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Planning my trip to Amsterdam

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I’ll be in Amsterdam for 7 days in late April-early May. We’re planning on seeing the big museums—Rijksmuseum, Stedelik, and Van Gogh—as well as the Amsterdam Museum, Hermitage Amsterdam, Dutch Resistance Museum, and Jewish Historical Museum. And possibly the Willet-Holthuysen Museum, the Museum van Loon, and Rembrandt’s House. The omission of the Ann Frank Huis was intended. I understand the Beginhof is something we could see while walking in the area. We would also like to see the Waterlooplein Flea Market, which I know is closed on Sunday, and take a canal boat ride. I think we have enough time for a half day at Keukenhof Gardens, and day trips to Delft, Zaanse Schans and possibly Haarlem. We’re staying at The Seven Bridges Hotel, which is close to some of the places we’d like to visit.

Here’s what I thought might work in terms of daily planning:

Arrive early on a Saturday morning: Amsterdam City walk (from the RS book, about 3 hours?), includes Amsterdam Museum, Begijnhof, Flower Market, cheese tasting at Reymenaer; one of the big museums? Some museums near our hotel (the Willet-Holthuysen Museum, the Museum van Loon) ?
Sunday: Canal boat ride; rest of the big museums; Jordaan walk (from the RS book,about 90 minutes)? Dinner in Jordaan area?
Monday: Waterlooplein Flea Market; Museums near our hotel: Rembrandt’s House, Jewish Museum, Dutch Resistance Museum, the Willet-Holthuysen Museum, the Museum van Loon if not already there, Hermitage Amsterdam; Red Light District walk
Tuesday: Keukenhof Gardens
Wednesday: Haarlem? We have Concertgebouw tickets at 8:15
Thursday: Delft, market day
Friday: Trip to Zaanse Schans and Volendam
Saturday: return home

Please let me know if I’m trying to do too much in the first three days! I’ve seen that many books suggest 3-4 days in Amsterdam, and I think there will be additional time in the afternoon of the day we visit Keukenhof, and I want to be flexible about that to go on a nice day.

Thanks for any suggestions!

Posted by
7811 posts

This looks good; when you travel with other people your or their energy may make it happen that you will not go to all the museums you have listed for a certain day but that's alright.

Posted by
228 posts

Friday : www.localbus.nl could be an option instead of Zaanse Schans and Volendam . Watch out for pick-pockets at Waterloo plein ( in all tourist areas actually ) . Very close to Begijnhof is the free Amsterdam Museum where they now display the street organ that saved many people on May 7 1945 . Some German soldiers were hidden in a building close to Dam square and started shooting at people who were celebrating the end of the war. Many were saved by diving behind this tall street organ .

Posted by
2 posts

The magic of Amsterdam is that it is a very beautiful and walkable city. So please leave lots of time to simply stroll and admire the beautiful architecture, canals and history.

Posted by
271 posts

Thanks for the comments! We usually prefer to walk rather than take trams or buses, so I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to enjoy Amsterdam's beauty while getting from place to place. And I think (hope) we have enough time to see what we planned on at some point, even if not on the days I first thought of. As for pickpockets at Waterlooplein, they are unfortunately something to watch for in all crowded public places. So far in our travels, we've been OK, so we will continue our usual level of care!

Posted by
1825 posts

I’ll be in Amsterdam for 7 days in late April-early May

If your Thursday falls on the 27th, you may want to Google "King's Day Amsterdam".
I like you list of places but I wouldn't get to locked in for anything I didn't need reservations for. I'd adjust my plans according to the weather. If you get through half your list you'll still have had a busy week.

Posted by
271 posts

I appreciate the advice about Kings Day, Richard. We know it's a big party, but not being fond of crowds, we decided to avoid them and arrive a couple of days after.

Posted by
1825 posts

I now realize that I mentioned it to you in a previous thread......

Posted by
10 posts

We enjoyed everything we did in Amsterdam. We have Dutch friends who took us out of Amsterdam for a day. Beautiful country! We did go to Zaanse Schans with them- lots of windmills and a small village feel. They even had a demonstration on how they make wooden shoes. Guilds keep the windmills up. The windmill we visited (I think it cost 4 euros to go inside) still crushes rocks to produce pigments for artist's paints. Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh museum were wonderful- you will not have enough time there so you will have to pick your favorites. One caution on the Van Gogh- they make you check your backpacks at a counter (no lockers) which was time consuming checking the bag in and then picking it up afterwards. They will not let you take much of anything inside the museum. The Rijksmuseum had very nice lockers. You put in a 1 euro coin to open it, store your stuff, retrieve your stuff at the end, close the door and you get your 1 euro coin back. Vogelpark is a very large and beautiful park. Lots of walkways but also lots of bikes! Bikes are everywhere in Amsterdam and they have the right of way. Listen for the "bells" and jump out of the way! I would also suggest leaving some free time to find things on your own. We were returning back to our place one evening on the tram and a guy brought on a big floor lamp with many hanging crystals. The tram turned a corner and the lamp almost hit the floor. We helped the owner rescue it from disaster and we had a good laugh over the situation. He didn't speak English and we didn't speak whatever language he spoke but the laughter was a great form of communication. Those are the things I enjoy about traveling. Jeff.

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