other companies). It took 15-20 minutes to arrive at Amsterdam Central station where we then took a metro to Wibautstraat and our hotel was literally a 2 minute walk away. We stayed at the Volkshotel, once a newspaper headquarters but has now been transformed into a quirky hotel in a great location near the Amstel river. There are several different rooms to choose from and we stayed in the Miss Petite, the smallest but most affordable room. I love how it included everything you could possibly need but within a very confined space - perfect if you are not planning on spending much time in your room! The room also had the most amazing views over the whole of Amsterdam. Besides this, the hotel has a café, restaurant, spacious work spaces, Doka - a basement hideaway and also an area on the roof to take part in yoga sessions and relax in the sauna and hot tub. I highly recommend this hotel as it is so close to the City Centre and it is really affordable.
Must See and Do:
As much as I enjoy sightseeing, we honestly did not do that much during our weekend away in Amsterdam. There's nothing I enjoy more than simply wandering around a new city, getting lost and discovering new sights. However, I did visit the following;
1) Anne Frank House - I strongly recommend that you book a time slot in advance to visit Anne Frank's house. If you don't, expect to be queuing for hours! Despite the queues, it is completely worth it. The experience is both interesting and haunting. When I laid eyes on Anne Frank's original red and white checkered diary I chocked up, it was completely surreal to me. You can get your tickets in advance here.
2) Wander around the Jordaan - A maze of restaurants and quirky shops and located really close to the centre and Anne Frank's house, the trendy Jordaan neighborhood is worth exploring. Whilst in the area we ate at Winkel 43 and The Pancake Bakery.
3) Canal cruise - Amsterdam is a beautiful city and what better way to see it all than on a canal boat. We used a company called 'Lovers Canal Cruises' which cost us €16 each. We hopped on the boat outside Anne Frank's house and the tour lasted an hour. Our guide was brilliant and gave a great introduction to Amsterdam and its history.
4) Eat cheese - There is an abundance of cheese shops in Amsterdam. Most of these shops sell exactly the same dutch cheeses. However, me and Sam thought it was great to visit every cheese shop and eat samples of all the different flavours they had. We were gutted we only had hand luggage with us so we couldn't buy any to take home.
5) Red Light District - All tourists who visit Amsterdam are curious about the Red Light District and flock there at night to see the scantily clad women in the windows of shops adorned with sex signs. Walking through these streets was definitely an eye opener and something we only experienced for a very brief time.
Eating and Drinking:
My favourite topic - FOOD AND ALCOHOL! Every single time I go on holiday or a weekend away I have to research the food and drink scene beforehand so I know exactly where I want to go. Sam is a big ale drinker so I looked in advance at what bars and breweries we could visit, the standouts we visited were;
1) Craft & Draft - Based on Overtoom in Amsterdam Oud West, Craft & Draft is a cool American style craft beer bar. The venue design is modern and there is guaranteed something here for every beer lover. The bar staff are also super helpful and are willing to give recommendations if you are feeling overwhelmed by all the choice!
2) Brouwerij ‘t IJ - Perhaps the most unique location of all bars we visited as it is located under the tallest windmill in the city. There is a brewery on site and a large terrace outside to sit and relax. This was the furthest away from the City Centre. They serve a selection of their own beers including lager, wheat beers and dark ales.
3) Delirium Café - I am not a beer fan myself. However, I have always loved that Delirium offer a range of fruit beers too. Located near the waterfront and with an outstanding choice of over 720 varieties of beer. They also serve food to soak up all the alcohol and the staff are great at recommending you something to drink if you are spoilt for choice!
4) Beer Temple - Saved the best until last, Sam's personal favourite. This craft beer bar has 30 on tap and over a 100 bottled beers, all of which are listed on the chalkboard opposite the bar. The bar had more of a relaxed vibe, you can either sit on a stool by the bar or sit outside and watch the world go by.
As for what we ate, we had two solid favourites;
1) Foodhallen – You will find the Foodhallen in Amsterdam’s hip Oud-West neighbourhood and it literally translates to - food hall! This indoor street food venue serves a variety of delicious food and drinks! Myself and Sam absolutely love street food anyway and we enjoyed the food and the variety at the Foodhallen so much that we spent both nights there! Its also a great social place which gets extremely busy on the weekends. My personal favourite vendors were Chicks loves donuts who served the most amazing Korean fried chicken with spicy sauce and De Ballen Bar which served different flavoured bitterballen (almost like fried risotto balls) such as, truffle, goats cheese and chorizo. We also enjoyed some pretty spectacular gin cocktails from the Gin and Tonic bar, served Spanish style in fishbowl glasses.
2) The Pancake Bakery - After reading some great reviews on The Pancake Bakery we headed there late morning for some breakfast. Located just up the street from Anne Frank's house and situated on the canal you will not miss their small entrance as there is always a queue of people lined up outside waiting for a table. Luck was on our side on this day and we didn't have to queue for long before being led inside to our table in the cosy, welcoming restaurant. The menu choices were interesting and I was particularly intrigued by the 'International Pancakes' options where the ingredients are based on various dishes and flavours from across the world. I would have opted for the Thai style pancake, however my heart was set on trying a classic sweet pancake. In the end I went for a plain pancake with nutella and cream. It did not disappoint but there was no way I could finish it all. The restaurant is quite pricey considering they use simple ingredients but I would definitely go again if I was to return to Amsterdam and next time I would go for one of the savoury options!
I hope you all found this guide useful! Amsterdam is a great city and I cant wait to return there. Let me know if you've checked out any of these places too and if you have any more recommendations for me!
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