Taking children to Amsterdam

[siobhan8686]

Anyone ever taken their child/children to Amsterdam? My Son would love to go to the Anne Frank museum and loves sight seeing, but from what I've heard it doesn't seem like a child friendly place for obvious reasons.

I have and it's actually really child friendly, would really recommend it. How old are the kids? Do your research on the areas in the city beforehand and stay out of the red light district and you don't see that side of it at all. It felt much safer to me than lots of UK cities, even at night. It's a really easy place to go - everyone can speak English and really good public transport or you can hire bikes. Lots of things for kids too - nemo science museum, boat rides, great parks, pancakes....there is an old thread I think under shorthaul with advice / links (don't know how to link sorry).

Amsterdam is no worse for children than any other capital city. If he's into science, he'd like the Nemo museum.

The red light district is very easy to avoid. I can't see the appeal and managed to avoid it.
The rest of Amsterdam is great though. Depending on the age of your kids you might want to research Anne Frank's house first. It's very stark, not really a museum as such and quite upsetting. If you do go, book in advance to avoid huge queues. There are plenty of other great museums, canal trips, parks etc plus a great range of restaurants.

We did a day there last year with kids between 8 and 14. Used the hop on hop off boat tour to get around the main bits and wandered through the city. All very child friendly frankly, even the re-light stuff is more eye opening rather than something you have to avoid (we didn't go into it but there are plenty of equivalent shops elsewhere that gets their eyes popping). Stayed out of the City though a short train ride away at a Holiday Inn with pool etc and just travelled in during the day on the efficient trains

Thanks everyone. My son is 9 and loves all things history. The Nemo museum sound good. Will defo look into that. Thanks again

It's absolutely fine for children. Children live there, after all We had family living there when I was a child, so went regularly and I loved it. I had no idea the red light district even existed until I was an appropriate age - it's quite easy to avoid (and if you do find yourself in the wrong bit accidentally, you're unlikely to see anything potentially damaging to young eyes anyway).

It's a lovely city - beautiful, compact, very relaxed and friendly, lots of interesting things to do for children and adults. Not sure I'd take a nine year old to the Anne Frank house though - probably only teens and up as it is very upsetting. You could have a look from the outside and explain the basics, without getting into too much detail - I'm pretty sure that's what my parents did when I was little.

Amsterdam is an incredibly child friendly place. It would be a hell of a lot more fun if you don't take one though

Took my DTs who are 6 last summer and it was great. We did a boat trip, Nemo Science Museum and also the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum. The Rijksmuseum has a couple of treasure hunts/guides on mini-tablets that my two adored. We had a lovely time. We stayed in an Airbnb on Ijburg - ten mins commute into town on a tram and a lot less hectic. Definitely recommend.

It's a lovely city for kids agree with pp very easy to miss red lights.

I would look into day trip to efteling though. Stunning theme park

I live just outside the city centre and have two young children, I can assure you that it’s a perfectly appropriate place to bring them . If your DS likes sightseeing then he’ll love it. The only issue will be trying to fit in all the things he wants to do!

If he likes history then he might enjoy the Amsterdam Museum www.amsterdammuseum.nl/en/kids/amsterdam-dna-family-tour or maybe exploring some hofjes around town (as long as he’s quiet he’ll be welcome) awesomeamsterdam.com/jordaan-hofjes/

Went last year with older boys age 13 and 15. Easily avoided the red light district even though we were in an airbnb 5 mins away. Agree with pp there's not much to see at Anne Frank huis, and you have to book in advance. Van Gogh museum was good and we did a fun guided tourd the city. The Body museum was interesting -and different - but may be better for kids who have started biology in school.

I went there two years ago with a 12yo and 14yo. It's fine.

Book Anne Frank well in advance. We couldn't go there because it was sold out.

If you go to the Rijksmuseum, download the fantastic app, which will take you on a tour. We did the 1 hour tour which takes you to something like the top 10 paintings. Make sure you have headphones to listen to the explanations.

I am thinking of taking my children here for my 40th. This is a great thread as I was wondering what child friendly things to do there are.
Are there child friendly places to eat? Mine would prefer burger and chips etc rather than a meal in a restaurant and I would like to not spend too much

It depends how old they are as to what they would like but in general children are welcome in restaurants and there are plenty of cafes etc with baskets of toys for the really little ones.

Not spending too much is getting trickier in Amsterdam these days I'm afraid, it's the capital and a popular tourist destination, and prices are going up and up and up. But you can find plenty of what we call 'brown cafes' or 'eetcafes' which are fairly reasonably priced and do Dutch-style pub grub. Some examples: www.iamsterdam.com/en/see-and-do/eating-and-drinking
www.likealocalguide.com/amsterdam/pub-food

Just be sure to avoid the tourist-trap type places around the Leidseplein

Thank you everyone, especially for all the recommendations Was only planning to go for a long weekend, might need to extend that now Can't wait to book it. Thanks again

We had a brilliant two week break to Amsterdam this summer with our kids (15, 6 and 4). I blogged about the highlights here: museummum.com/2018/09/28/top-10-things-to-do-in-amsterdam-with-kids/.
Nemo is great, as is the Zoo (and microbe museum), the family game at the Rijksmuseum, boat ride, cycling... We only ended up in the centre once and could see it was a but more seedy but everywhere else was so family friendly. @ItsHardToExplain try the Foodhallen as you can just get fancy hot dogs, fries or burgers for them whilst enjoying different foods yourself. We also had a day trip to the coast and a day out in Utrecht, both of which were lovely.
We stayed in the East (Oost) with a house swap which we enjoyed but if I was looking to book an area I would also consider De Pijp or Jordaan which are really nice neighbourhoods and closer to the centre. Enjoy! Can't wait to go back again one day, there was loads more to do that we couldn't fit into 2 weeks!

It's fine. Yes, there is a seedy side, and my dd acquired an ability to identify the smell of weed from a mile off, but you can avoid the red light district and there is lots of good stuff for kids. Definitely recommend the science museum and dd enjoyed the Van Gogh museum as well. You do need to book ahead for Anne Frank.

I love Amsterdam and it's very child friendly. So much to see and do. You can easily avoid the red light district.

We had a brilliant time in Amsterdam with 2 children, aged 7 and 10. we were there a week and had to swerve into a side street once to avoid the red light district and that was that. Its really walkable and has loads of fab museums Nemo is good. We even took ours to Bodyworks. It was fascinating! We too a train to Harlem and cycled through the National Park too. You can get to other towns really easily on the train and bus network

Itshardtoexplain there were chips and burgers everywhere! My kids couldn't stay out of the pancake places, but we were spending a fortune so ended up going into Hema to get a picnic.

I don't know why anyone would think it wasn't a child-friendly city the red light district is a touristy irrelevance that's entirely possible to avoid entirely. DH and I took our then five-year-old there for a week the summer before last, staying in an Air BnB in Westerpark, and had a ball. It's an excellent place to take a child of that age we rented pedalboats and went out on the canals, played in the parks (lots of green space and excellent playgrounds, place to paddle), cycled around, went to the museums and the urban beaches, and ate very well. Literally the only time I was anywhere that made me remember that Amsterdam is the destination of choice for leery British stag parties was when I was walking by myself away from the Museumquarter to meet DH and DS somewhere for dinner -- fortunately, it seems quite localised.

Thanks - I am booking it tonight. I was pretty sure but the mention of pancakes has made me 100% sure

I haven't read all the comments but I'm an Amsterdam blogger who focuses on Family Friendly Amsterdam (amd the family blogger for the City of Amsterdam website). As you might guess I'd say it's an amazing city for kids!

Dozens of useful posts on the blog www.amsterdamwonderland.com - check out the kids section specifically.

Shout if I can help with anything xx