Amsterdam help please!!

She literally said "also December in NL is generally pretty grim.".... the OP has booked a part of NL in December!

She hasn't been rude. She said don't go to that part of Amsterdam in December because its crap.

She isn't saying Amsterdam itself in December is crap.

OP won't be upset because she hasn't booked that part in December and will likely be glad of the advice.

@sweetpickle2 hmm seems like I'm the only one you pick on?!

i'm Dutch. that's how we roll. I'm married to an Englishman. He calls it "direct", you call it "rude". I'm stating a fact. No need to "own it". Have a lovely afternoon - maybe less on the Pickle and more on the Sweet?

I went last December. Did Anne Frank's House, got the most amazing filled croissants from Lourens, took an evening canal cruise for the light festival, ice bar, walked the red light district, make your own chocolate bar at Tony's Chocolonely, sex museum (dont bother). I really wanted to go to the Body Works exhibition but noone else did.

We hired a car in Amsterdam and drove to Cologne for the Xmas markets which were AMAZING.

The historical Red Light tour was interesting

Ice bar. Sex museum.

I’m an Amsterdam blogger and have lots of suggestions including first time must do itineraries, off the beaten track suggestions, hip restaurants etc. My husband is Dutch so we are there very VERY often and this is my passion project (I don’t run advertising on it so it’s all personal recommendations) as far too many visitors end up in the crap bits. Hope it helps

https://amsterdamwonderland.com/

We went a few years ago. Our favourite was the old Shell building, which has a restaurant at the top with amazing views. It is called the A'dam lookout.

The Pantry restaurant for traditional Dutch cuisine. You need to book as it’s tiny but the food is great and a lovely vibe.
https://www.thepantry.nl/en/

Chat gpt does good itineraries

Get a city pass
all GVB transport and museums free
so you get a lot for your money.
108€ each for 3 days

If his birthday is next week, why are you going in December?

Been many times including a mini honey moon as it was the wrong time of year for our major one

sex museum
canal boat ride
hire cycles and explore

we stayed here
https://www.amrathamsterdam.com/en/information/history

Moco Museum (has some Banksy work and some cool illusion artwork)
The Heineken Museum - I've been 3 times and still love it

My essentials are the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum - best part of a day for each.
Also Rembrandt's House.
But, to me, Amsterdam is all about the art.

Rijksmuseum (all the Dutch old masters, but also loads of other stuff)
Negen straatjes /nine streets for quirky shopping, if he's into that
Canal tour at night to see the lights festival
Indonesian food and dim sum
Eat poffertjes (sweet) and bitterballen (savoury snack) both are favourites with all my foreign guests over the years

Dress up warm and waterproof, due to the high likelyhood of grey, slightly wet and overcast weather.

Finally, loads of Dutchies don't smoke weed and the emphasis on it does get very boring.

Depending on when in December you’re going, there’s a huge Christmas market in Haarlem which is only a short train ride away

The light festival is normally running in Amsterdam then, so if you get one of the evening canal boat tours then, that’s always a nice thing to do. Or get the online map and do a little walking tour of some of them and pop into several cafes or brown bars to warm up en route.

Winkel43 is near Anne Frank’s house, and serves the best apple pie.

Noordermarkt in de Jordaan on a Saturday morning is an organic food market and vintage/flea market. Oysters are great to grab from one of the fishmongers here, and one of the bakeries does amazing focaccia.

I would also make dinner reservations in advance as it can be quite hard to get a table! Depends where you want to go of course though. Cafe Parlotte does great food and wine.

The smoke boat (if it's running) - very touristy, very weed focussed. However if you book at night in good weather, the views around and under the light up canals/port are amazing. Being a very warm coat and sit on the tiny deck. You don't have to smoke! But if you want to, a couple of cheeky tokes do brighten the experience IMO.

Electric lady land. Pure Californian hippy weird art. It's brilliant x

There’s a great food market type of place a bus ride out of the city - Foodhallen. It’s very ‘on trend’
https://www.instagram.com/foodhallen?igsh=dGJxNzlib3A3cndj

It doesn't matter if it's true, it's still rude. At least own it.

December in Amsterdam will be... Bleak. The weather won't be good so I can recommend:

• Bols cocktail experience.
• see whats on at: https://www.fabrique-lumieres.com
• van Gogh (i always combine it with Bols)
• stedelijk museum if he likes history
• Jewish History Museum if he likes history (also resistance Museum)
• canal cruise (do one near the Heineken Experience)
• Ajax if they're playing
• day to den Haag /Rotterdam/Utrecht
• Dutch have AMAZING Suriname/Indonesian food

If you want specific restaurant recommendations, let me know the sort of cuisine and ill recommend something. Ive worked in Amsterdam /NL for many years so can recommend (am currently sitting in an Amsterdam hotel room!).

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