Our First Trip to Amsterdam (Netherlands): Travel Diary
After thoroughly enjoying the tulip festival, JB and I decide to spend a long weekend (3 days) in Amsterdam. It’s our first time visiting this city.
Part 1: Travel Journal
Part 2: Practical Tips
Part 1: Travel Journal
Accommodation
Because of the very high prices of hotels and Airbnbs in Amsterdam, we stay away from the city center but right next to a metro station. That way, we can get to the center in just 15 minutes. Here’s the Booking link for our hotel. Expect to pay €200/night in high season and €167 the rest of the time. The hotel’s common areas are very beautiful; I often go there to read.
Or you can stay further from the center and take the train round trip to Amsterdam.
I highly recommend the IntercityHotel (Booking link, €111/night) which is right next to the airport. Trains go to Amsterdam in 13 minutes for €4.9. Or choose Haarlem, which is only 20 minutes by train from Amsterdam and not far from the tulips. We recommend this hotel near the station (€135/night).
Transport card
Get an unlimited travel card (1, 2, 3 days, etc.). It’s worth it because it lets you explore the whole city to find the spots you like, and the museums are a bit far from the center. It’s no longer possible to buy tickets directly from the driver, so go to the central station and buy GVB tickets from the machine: 1 day for €18, 2 days for €24, and 3 days for €30.
The locals mainly get around by bike, or they have cards with credit on them. They tap in when boarding and tap out when getting off. But if you have an unlimited card, no need to tap out.
Amsterdam, a harmonious city
Interestingly, the tulip festival doesn’t seem to reach Amsterdam, as you hardly see any tulips. However, the first time I set foot in Amsterdam, I’m struck by the city’s beauty. For starters, the station is huge and looks great from afar. There’s an undeniable harmony in those narrow, colorful houses in the Flemish style.
The first time, you get lost easily because the streets near the canal look alike. But after a few days of exploring, you quickly return to the same spots, as the attractions are quite close together.
We’re lucky to be there during King’s Day (King Willem Alexander’s birthday), when the Dutch let loose, all dressed in orange. The festive activity is simply drinking—a lot. The second activity is selling everything you own on the street, as it’s the only day you can do so without a permit. Our hotel warned us to make arrangements because taxis and trams won’t run that day, but we’re relieved to find the metro works perfectly fine.
However, having spent too much time in Asia and the Balkans recently, we haven’t adjusted to European inflation. We’re shocked by museum and restaurant prices. A small visit quickly costs €22, and a main course €25. If you dare order just a small bottle of water at a restaurant, you’ll be charged €7. Seriously, it’s cheaper to order sodas at restaurants 😀 Likewise, having gotten used to the lack of tourists since Covid, we’ve lost the habit of booking visits in advance and find ourselves like idiots in front of some museums. This is the case for:
- the Anne Frank House : a museum was built around the building where she hid with her family. Tickets go on sale every Tuesday, so it’s best to book 6 weeks in advance
- The Vermeer exhibition at the Rijksmuseum
- The museum Rijksmuseum itself is fully booked 2 days in advance
- The museum Van Gogh fully booked 10 days in advance
I knew for Rome you had to plan a month or more ahead, but I didn’t know Amsterdam was the same.
But no worries, apart from the Anne Frank House, we had few regrets. There are plenty of other things to see in Amsterdam.
Dam Square
We pass by it every day. I really like it; it’s spacious, pretty, and you feel good there.
There’s a nice, huge shopping center that’s a bit empty. Inside, there’s a cheese shop, so so cute.
JB tells me it’s gouda, and we’ll see these kinds of shops everywhere, with cheeses stacked up to the second floor.
You can’t miss the imposing Royal Palace (Paleis op de Dam). Tickets can be bought on the same day, but to avoid the queue, we buy tickets online the day before. We only visit part of the palace, but it’s already immense, with several rooms, both small and large.
Of course, the reception room is the most impressive, with lovely details everywhere, and it’s the one we like the most.
Boat tour
Like every self-respecting tourist, we opted for a boat tour of about an hour to get some explanations and a slightly different view. Thanks to the short tour, we spotted places we wanted to visit on foot later. We went with rederij plas, €13/person, apparently the cheapest, not far from the central station. The explanations are translated into French. But you can save more by booking a “boat + Rijksmuseum ticket” in advance (book here, we only found out later)
We learned that houses in Amsterdam were once taxed based on their width, which is why they’re all narrow but long. The facades often lean forward, with a sort of hook at the very top. That was to attach a pulley and haul up goods. Now, there’s no pulley, but moves happen through the windows because the staircases are too narrow.
You have to be careful when parking in Amsterdam because cars regularly end up in the canal 😀 barriers have been put up to prevent such accidents, but some streets don’t have them. As for bikes, despite the designated parking, bikes are parked everywhere, everywhere, and hundreds of bikes are seized every day for illegal parking 😀
Houseboats are rarer than in my imagination. People often talked about quirky accommodations: sleeping on a houseboat in Amsterdam. But in reality, houseboats have become more expensive than apartments. There’s such demand now that even on Airbnb, they’re way too pricey.
Strolling around Amsterdam
The best way to explore Amsterdam is on foot. And when we realize we’re going in circles, we head to the central station and hop on any tram. Just be careful: with our transport card, we have to stay in the yellow zone (so not too far from the center), which you can see on the tram maps. And when something catches our eye, we note it down, or we get off and catch another tram later.
It’s while walking that we spotted a super cute shop with hot air balloons carrying a kind of biscuit. It’s their specialty “waffle.” This shop seems very famous because there’s a long queue outside. We quickly understood the hype: each waffle is made to order: you can choose one or more flavors and add toppings (chocolates, hazelnuts…). If you’re willing to queue, here’s the name: Van Wonderen Stroopwafels.
Before going to the Netherlands, I thought I’d see windmills everywhere, but that’s not the case. In Amsterdam, I only found this one: De Gooyer Molen, not far from a tram stop. We went early and enjoyed the beautiful sunny scenery with just two other tourists.
Walking towards the central station, you’ll pass by the maritime museum, with old ships very well preserved. You can get close to some of them for free, but the most beautiful VOC Ship ‘Amsterdam’ Replica is only accessible if you pay for museum entry.
Then you have the science museum NEMO shaped like a ship. The rooftop looks really nice and offers a lovely panorama.
You’ll then see a huge Chinese restaurant that, according to reviews, isn’t as good as its exterior suggests.
This church next to the central station intrigues me, but I didn’t have time to visit it.
While strolling, you’ll inevitably stumble upon cool things.
Flower Market
The name is misleading because there are no flowers, just seeds and flower bulbs. It’s a floating market (meaning the shops are boats), but everything is so stable you don’t even notice.
Only the first shop sells tulip flowers. It’s a bit pricey compared to the tulips I picked myself in the field (50 tulips for €10).
As for the rest, since I don’t garden, I have no idea if it’s cheap or not.
Be sure to ask the sellers, because apparently, a customer had the nasty surprise of seeing that all the tulip bulbs she bought were the same color 😀 while the packaging showed different colors.
Not far away are the gay bars and restaurants; it looks really nice and pretty.
The hotel De L’Europa catches my eye, with its restaurant and beautiful terrace by the water. The kitchen is below water level.
In the evening, we went to the Chinatown, hoping to find some lacquered duck (it’s been ages since I’ve had it), but the restaurants were packed or poorly rated. I suggest a fondue to JB. Yes, it’s surprising, but there are plenty of restaurants offering fondue savoyarde !! JB is super super happy because our last months in the Balkans and Asia were without a trace of good cheese 😀 €24 per person and there you have a happy husband.
Honestly, we didn’t touch any Dutch dish. All the restaurants serve fusion or foreign food.
But you also have to go to the red light district. You wonder if you’ve ended up in the wrong place because you can see sex shops everywhere but nothing particular, not even music. It’s only after wandering for 20 minutes and then coming back that we realize the red light district starts late. There are indeed very sexy women dancing in shop windows.
But where are the drug stores, the magic mushroom shops? It’s much more discreet than I thought. You have to be observant to spot them. Since cannabis is legal, people only smoke that, and I find the smell less unpleasant than cigarette smoke.
Museums
Okay, here are the museums we didn’t visit (due to lack of tickets), but we took photos for you. You can opt for a “boat + Rijksmuseum” ticket (book here for €35) to save time and money. The special Vermeer exhibition, which brings together Vermeer paintings from around the world, is sold out months in advance, and it’s no longer possible to buy tickets.
Even though we couldn’t visit the museum, we really enjoyed the museum gardens (free access).
Right next door, you have the Van Gogh and Moco museums (with works by Banksy). We didn’t visit those either.
And finally, Anne Frank’s house, fully booked months in advance.
Museum of esotericism: Embassy of the Free Mind
But there’s one museum I visited twice, and that’s this one.
The Netherlands, especially Amsterdam, has always been a haven for free thought. It’s only natural that this spirit continues and materializes in an absolutely incredible museum, where you can access 29,000 esoteric books !!! On-site, 5,000 books are freely accessible, and for rarer, more precious books, you just need to make an appointment, no need to justify your request, just a small email. The list of 29,000 books is available on their website, and Dan Brown donated $300,000 to the museum to help digitize some of their books. For now, 2,100 have been scanned and are available for free on the site.
I discovered its existence by chance. It’s a haven of peace, and the library is really, really well-organized and stocked. I had a great time there and I highly recommend it. I’ll write a more detailed article, but know that it was my favorite spot in Amsterdam.
I find the ticket a bit expensive (€15) if you just do the tour without adding a guided tour (€7) at 2 PM. The guided tour is in English, but I happened to have a university researcher, specializing in Hebrew books, and since I was the only tourist taking a guided tour, I was able to ask her lots of questions.
I hope you enjoyed this travel diary. It’s less detailed than usual with fewer tips and addresses, but I think it simply reflects the spirit of the city, very chill, spontaneous, laid-back. Just wander around and you’ll see plenty of beautiful things.
After Amsterdam, we took the train to Antwerp.
Part 2: Practical Tips
Budget
- Accommodation: between €111 and €200/night for 2 people
- Booking link for our hotel, expect €200/night in high season and €167 the rest of the time
- Or you can stay further from the center and take the train round trip to Amsterdam.
I highly recommend the IntercityHotel (Booking link, €111/night) which is right next to the airport. Trains go to Amsterdam in 13 minutes for €4.9. Or choose Haarlem, which is only 20 minutes by train from Amsterdam and not far from the tulips. We recommend this hotel near the station (€135/night).
- Restaurant: budget €22 to €25 for the main course. Don’t order bottled water; there’s usually no price listed for water bottles, and you could end up paying €7 for a tiny bottle
- Transport: from €18
- Boat: €13
- Boat + museum ticket: €35 (booking link)
