Good Day All,
Hope everyone is safe and healthy. I am wondering if anyone has any suggests as to where to how many days, where to stay, and what to do in Amsterdam before a Viking Cruise in June of 2026? Also the same in Basel at the end of my Viking Cruise.
Thank you so much for any information you are able to send me.
Stay Safe and healthy!
Take a look at https://sweetshotel.amsterdam to see if one of the bridge houses suits your needs. I wasn't able to stay in one last time because I didn't want to share a bed with my travel partner.
There is a lot to see and do in Amsterdam. What I see most often recommended are Anne Frank House, Van Gogh Museum, Rijksmuseum, canal tour and rijstaffel dinner. Walking around and enjoying the architecture is a great arrival activity if you are prone to jet lag. There are lots of other museums, including the Resistance Museum and the Eye film museum. Street food is big in Amsterdam. Day trips are easy to do. Take Rick's advice and make a list of what you want to see/do, figure out how long each takes (e.g., Rijksmuseum takes at least half a day for most people, I think), and this will tell you how long you need to stay.
We stayed a week in Amsterdam before our Viking River Cruise.
But we did a lot research beforehand on what we wanted to see and do and then scheduled it out per day and it penciled in as 5 days. We flew in, the next day is jet lag day, where we do nothing but rest if needed and to take walks around the town.
With our itinineary planned out, we saw what we wanted to see and do, but wish we could have stayed longer.
We stayed in two places: in a houseboat in the Jordaan neighborhood and then at the Doubletree Hotel near the Viking River cruise port and walkable from Amsterdam Central train station.
We really recommend finding lodgings in the Jordaan neighborhood. Don't stay in the Red Light District, but definitely walk through during the day. The museum district also has nice hotels.
Read the other posts in this forum for ideas on what to do. What are your interests? only you can determine if it's something you want to do. In addition to the Rijksmusuem, the Van Gogh Museum, the Dutch Resistance Museum, the Maritime Museum, we visited the Anne Frank Huis, took an evening canal tour with those Damn Boat Guys, had a Riffstafel Indonesian dinner. We took walking tours of the Central area, and a walking tour of the Red Light District, with the PIC. We rented bicycles in Vondelpark and spent a morning riding around the park. WE visited the Albert Cuyp open air market and and sampled the local food. If you haven't done any research on what food to try, then take a food tour. We also bought our orange shirts for Kings day and souvenirs.
We took day trips to Giethoorn, Harlem and Delft. Since we went in April, we visited the tulips in Keukenhof.
That's what we did, but you do you.
