Hello,
My husband and I are taking an impromptu trip to Amsterdam for a long weekend in Feb (on an airline pass) but haven't made our itinerary yet! We will land Friday morning at 8am, and will depart on Monday (the 4th day) at 12 noon. What should we do?
Sarah
Check the Anne Frank Huis website immediately and see if there is any chance you can get tickets. Get a RS guidebook. There will be a list of attractions and they will be rated. Watch the RS tv episodes on this website that cover Amsterdam. Check the weather forecast and incorporate that in your plans knowing that forecasts are just forecasts.
Sarah - this is a trip report I did for two years ago in the Netherlands/Amsterdam. nl trip report
Although we were there over Christmas and traveled to several other cities there is a list of things we enjoyed specifically for Amsterdam that you might browse. I highly recc. the outdoor markets - Noordermarkt if you will be there on a Saturday or Monday, and the Albert Cuyp Markt during the week. The Noordermarkt is in the front outdoor area of the Noorderkerk and across the street from the market is the famous Winkel's 43, which has the best apple pie with fresh whipped cream that you will ever eat. I don't much like apple pie but ate it weekly after visiting the market - it's that good! The canal houses are quite interesting to explore and are all clustered at the end of the Herengracht along with the museum of bags and purses which is an excellent exhibit and has a nice tea room for luncheon.
If you browse the section of this forum for food and drink you will see a review I did of some places to eat dinner that we particularly liked. Sadly, Cote Ouest is now permanently closed.
Enjoy your trip!
Excellent suggestion regarding the weather forecast. A light packable rain jacket that can be stored in a backpack or purse will be invaluable. Might consider layers for dressing and it can be windy.
For a fun evening, consider getting a reservation at Martine's Table.
Enjoy your trip
Additionally, I like Van Gogh and the museum is excellent and of manageable size for an afternoon. We didn't have advance tickets and when we arrived the ticket line was extremely long. I stood right next to the museum to get wifi, and bought tickets online to enter the museum in 15 minutes.
We spent an entire day walking around the canals and doing a hour long canal boat tour. We had noticed that our first day was going to be partly cloudy and the second was forecasted to be a full day of rain. We did museums on the rainy day which indeed was rainy for the FULL day.
The Rijksmuseum was renovated a few years ago and is beautiful. The art is displayed so well and The Night Watch has it's own area, an alcove. It is across from the Van Gogh Museum so easy to combine. We used the Rijksmuseum's brochure with it's major works listed and followed those.
If you need another indoor location due to weather , the Dutch WWII Resistance Museum is very interesting too.
