Two days in Amsterdam

[Princessfluffy]

I'm taking my young adult dd to Amsterdam for her birthday in September. We love Art and food! Will be there for three nights, two days.

I already have Van Gogh tickets - does anyone have any tips for fun things to do and good places to eat?

I would add in:

Canal cruise
Anne Frank house
Rijksmuseum
Red light district

It’s been years since I’ve been so can’t really remember anywhere to eat I’m afraid!

I absolutely recommend a boat cruise, they share so much history.
Anne Frank Haus sells out 6 weeks in advance so book ASAP.

I'm not a fan of Rijksmuseum, it's enormous, time consuming and I just don't enjoy art enough but Van Gogh is great.

There's some lovely parks to walk round and I hear that the Heineken museum is fun

Food, even if you're not vegan, I recommend the vegan junk food bar, it's amazing

Oh the sex museum is brilliant too. Just a good laugh and only 9 euros each

Rijksmuseum is brilliant. You can spend a whole day there. Anne Frank house also really good and we did a canal cruise too (dd was 17) so you've made good choices already.

There's a famous ice-cream bar (sorry can't recall name but googable) but I thought it was nothing special tbh. Just walking around the '9 streets' was good.

We ate at the food hall which was very good (de hallen)

God I’d say definitely DON’T do a boat tour. Over long and really Boring and cold (Trust me I’ve been to Amsterdam a lot!)

agree the Rijksmuseum is great. Even if you only go to see the highlights (there are lots!). The front of an English ship (used to be in the entrance) is also a fun story. The Dutch are very proud of it! 😬

You must eat some fried snacks. Bitttebollen, frikendel etc. Appallingly unhealthy but delicious. If you’re brave, try some herring (warning, it’s raw and served with chopped onions on a bun!). The Dutch say Amsterdam is built on herring bones. If you can find a Febo to buy the snacks, your dd will love that. It’s a self serve place where you put your money in the slot and get the snack out. My DDs still talk about Febo. There’s one at Schipol if I recall.

Sorry I’ve just seen she’s an adult. You’ll still have fun at Febo and eating bittebollen in a dark little Dutch pub with a glass of Palm is one of my favourite things to do ever.

also have chips with pinda saus (peanut sauce). It is LUSH!

Go look for licorice! It's milder than the British version. Also try and find raw herring! And the chips! I haven't been there for 25 years so things might have changed...

I’m off to Amsterdam in September too, so this is a very well-timed thread! Could anyone recommend which of the passes to go for, the i Amsterdam card or the Go-Amsterdam card? Thank you 😊

The red lights secret museum is good. try the Dutch fried snacks - suggest getting them from a snack bar rather than febo.
go to an Indonesian restaurant- Blauw is a good one

Indonesian food definitely, get a rijsttafel if you can.

I love the Rijksmuseum and I personally think it’s worth doing but it is huge. They do a good job of pointing out the ‘highlights’, although The Night Watch was somewhat en restaro when we last went (April) so not as impressive as it could have been.

The Stedlijke Musuem is fine, not amazing. The cafe is really nice though. The museum cafes generally are really well done there with actual nice, interesting food rather than just a disappointing sandwich like you often get here.

If you are cat people, KattenKabinet is great fun - a musuem dedicated to art depicting cats with some cats roaming too. It’s in a gorgeous canal house as well.

Chapel in the Attic is a really interesting site and very well done.

If you like street art then Straat might be worth checking out. Do not go to Moco though, it’s dreadful IMO.

Oh god yes get the snacks from a snack bar not a Febo. I only suggested that @LiquoriceAllsorts2 when I thought the OP’s daughter was a young child because it’s fun!

I personally hate Dutch liquorice but it has to be tried.

Thanks for all the excellent advice so far!

Shopping in the Negen Straatjes

Definitely recommend a canal tour but not on one of the large boats that seat hundreds. We went on a smaller boat (Friendship boats) that went from a canal in the red light district.
Everyone gets a good sear on the edge, the captain was really friendly and happy to answer questions as we went around and as it's a smaller boat, we were able to go down different canals than the big boats. (The best bit was the full bar on board with waitress service!)
Also enjoyed eating Dutch pancakes, the royal palace tour and just general people watching from the canal side cafes.

Loved our canal cruise with Amsterdam Boat Adventures. Small group, max 12, very knowledgeable guides, drinks at reasonable prices and throws to keep you warm if it's a bit cool. There are dozens of companies to choose from though from a cannabis cruise to a beer and pizza cruise if that's your thing.
We went to the Rijks for the Vermeer exhibition which isn't on now but there's lots more to see if you are art lovers.

I blog about Amsterdam and have loads of tips on my site. Some of the advice you've had on here is great - some, not so much 😊
Feel free to contact me via the blog if you need more help once you've taken a look (the right canal cruises are fantastic, avoid sex related tourist crap and don't eat frikandel! - check out the post on our favourite places to eat for the best of Amsterdam food)

amsterdamwonderland.com

(Also Dutch herring isn't actually raw it's cured in salt)

Canal cruise
Anne Frank house
Rijksmuseum

^^
Went last year with older kids and did these three things - it was really good! Young adult Dd will probably appreciate the Rijksmuseum better than my younger one did.

We also just walked through the parks a bit and had nice meal or two out.

@LondonMummer We’re just back from a short trip to Amsterdam and had a great time; we followed up several of your tips including Dignita Hoftuin, Amsterdam Boat Adventures and Puccini Chocolates. And we avoided getting knocked down by cyclists! Your blog is great - thanks 😊

Oh so kind of you to follow with an update! Thrilled you had such a great time (and you def made the most of it judging by what you did)

Correction - the Amsterdam Boat Adventures recommendation was @fussychica - thank you, they were lovely 😊

@LondonMummer We followed a lots of your tips about where to go and what to look out for, your blog is excellent 👍

AwkwardSquad you're welcome. The guys we had were really lovely and knowledgeable. So pleased you enjoyed it and had a great time in Amsterdam.