Amsterdam Solo Traveler Trip Report

Congratulations on your first solo trip. You did a lot in a week despite the weather. Sometimes you just need to give it a try to see what does, or doesn't work. I wonder if setting up some time to video chat with a friend at home could help with the loneliness - if you find the tours don't get you where you want to go. It's a shame that you were turned away so often. Sometimes a more ample lunch, then a picnic or simple eats in the hotel room for dinner are alternatives...but that may not feed your sociable soul.

Thank you for posting! So I will be Solo for 3 nights before tour. Do you recommend reservations... And would you put 2 people? I haven't really thought about dining yet. Ty!

tburrell05,

For me, dinner reservations worked out well. I skipped restaurants that only took reservations for 2 or more people and chose ones that allowed a reservation for one. There were some incredible French restaurants that I ate at (for a fraction of what they would cost in the Chicago area where I live). There were so many wonderful restaurants in general. I just searched in Google Maps and then checked their websites for reservations. You don't necessarily need to make them before you are there though.

Have fun!

Kristen

Kristen, congrats on your 1st time solo. I, too, love Amsterdam. It is such fun to just walk and wander there. I love Venice, too. Maybe it's the canals! I admire your dining adventures. Eating alone is difficult for me so I rarely dine anywhere that requires reservations. On my trip to England last fall most dinners were grabbing something from the Co-op & eating in my room. I make lunch my main meal and in good weather try to eat outdoors. I bring a book and people watch. I'm not a foodie so this works for me. I try to stay for 4 or 5 weeks when I go to UK or Europe as I hate to fly. I never get lonely, but I am solo at home, too. I do try however to schedule some day tours or even a R. Steves tour in the middle of the tour in order to share my experiences with other travelers. And, I agree they are great for solo travelers.

Thanks for the report. It sounds like a great trip despite the less than ideal weather. I’m headed to the Netherlands (and Belgium) later this year for a solo trip.

If you have an ipone, I have found the walking directions on the map apps to be very good. I was impressed with how well it worked in Venice.

Sorry to hear you were turned away at some restaurants for being a solo diner.

Thank you for this report. My husband and I are headed there in May. I'm going to look into booking the food tour, so thanks for the tip! I admire your courage in doing solo travel.

Hi Kristen from Lockport,
Pam from south of I-80 here. I am traveling solo to the Netherlands(second solo trip to enjoy everything tulips) soon and have traveled solo to many other European countries. I can see in March with rainy weather very depressing and always eating alone is no fun. I found the best tours for a solo traveler are the AirBNB experiences. Met some great local people hosting & solo travelers. Have you ever considered walking the Camino de Santiago, just a thought.. Tours are good, have taken one once which was very nice but 95% of my travels are independent. Give it time then consider another go, maybe a different time of year with more sunlight. Christmas markets are another good solo travel, Prague, Paris, Cologne (ones I’ve solo to). There’s many themed Christmas markets in big cities in various locations. Beautiful at night and outstanding Paris Galleries Lafayette windows (think old Marshall Fields)change every year as does the beautiful huge Christmas tree inside the stained glass dome. It’s a secret reveal every year. Cologne has 5 different ones ( Old Town, Cathedral, Angel, Riverfront ??) with a small opened air tram that you can ride to them on. You can enjoy the diverse market food and are out past dark enjoying life plus much safer than Chicago these days. Travel for yourself, whatever makes you happy.

Congrats on your first solo adventure! Sounds like a great blend of structured and unstructured time. I am not a super social person, but often find myself more tired out than usual at the end of a week completely solo. I write a blog when I travel and encouraging comments from my friends and family often perks me up to keep going and get out there. And bravo on the solo dining - that's always hard for me, but I will keep trying. For future reference, CityMapper worked great for me in Amsterdam, I plan to use it in Istanbul later this year.

Hi Kristen,
Thanks for your report. It looks like you had a great time, despite March 2023 having absolute crappy weather. March 2022 was one of the sunniest months of March in decades, March 2023 was the complete opposite. That’s why all these “what will the weather be like in March/April/etc” questions are impossible to answer.

I am confused about your remark about Google maps though. Google maps is my go to navigation app and it always brings me right to where I should be. I literally use it all the time and I’ve never found that it lead me to a place 10 minutes away from where I wanted to go to.
Can you please share an example of where Google maps brought you to the wrong place?

Thank you so much for your TR! Welcome to the solo travel adventure!

I was just in Amsterdam last week and used the CityMapper app for very accurate walking directions.

I loved, loved, loved the Vermeer exhibition! Wow.

Dutch_Traveler,

Google Maps issue: I think my mistake was just listening to the walking directions with an earbud and trusting it. When I was going to the meetup location for my walking tour (Beursplein #5, in front of the EuroNett stock exchange building), Google Maps told me I had reached my destination in front of a shop about a 7-minute walk away. When I reset the directions, it told me I reached my destination somewhere else a 5-minute walk away. (Maps was showing that the accuracy was low.) After that, I gave up on the earbud and just looked at Google Maps while I was walking and didn't have any other problems. I did have a few instances that week with Google Maps that I'd end up at a locked gate and would have to backtrack to find a different route. This in no way impacted my wonderful week in Amsterdam though - just part of the fun of roaming around a new city!

As far as the weather, I didn't expect it to be great as I was watching the forecast leading up to that week. For me, I'll take the cold and wind over the heat and humidity of the summer!

Kristen

Thanks for everyone's thoughtful responses! Strangely enough, I didn't feel lonely at restaurants. I brought a small notebook to jot down trip notes and had my phone to catch up on news, emails, etc. I usually found that the food came too quickly - I could have lingered longer.

MariaF made the suggestion to video chat with a friend at home to help combat the loneliness. I think that would have definitely made a difference! I chat with my sister every evening at home. I probably needed some sister time. We could have and should have organized phone conversations at times of the day that worked out for both of us.

Next time I also think I'll book more small tours - even if it's just an hour or two in a museum, neighborhood, or something else. I really enjoy having people to chat with.

CL, thanks for the mention of feeling more tired than usual with solo travel. I thought it was just me! By the end of the week, I was napping midday in my hotel room. Although, in all fairness, my solo travel pace was considerably more intense than my typical workday pace.

Pab - hi, neighbor! Thanks for all of the wonderful solo trip ideas!

Thank you for posting this. It is so helpful to read about people's experiences when planning travel. Is it possible for you to say more about your Hungry Birds tour? What about it did you like? Did you learn about Amsterdam or specifics about the food? What types of food did you sample? Thank you. Your information will help me decide if I should book a tour for my family.

jill,

The street food tour was in and around the Albert Cuyp Market, an area I had not explored on my own. I believe the website states that the tour shows their love of South Asian food, and that was apparent at the stops we made. We had traditional Dutch classics: a Van Stapele cookie (not a stop on the tour but given out at the start), herring, stroopwafels, etc. However, we also had many dishes (Surinamese, Indonesian, Japanese, etc) that I was not familiar with. They were places I would have walked by without a second thought. Overall, the food was phenomenal. I would not bring a picky eater on this tour though.

Kristen