Whilst I am beginning these travel blog posts, I will be going back in time a little bit to document places I have visited.
I was lucky enough to be able to spend 5 days in Amsterdam back in August 2013. It was (and still is!) the best city break I have ever been on.
My boyfriend Andy and I flew out early Monday morning and arrived bright and early to a city that wasn’t quite awake! We went from the airport, onto a train and we were in the centre very fast -we decided to start exploring right away so we walked the forty minutes to our hotel.
Our hotel was the Eden Hampshire and the location was fantastic – we were able to walk everywhere the whole week, without using a tram once! The hotel was fine, basic but functional, and customer service was lovely (we requested our room be changed due to being on the noisier ground floor and they immediately accommodated us).
One of the main things I wanted to visit while we were there was the Anne Frank house and museum. I have read The Diary of Anne Frank so many times and actually being able to visit the annex and take everything in was breathtaking. I would highly, highly recommend visiting. We did queue for over an hour to get in (August is peak season mind you!) but it was worth every second of waiting.
We tried to cram as many things in as we could while we were there – each of us purchased a museum card which gave us access to a huge number of places, including the Anne Frank house and museum! We visited the Amsterdam Museum, the Rijksmuseum, Foam Fotografiemuseum, Artis Zoo and more! My boyfriend is a photographer so enjoyed the photographic museum a lot!
Walking around the city gave us great opportunities to really see the city – all of the buildings, canals, streets and squares. We did take a little wander down the red light district (curiosity made me want to see it) but I felt quite uncomfortable, although it was an eye opening experience!
One of the really memorable things I found was visiting the Hagen Daaz ice cream shop after dinner and eating our ice creams whilst looking at the beautifully lit canals and bridges.
Recommendations
- If you are going to use walking as your mode of transport a good, comfortable pair of shoes is a must!
- I do recommend walking around, the city is not too huge to do this and you get to see so many things
- Buy or bring a map and or guidebook – we used ours daily, it got us everywhere we wanted to go and also had useful information about attractions, alternative transport and key Dutch phrases.
- The Anne Frank House and Museum is a must see – try and get there as early as you can to beat the queues!
- Consider a museum card if you are planning on visiting museums – it can save a lot of money.
- Have fun, take in as much as you can and embrace Amsterdam
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Have you been to Amsterdam or are you planning on visiting? I would love to visit again the future and I’d also love to hear your experiences!
Kay x