Amsterdam advice please

[Hassled]

Any top tips? We're going to fulfill my lifelong wish to see the Anne Frank House and because it sounds like a great city, but other than that I know very little - what are the must-sees? We'll have an 11 year old and a 15 year old in tow, and there only for a couple of nights. They're not too old for the zoo, and I've heard the zoo is good - it it?

It looks from the map like most places are fairly accessible/walkable - but is there an area I should be narrowing my hotel search to?

hopeful bump

Hi there,
We went to amsterdam last year with our then-18mo. We stayed in an apartment (black and white apartment) in the de Pijp area, which was quite a walk from the main city attractions but a good base. I would definitely recommend the I Amsterdam card - we ummed and aahed, and eventually bought it the second day, and should have got it from the start as it includes a lot of decent attractions and all transport.

We weren't overly impressed with the zoo tbh, and our toddler even less so! It was quite expensive if you didn't have the card. Definitely recommend the science museum though;amazing fun for everyone and a stunning roof terrace with giant games and water features. We discovered it on our last day unfortunately and could have stayed much longer than the couple of hours we did.

Can't say about the main attractions as with toddler in tow we were a bit restricted. I've been to the Anne frank house myself previously and it was very moving. Vondel park was huge and lovely to walk around. Great playgrounds for young and old - though ds slept his way round!

Recommend Bazar restaurant on Albert Cuypstraat; great food and family friendly.

HTH

DP and I went at new year. Stayed at the crowne plaza. Buy your Anne frank tickets in advance as there are queues around the block. We went to riijskmuseum (tickets in advance) and still queued 30 mins. There is ice skating currently just outside the museum.

Lots if people hired bikes which should be fun as it's so well set up for cyclists - sure you can hire bike with toddler seat and there were tandems too.

Street markets everywhere good for hotdogs, waffles and Dutch donut things . Also apple cake and coffee. Really child friendly city. Enjoy!

We stayed in the holiday inn which was fairly central and we walked everywhere.
We did do the boat tour which was a good way to see the city and get your bearings.

Many thanks - that's all really useful. Have googled the I Amsterdam card and it looks like a great idea - will definitely go for that.

God you don't have toddler...we you can hire tandems etc.

There a beer museme which while on tour you get 2 half beers

Also going on a peddle boat on the canals you get map and everything

Brill fun

Though the boats from the boat tour do make waves and sure they speeded up when they saw me and friend

Rijksmuseum just reopened with Night watch, a must.

Ditto rembrandts house.

Go and eat pancakes, with ham and syrup.

Boat trip

Anne Franks house.

Wander down the canals looking at the flower stands.

Get to Anne Frank's House early - I was there for opening time, and had to queue for about 20 minutes. When I came out, the queue was about 3 times longer.

And definitely do the Rijksmuseum.

Thank you everyone - have been googling like a madwoman and am getting excited now :)

rent a house boat on airbnb.com so much more fun than hotel and better position.

BBC Video of drama series on Anne Frank on Amazon is excellent preparation, my kids (then 8 and 11) were explaining things like the map on the wall of the house to other tourists as a result. We enjoyed Zoo. Van Gogh museum wonderful, would choose that over Reijksmuseum. Pedalos good fun. Nemo Science centre v good.

you can get anne frank tickets on line in advance. and yes Nemo great but i think best for the under 10s

there are lots of places to walk around. the bloemenmarkt is nice - flowermarket. I would recommend a rijsttafel which is indonesian food. The Heiniken museum is cool. If you like music, you can check what is on at Paradiso. We saw the Eels a couple of years ago. Athe botanic gardens are a nice walk. Go to a Brown Cafe and try some beer. Kwak is an unusual one. I would recommend Belgian beer from a bottle, rather than what is on tap. The waal is where the prostitutes are in the windows. i found it really sad.

Top tip for the Rijksmuseum- if you book online a "highlights of the museum" tour in English for €5 per person on top of your entrance ticket (€15 Adult, kids free) then you get to skip the entrance line completely. We took our DC aged 14 and 12 and the tour was just the right length to keep their interest. We stayed for another hour afterwards just revisiting the galleries which we had whizzed through.

We did end up having to queue for 1 1/2 hours for the Anne Frank museum which on a bitterly cold January day we could have done without, although the museum is well worth the visit. There are a very limited number of pre booking tickets available so even 3 weeks in advance they were sold out for our dates.

If you want to visit a Zoo then the one at Rotterdam is much much better- train travel from Amsterdam is very easy and it would take about an hour.

Hi there,
I am looking for a toddler friendly hotel in Amsterdam with a pretty central location - not been before but hoping to go next month for 4/5 days.
Does anyone have any advice on where to stay?
Thank you,
Rebecca