Poring rain Amsterdam with teen. Massive c**k up holiday.

[Amsterdammit]

Hello, we’ve had too much going on as a family are v v stressed. Worried so much about hol and heat with pale lonely teen that In a moment of anxiety booked Amsterdam which was insanely expensive and now it will be pouring all week.
Please please if anyone has any nice restaurants, cafes, museums anything at all they can recommend.Teen is into science and computers, hates art, hates museums, we are happy, I mean desperate, and can hop on a train for a day trip. what were we thinking?! Just so desperately wanted a nice break for teen and now think we’ve cocked up desperately.

Yes, the diamond places are great! My teen loved them.

Book Nemo in advance though, we tried to book the night before and it was full.

Eat Indonesian Rijstafel. Just find a place with a good Tripadvisor review, it's really nice and distinctively different, teen will probably love it as long as he's not allergic to peanuts.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rijsttafel

Anne Frank House for sure - it's a must do but get up early and go as it gets busy.

The Van Gogh museum - even if not in to art galleries - if they are a Dr Who fan - everyone knows a Van Gogh.

The Heineken museum?

And if they are OK with it the red light distract is oddly fascinating

How can anyone say Amsterdam is 'dire' ?? It's a fabulous city with SO much going on .
Efteling is most definitely suitable for teens . We have been twice with teens and loved it ! You could even do 2 days there .
Duinrell , about 40 mins outside , is wonderful . Have been there many times . Old style theme park but amazing waterpark .

@Warringstars@Warringstars. It's definitely a fairy tale park but even older teens can enjoy it. It's not like lego land. There are lots of interactive stuff that we as adults loved let alone dc.
Do teens need scary rides? Some of the rides are so beautiful and there is the baron super scary, the flying Dutchmsn/brilliant, George and the dragon python and the ship and the indoor dark ride coaster.
But the stunning rides are dream flight , symbolica.

It's beautiful to wander around, gorgeous music 3d film gorgeous gardens

I had a week in pouring rain in Amsterdam with teens back in March. It was great. Easily one of the best holidays we’ve had. Highlights were canal tour and science museum, but honestly so many of the things already suggested were great. Even just walking around in the rain (with waterproofs).

I agree. We went with my 9 and 14 year old last year and both loved it and want to go back. Something for all ages. Rotterdam is brilliant, food hall is amazing and the cube houses are great, you can go inside one. There is a pinball museum in Rotterdam too but we didn't have time to go. Leiden is beautiful, we did Naturalis and hired a boat and did our own tour of the canals.

Amsterdam is lovely and a great change of scenery for everyone. Plenty to do museums and galleries etc. no matter what forecast says unlikely to rain constantly for a week ! You'll just have to make the most of it.

Hema! I can spend hours in a Hema, especially if you like stationery.
Utrecht is good for shopping and the Catherina centre is indoors.
It won't rain continuously anyway.

Anne Frank museum (not fun but might be a goer)
Theres Moco Museum Amsterdam + fabrique-lumieres.com

Go to the botanics and sit in one of the lovely cafes

Or train ride to Rotterdam Central - to check out the architect + design museum..

OP mentioned the teen does not like museums , art etc .

I know you said no museums, but my science & engineering kids were fascinated by bodyworlds look at it carefully before committing. It's most definitely not for everyone.

There are at least three virtual reality spaces in Amsterdam Noord that should please a nerdy teen, especially if they like gaming. Escape rooms are super popular as well, shouldn't be too hard to find one. Boom Chicago on Leidseplein might have a good comedy show on when you visit, it's in English.

As others have said, it rains in Amsterdam all the time, life's set up for it so don't get overly worried about it. Just bring a good rain coat/umbrella and you'll be absolutely fine.

HRTea!!! I love your blog! I practically memorised it before we went to Amsterdam at Easter. Your recommendation for Belhemel was so good, the best meal I've had in ages and we would never have found it if you didn't praise it so highly. Thank you!

Was coming to say this, I wouldn't have said it counted as a typical museum so might suit. Definitely different

Do they like waterparks / theme parks, what about Duinrell? Not sure how bad the weather is going to be but if it’s abit of rain should be ok and they have an indoor waterpark.

My totally unartsy 13 year DS2 enjoyed the Mocco museum. A bike tour is a great way to see the City. We also did a tour of the Ajax stadium. I loved Amsterdam so easy to travel round. We tried to do Anne Frank's House but it was booked up about 6 weeks in advance.

We’ve just come back from a fab time in some rain. Had two 20 yo with us.

I know you don’t want museums but the modern art museum has some very off the wall exhibitions atm, which could be fun.

Loads of great places to eat and drink. We watched the football at the Temple Irish bar, which was very civilised. Great food at Pizza Beppe and Ku kitchen. And Bar 27 and Freddy’s were cool bars for afterwards.

We ate very well everywhere. Dutch apple pie! Waffles! Maybe make the meals a focal point and the other stuff can be ‘bonus’ fun in between.

You can get a closed boat tour - we did open as it was dry, but plenty of open boats around too.

Lots of shops - malls like Magna, but also independents - eg lots of cool vintage clothes for both sexes in the nine streets area.

Everything is better in the sun, but with proper raincoats we had an amazing time in the rain too. As pp says, you def don’t go to Amsterdam for the weather.

Hopw you manage to have a good time. There will be plenty of dry spots during the rain too, so don’t panic. As long as you stay positive, the teen will too.

We ate so well and hit up
loads of viral TikTok places and rated them. We loved the food hall and we loved Anne franks house. Did a boat canal tour and loved that.

What age do you think Efteling is good for? We are heading to NL this summer but my kids are only 1 and 3. Too young?

Daytrip to the theme park and indoor water park at Duinrell? About 30mins from Schiphol airport.

See some other cities. Utrecht and Rotterdam are really easy to get to on the train and are a great change from AMS.

We went for the day.
It rained
It was fantastic
The canals
Wax works
Bars
Architecture
Beautiful place

When we had a rainy day in Amsterdam we got the ferry to the Eye, saw a film and had lunch. Amazing building.

We also found a pinball cafe/bar which was great if you enjoy that!