Amsterdam 3-day trip with teenagers - tips?

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We're going on a family holiday with my three kids aged 11 to 16. 5 days but only three full ones. We're staying outside the city in an AirBnB with bikes, so the idea is to cycle into Amsterdam and back everyday (40 mins each way).

What are some must-do things kids of this age will enjoy? Any nice restaurants you recommend? They are quite adventurous with food.

Thanks!

Anne Frank museum surely?

Yes, I mean beyond that and the Van Goigh museum. Things I might not necessarily have heard of. Thanks 🙂.

You can design your own chocolate bar and have it made at the Tony’s shop.

For Anne Frank, if you can it’s well worth booking the tour with a talk beforehand- it’s just about half an hour but it sets it all in context and I found it made the visit much more meaningful for DD. They sell out really early though so you have to be quick- and you must book ahead anyway.

Canal boat trip.

Foodwise, there are lots of really amazing cheese shops- definitely worth a trip and you can try all the cheeses- v different from British perception of Dutch cheese. Obviously you must have pancakes at some point. Amsterdam also has a lot of excellent Indonesian restaurants (due to its history).

Make sure you do a boat trip. I know it is pretty standard but it is a good way to discover the city and hear about its history.

Also you can eat amazing pancakes there!

Thanks! Any boat trip recommendations?

Mine liked ripleys believe it or not
We did a boat trip and it was 'ok'

I also wonder about interesting places to eat? Thanks.

Do the boat trip at dusk as it’s magical with all the lights. There’s several by the station but they get busy. May be best to book one in advance rather than queue for one. We booked a walking tour and also did a vintage tram trip from the main square. The Olympic park could be good to visit. It’s great if you like shopping (I don’t!), and felt like a huge shopping centre to me at times. Maybe look for a cheese tour/ tasting session.

Indonesian rijsttafel!
It's like a mezze/ tapas/ thali in that they'll bring you lots of different dishes to share. I can't recommend a particular restaurant though as I don't ever eat out in A'dam.

Zaanse Schans outdoor museum.
Full of working windmills, we loved it

There is an experience ‘This is Holland’ and you can go on a swing from a tower near that. Sorry cannot remember off hand the name but it was very popular.

This is it

https://www.adamlookout.com/

Tulip fields. Windmills.

Definitely visit A'dam Tower, I'd recommend booking for just before dusk and going on the roof and the swing, then popping downstairs for some drinks and bitterballen in the bar area while the dj plays and then back up on the swing again once it's dark. You can pay for the swing the second time at the booth on the roof. It was fantastic.

tonys will probably have a queue but well worth the wait, you will have to go back (no need to queue again) so plan in timings. They hold it for ages so next day is fine.

the department store near Tony's (but on Dam Square) is lovely for a wander and a fantastic cafe on the top floor. They also had a patisserie around the back which was fab.

we visited the Ajax stadium which my dc loved. If you get sick of bikes the metro is easy and cheap.

the upside down was fun, my dc loved it.

Finally if your dc are anything like mine they may want to visit some tik tok trends. Van Stepele cookies are delicious and the queue goes down relatively quickly but save yourself time and preorder a week or so before here https://vanstapele.com/

The Van Wonderen Stroopwaffles are expensive and just ok I'd say so share those. I paid 52 euros for four and we threw a fair bit away, ouch

probably a bit out of the way depending on where you are staying but we had amazing burgers under our hotel NH Flowermarket

I went recently with one teen. My tips.

Things to do:

The teen I went with is into art and design so picked Huis Marseille the photography museum - it was great. The exhibition on (The Sacrifice Zone) was excellent, but closes on March 3rd. Lots to talk about afterwards. We also did the canal museum to give some idea of the city history. They also picked Van Gogh museum and I think if we had longer would have wanted to do Rijksmuseum too.

I forced a walk round the red light district (mostly so I could talk about prostitution, people trafficking etc.) but it was one older teen not sure I'd have done it with an 11year old.

You can put your bikes on the ferry and go over to the other side of the river and have a bit of an explore there. There is a market bit around the botel

I've been a few times so can also recommend the maritime museum, the microbiome museum and the synagogue/jewish museum which tells the story of the holocaust.

Food -wise
Book some cookies to collect from Van Stapele. I forgot and it was raining horribly so we didn't get any.

We went to Toastable in the city centre for lunch and it was a big hit. Not too expensive either.

And one of the chain of pancake places - Pancakes Amsterdam

There is good food market at De Cuyp. If you are willing to pay the food tours are good or put something together yourself - trying to include some Indonesian and Surinamese food. Kantil & de Tiger is a nice Indonesian place in the city centre. I've always wanted to go with a decent groups so I could try lots of things! Simple things to try are Oorlong fries (chips with satay sauce), fernandes soft drinks (be warned they are very lurid).

If you go to the maritime museum first the food might make more sense to your kids as there is a big section on Dutch colonial past.

Not sure if you've travelled in the Netherlands before. Just be warned not everywhere takes credit cards. More places do post Covid but not all. Even the big supermarket chains aren't consistent. Branches in tourist areas do, but branches in more "dutch" neighbourhoods often just take the more common dutch cards. So try to get into the habit of checking before you gleefully load a trolley! I've more than once had to make a dive for some cash in a Albert Hejin, or from a restaurant.

All of previous posts and STRAAT. Free ferry across the river to get to it.

DS went to A'dam last month on a school trip. Ages 13-14.
His comments are:
Nemo (the science museum) - bit of a letdown.
Ann Frank huis - it was okay.
From Dam Square, walk down Kalverstraat. It's peak. It's got everything you could want. Don't go into the coffee shop by accident.
(I think that they were looking for Prime and weird sweets/ drinks from the Toko's - Asian grocers).

A group of boys also walked round the Wallen and were flashed at by a girl in one of the windows.

Watch your bags as Amsterdam does have a terrible problem with pickpockets.

Are they Instagram types! Mine loved Wondr

wondrexperience.com/ams/?gclid=CjwKCAiAiP2tBhBXEiwACslfnsxU4V85R6gqQKvStr1W6jLGKrH3cZLY-Qjjh1bt7ROFcnewuaTv5xoCgxEQAvD_BwE

Thanks everyone, there are some brilliant recommendations here. We're going over this half term so I don't imagine it's the season for the tulip trips. I'd love to do that one day though 🙂

If you are staying to the east of Amsterdam, try to get to Utrecht for at least one day, perhaps by cycling to a station and either putting your bikes on a train or parking them there and hiring new ones at the other end. It's a city that looks a lot like a mini-Amsterdam, but most of the people who are walking around in the centre will actually be Dutch. If you are on the west side then look at Haarlem or Zandvoort.

Also, 40 minutes cycling each way at this time of year can be chilly and wet. Take very good rain gear (or buy it there) and have a plan B. Remember too that in the Netherlands, cyclists are expected to obey all of the traffic rules, and concentrate at all times. Riding your bike like you are on holiday will get you shouted at by other cyclists.

As for food, the Dutch have the world's best (and yet also in some ways nastiest) junk food. Look for "Cafetaria" [sic] or "Snack bar". You can get a plain salad sandwich here ("broodje gezond"), but you can also get all kinds of deep-fried joy. Try a "broodje kroket" (it's pronounced "broatchuh", not "broodgy"), which is a big croquette filled with meat ragout on a bun, even better with mustard. If the shop has a döner kebab on the spit, get a "kapsalon", which is a member of the loaded fries family. And the chips are so, so good.

Foodhallen is great for food. The Moco museum is fantastic if you like modern art. The Anne Frank museum sells out months in advance so make sure you get tickets super early.

Be warned with the bikes that you really need to keep up with the locals. As friendly as they are, they don't have a lot of patience with tourists on bikes! We saw people regularly having to jump out the way!

Yes!! This restaurant used to be amazing but not been for several years.

www.kantjil.nl

Go to a restaurant called blauw for an Indonesian rijstafel.

try the Dutch snack bar foods and Dutch pancakes.

also recommend zaans schans.

you could also get the train to Utrecht to walk around, climb dom tower, have a meal in a restaurant along the canal

Went with my 12 year old daughter recently and we loved it…

straat - graffiti museum was great
Amsterdam Dungeons - we had a scary experience but fun
wondr - she loved, and we have amazing pics as memories

We couldn’t get tickets for Anne Frank’s house, as you have to book so early!

Mostly she loved wandering about, eating pancakes and seeing weed lollipops for se everywhere!