Amsterdam, Netherlands
Springtime in Amsterdam, 2017.
City on the Water
Everyone can find something to love about Amsterdam. It’s one of the funkiest, most beautiful, and most creative cities in Northern Europe. Bike ride along a famous canal, wander through the Red Light District, or visit one of Amsterdam’s world class art museums. You can even take a train ride to one of the Netherlands’ other beautiful towns, all within an hour of the capital city. The land of tulips, windmills, and wooden clogs has all the charm you could ever hope for. A great place for a first time visit to Europe (or a return one,) Amsterdam certainly won’t disappoint you!
Official Languages: Dutch
Best time to visit: March-May for the tulip blooms and Christmastime (all of December.)
Budget: $$-$$$. Amsterdam can be either a great budget destination or a pretty expensive place to visit, depending on your tastes. Mid-range travelers can expect to spend about $140 dollars per day, including hotel/AirBNB, food, and sights. Budget travelers, between $50 and $80 dollars per day.
English Level: You will have absolutely no problems in Amsterdam. Everyone learns English as a second language in Holland and most people speak it perfectly. Some Dutch people I would say speak English better than Americans…
Windmill at Wijk bij Duurstede, c. 1670, by Jacob van Ruisdael. One of the most famous landscapes to come out of the Dutch Golden Age, Ruisdael’s painting prominently displays an enduring symbol of the Netherlands, the windmill, which was used to reclaim Dutch land below sea level for farming purposes. Today it can be seen at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
Amsterdam Sights and Culture
One of the first things people think of when they hear about Amsterdam is the canals. The Netherlands literally means “low countries,” owing to the fact that much of the country is at or below sea level. In the 16th century, the Dutch began a massive project of land reclamation to drain the coastal areas using windmills, dykes, and canals, which diverted water to the sea to create new farmland. For this reason, Amsterdam has over 100 kilometers of canals that extend throughout the city, creating islands on which the city rests. The three main ones, Herengracht, Prinsengracht, and Keizersgracht, form concentric rings around the center of the city and are easily accessible places to get great canal photos. But don’t be afraid to explore a little further outside the city, where more residential neighborhoods offer a quieter, less crowded space to take photos.
Lijnbaansgracht, canal in southern Amsterdam, located in one of the city’s quieter residential areas.
Rijksmuseum
View of Rijksmuseum, with Iamsterdam letters in front.
The Rijksmuseum is the preeminent museum of Dutch art and history in the Netherlands, housing a spectacular collection of mainly Dutch art and other European and Asian works from 1200 to 2000. The museum is best known for its treasures from the Dutch Golden Age, a period of great advancement in science, trade, military power, and the arts for the Netherlands during the 17th century. Some masterpieces of Rembrandt, Frans Hals, Jacob van Ruisdael, Johannes Vermeer, Jan Steen and others are housed in the Rijksmuseum. I will upload some of the most famous works for you to see below. These works represent some of the finest examples in the world of landscape, still-life, and genre (scenes of everyday life) painting.
From left to right: The Milkmaid (c. 1657-58) by Johannes Vermeer. The Night Watch (1642) by Rembrandt van Rijn. Married Couple in a Garden (1622) by Frans Hals. Winter Landscape with Ice Skaters (c. 1608) by Hendrick Avercamp. The Merry Family (1668) by Jan Steen.
The Rijkmuseum was also the location of the famous I amsterdam letters sign which was once displayed in front of the museum. However, the Amsterdam City Council removed the sign a few years ago because the city believed they were creating mass tourism and overcrowding problems for the square. Not to worry! The gardens behind the museum are worth checking out and if you visit in the winter, a full size ice rink is located in front of the museum for you to enjoy.
Gardens behind the Rijksmuseum.
Rijksmuseum Research Library, dedicated to the documentation and conservation of museum works and art historical research.
Anne Frank House
Prinsengracht, famous canal in Amsterdam. On the left is the building where the Frank family lived and hid during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.
The Anne Frank House has to be one of the most interesting and somber places in Europe. If there weren’t a giant sign outside the building, you would have no idea it was important or meaningful in any way. Converted into a museum in 1960, the building at Prinsengracht 263 was the home of the Frank family, and famously, the hiding place of Anne Frank and her relatives and several other Jews during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Photos are not allowed inside the museum, so you have to visit to get a feel for how small and cramped the annex was where the family hid for many years. Buy your tickets far in advance because this is a very popular attraction.
Coloration of the Anne Frank House. Image provided by 360stories.com.
There are many information plaques scattered around the house and the annex that do an excellent job of describing the background info of the family, the historical context, the details of the family’s hiding, and theories about their discovery and capture. It is not a happy experience in any sense of the word, but a necessary one to understand what an amazing figure Anne Frank was. I’m not a claustrophobic person, but the entire house felt uncomfortably small, and unimaginably difficult to live in for several years without leaving (maybe we shouldn’t complain so much about the coronavirus quarantine!!) The original version of Anne Frank’s diary is also housed in the museum, which is super interesting to look at.
Van Gogh Museum
Tulip blooms outside the Van Gogh Museum. The Van Gogh Museum is located very close to the Rijksmuseum, in the Museumplein.
The most visited museum in the Netherlands, the Van Gogh Museum contains the largest collection of Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings anywhere in the world. A Dutch painter of very little renown at the time, Vincent Van Gogh struggled through poverty and mental illness for many years and only took up painting during the last 10 years of his life, between 1880 and 1890. Despite this, he is considered one of the most important and influential painters in Western art for the impact of his unique post-impressionist style, which contributed to the birth of modern art. He created over 2,000 works, a remarkable feat given the man’s personal challenges. Below are some of his paintings displayed in the museum.
From left to right: Sunflowers (1889). Self-Portrait as a Painter (1887-88). The Yellow House (1888). The Bedroom (1888).
Red Light District
Red Light District of Amsterdam.
Ah yes, the famous Red Light District of Amsterdam. The neighborhood is actually called De Wallen, occupying the medieval center of the city. Quite the tourist grabber, the Red Light District is home to many window shops with prostitutes enticing tourists to have some fun (prostitution is legal in Amsterdam.) You can find sex museums, cannabis shops, and other scintillating buildings that glow red during the night. Maybe not the best place to take your grandma for a stroll, but it is really a fascinating and entertaining place to explore. Ironically, the Red Light District is also home to the Oude Kirk (old church,) the oldest building in the city of Amsterdam, built around 1213. The Red Light District is worth exploring both during the daytime and nighttime to see a very stark contrast in environments…
Mushrooms are not legal in Amsterdam, but that doesn’t stop shops from advertising psycho-altering drugs in the form of truffles or tablets…
Jordaan Neighborhood
Bridge over a canal in the Jordaan District of Amsterdam.
The Jordaan district of Amsterdam is a great neighborhood to do a walking or food tour. In addition to beautiful flower-lined canals and charming alleyways, there are lots of boutique shops and restaurants to visit. The Jordaan Food Tour, organized by the company Eating Europe, is a great way to get both a walking tour of the neighborhood and a taste of some of the local cuisine. Visit https://www.eatingeurope.com/amsterdam/jordaan-food-walking-tour/ for more info!
Bloemenmarkt
Tulip bulbs for sale at the Bloemenmarkt in Amsterdam.
Built on floating barges, the Bloemenmarkt is a fun little tourist market that features Holland’s famous tulip bulbs for sale. You can buy dried bulbs, fresh flowers, and other trinkets Monday through Saturday. Fancy some Dutch Gouda cheese? You can find it here too! The flower market is also situated right in the middle of the city, so there are plenty of opportunities for shopping in the immediate vicinity. Be sure to also check out the Pathé Tuschinski movie theater nearby, designed in the Art Deco style. The building is really cool!
Field Trips from Amsterdam
One of the great things about visiting Amsterdam is the ease of venturing out of the capital to other great towns and cities in the Netherlands that are easily accesible by bus, train, or car. I’m going to focus on two field trips you should consider (the second, in my opinion, is absolutely essential.) The first is the town of Zaanse Schans, just outside Amsterdam in north Holland.
(How to get to Zaanse Schans: https://www.dezaanseschans.nl/en/plan-your-visit/accessibility/)
Some of the famous windmills in Zaanse Schans.
If you’re looking for an experience that packs just about every Dutch stereotype into a single town, then Zaanse Schans is the place for you. It’s cutesy and feels a like a tourist trap, but this town has enough charm to make up for that “Mona Lisa overcrowding” feeling. The well-preserved windmills and Dutch houses are worth a visit. There are great walking trails, craft shops, farm animals, and a few museums to tour as well.
Walking trail with windmill in Zaanse Schans.
The second trip to take from Amsterdam is, in my opinion, an absolutely essential one that should not be missed. The Keukenhof Garden in the town of Lisse is one of the largest flower gardens in the world, open normally from the end of March to early May. This short time window means you normally can’t visit the park, but if you happen to travel to the Netherlands during this time frame, this is a MUST visit. Boasting millions of tulip flowers, the Keukenhof Garden radiates unparalleled beauty and color.
Information about arrival at Keukenhof: https://keukenhof.nl/en/plan-your-visit/
The Dannehl family visits Keukenhof.
Dining in Amsterdam
Incanto
An excellent Italian restaurant that has amazing views over one of the central canals of Amsterdam. The food and ambiance are the one-two punch that make this restaurant a memorable dining experience!
Address: Amstel 2, 1017AA Amsterdam
Phone: +31 020 - 42 336 81
Website: https://www.restaurant-incanto.nl/en
Rijsel
My favorite restaurant in all of Amsterdam. Rijsel serves a mixture of French and Flemish food in a recently renovated interior space. The dining room is cozy and modern and the food truly remarkable. We splurged on this amazing meal that I still think about years later.
