Nice things to do for dp on trip to Amsterdam

[Bimgy85]

Taking my DP away to Amsterdam in November, flights and accommodation all paid for by myself. It's a surprise and he doesn't know about it yet.

How should I tell him? Or any nice surprise kind of tips? I was thinking of booking a few excursions and putting together a little booklet or something.

Any ideas? Or special things to do in Amsterdam?

The flight simulator is good fun too:
www.thisisholland.com/en/home

Note that cash is not accepted on public transport. (You can pin)

and most supermarkets don’t take credit cards.

Food tour - excellent value for history as well as the eating.
www.eatingeurope.com/amsterdam-food-tours/?gclid=CjwKCAjwtIXbBRBhEiwAWV-5nvYj5hxrlzqyoi8qHkCJztXqch4l2FOY6upBJu4XcI2lyLClgDAgaBoCEUIQAvD_BwE

@Wincarnis thank for that; so is it advised to buy those tickets online beforehand? Like a 'covers all ticket' for 48/72 hours? Would you recommend?

@S0upertrooper now that sounds right down our alley! That would be great! Might look into it.

Supper club sounds cool too maybe a bit too frisky! no?

Yes, recommend you get a travel card of some kind, there are a few to choose from .....depends what you want to do, how long you’re staying....

Amsterdam Travel Ticket includes train from schiphol to amsterdam, all trams and buses for 3 days www.discoverholland.com/amsterdam-travel-ticket

Iamsterdam card includes trams, buses, some museum entry but not trains
www.iamsterdam.com/en/i-am/i-amsterdam-city-card

Gvb card covers just the gvb trams and buses and metro within amsterdam (trains and express bus not included, so won’t get you to the airport)
en.gvb.nl/gvb-dag-meerdagenkaart

The cheese tasting is touristy but actually pretty fun. When we loved in Amsterdam we went to this one at the Old Amsterdam Cheese Store on Damrak, which I'd recommend.

Another touristy but cool place is Kantjil & de Tijger, an Indonesian restaurant in the city centre. You should book in advance, or be prepared to wait a while for a table (you can go to a nearby bar).

Canal boat tours are dull as you just see the sides of canals and the bottoms of bridges. Better to walk around the Jordaan district to get the feel of it, and stop for canalside beers or coffees. You can also hire bikes.

If you get bikes, there is a windmill brewery you can cycle to...I can get details from DH.

If you go down to the Museumplein (the Rijksmuseum is amazing, especially the first time you visit, but my personal favourite is the Van Gogh museum), De Wildschut is a lovely nearby café with a huge terrace where you can sit and watch Amsterdam life go by.

Haarlem is nice for a short day trip, and The Hague is also really easy to reach (and a lovely, green city).

OP, just saw your update about reasonably priced places to eat. Both De Wildschut and Kantjil & De Tijger that I linked to in my previous post are not expensive (see menus on their websites), and also Café Koosje is a lovely cosy pub type place with great but good value food. It's in a nice are to the east of the city centre - head out past Rembrandt's house to the botanical gardens and it's just next to the zoo (called Artis). As well as Rembrandt's house and the botanical gardens there is a planetarium down there and the Tropen Museum which we found interesting.

De Jaren is an iconic café over two floors in the city centre which overlooks the canal and has an outside terrace going down to the water. The food is typically Dutch and the buffet lunch, salad buffet and food in the "bar" (ground floor) is not expensive. Nice vibe there.

Depending on the time you have, Leiden is a lovely place to visit. About 40 minutes by train.

stroopwafels and spacecakes. Its a beautiful interesting place to walk round. loads of interesting alleys and artistic street art etc

@LockedOutOfMN all those places sound great. Gonna start researching. Il try book as most as I can..

@Wincarnis thank you so much for the links :D gonna have a look at travel tickets. Ones with the museum entry sounds good.

Hi OP, the only one of the 4 places to eat that you'd need to book is the Indonesian. The rest are more casual, and De Jaren and De Wildschut are big.

If you want to do a daytrip it may be slightly cheaper to pre book online.

Do they do gluten free space cakes I wonder

We will be staying for 4 nights. Getting there early on the Tuesday and leaving Saturday evening, so I'd say that would be plenty of time to fit in a good bit of stuff!

Behind central station, get free ferry across river. The building opposite has a swing on the top and views of the city

You can bike round it in about 20 minutes. Don't be afraid to bike on the roads and cycle path. It's actually easier than in the UK because everyone follows the rules.

Definitely hire a bike but Dutch cyclists, particularly those from big cities, follow their own rules. Hell, I live in The Hague and see Policeman regularly texting while cycling. The Netherlands is a small country, so getting out of the capital is relatively cheap and isn’t too taxing on your time. I can’t give any tips on AMS as I only make monthly flying visits but definitely get out of the city for a few excursions, Delft, Haarlem and Leiden are all within an hour away. The VVV is the National tourist board and should be your first port of call when visiting any new town in The Netherlands, they offer excellent advice and know all the tourist traps (The Hague VVV is conveniently situated in the central Public Library). Also, check out Groupon for food and excursion discounts.

The Hague is where the Dutch Parlisment is located and where the King lives and has some great museums all within twenty minutes walking distance from the central train station (Den Haag Centraal). One day rail tickets where you can travel the national rail network (NS) are regularity heavily discounted (€17) at the Hema (think Woolworths but waaay cooler) and Kruidvaart (the Dutch version of Superdrug). Make sure you have Google Maps installed. For orientation purposes trams and the metro are better than buses because you always know where you are), one day public transport (OV) tickets are always good value.

The Dutch are usually very chatty and most can not resist practicing their Americanised English accents (don’t ask), so definitely hit some randoms up for tips (locals always know the best and cheapest deals).

Lunch at the library is good. It’s views are superb and the library itself is pretty cool.

There is a burger place called the butcher (?) near the heninekan experience. It also has a secret restaurant hidden at the back, You need to buzz a buzzer and give a password, it’s great! Brilliant food and posh cocktails.

www.myhiddengems.co.uk/2013/07/the-butcher-secret-bar-amsterdam-hidden-gem/

The cafes are awesome. 💨💨💨

We done a Segway tour - lots of fun but look out for trams bike cars and pedestrians lol. Also the pancake house on the flower market is amazing

Yes, agree with the previous poster who suggested visiting the library - just beside Centraal Station to the west.

We stayed at Pension Homeland which was a Dutch naval officer's quarter, the restaurant is really good, staff are lovely and they have a brewery on site it's only a ten minute walk from Central Station by the water. The Heineken tour is a bit of a rip off and not worth it.

Definitely hire a bike, the Banksy exhibit was good not sure how long it runs for and the Van Gogh Japan exhibit is really interesting. Wandering around the Nine Street is a good way to spend time.