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See and Eat in Amsterdam

We are planning to spend 2 nights and 3 days Amsterdam at the end of this month with our teenage son. We are staying with points at the IHG Amstel Amsterdam. Is this a good location?

Also, I am a vegetarian but my family is not. Where do you recommend eating in Amsterdam?

What are some not to miss places to see/things to do? I did not realize we needed to buy tickets early for Anne Frank House and they are now sold out. However, the website mentioned that 20% of tickets would be sold on the day - what time, online, in person? Please LMK if you have experience with this.

We would like to see (we are not good with a bicycle):
-Anne Frank House
-I love Amsterdam sign
-Vondelpark
-take a canal cruise/ride (which and what do you recommend)?
-windmills and cheese factory ( how, what do you recommend)?
-maybe Van Gogh museum or Rijksmuseum ( not sure about this b/c my son is not interested in museums and neither is my husband)
-we want to eat lots of good food

Thanks for your advice!
Rose

Posted by
11588 posts

Buy tickets for Rijksmuseum ahead online; they are good for any day, any time. Buy Van Gogh Museum tickets ahead. They are sold for a specific entrance time on a specific day. Hopefully there are still some tickets left for your dates but perhaps not. I hope you are able to get into Anne Frank Huis on the day you want. Expect long lines. Tickets sell out way in advance. Vondelpark is a park, an open outdoor space.
There is an i ❤️Amsterdam sign in front of the train station.
There are many canal cruises available. We just hopped on one and it was enjoyable.
The closest windmills are at Zaanse Shans outside of Amsterdam. The amazing site to see windmills is at Kinderdijk, near Rotterdam. Take train, tram, and waterbus to Kinderdijk.

Posted by
307 posts

OK!
Go with the Blue Boat Canal Cruise. It is close to Vondelpark,
Zaanse Shance will give you windmills, cheese and more. Your son will enjoy the wooden shoe making demo and these is LOTS of cheese to taste and buy!
If you can get a reservation at Martine's Table, it is well worth the money. Your son might even enjoy the experience.

We recently visited Amsterdam and did not go to Anne Frank house nor the Van Gogh museum. Only can do so much...
BUT we did go to the Rijks and paid extrra for a tour which was worthwhile and highly recommend especially if there is no interest in art.
Also if you want to do a rice table, try BLAUW or SAMA SEBO.

Have fun!

Posted by
1029 posts

I was in Amsterdam for a business trip in April, so I did not do much siteseeing. However, I traveled with vegetarians and we had a great Thai meal (not far from the canal cruise) that also has non veg options, Thai Bird: https://thai-bird.nl. We didn’t have reservations and even in the pouring rain, there was a line out the door—the food was very good. The other place that we went to was Sampurna for Indonesian: http://www.sampurna.com.

I hope you have a great trip.

Sandy

Posted by
66 posts

We were just in Amsterdam and two of our favorite activities were taking the Eating Amsterdam Food and Canal tour (4+ hours long) and taking a day trip out to Kinderdijk to see the windmills. The walking tour is spendy but it was so fun, with a leisurely stroll around the Jordaan area, stopping to sample foods at various eateries and an hour long wooden boat ride along the beautiful canals, while sampling more foods. We got so much food that it was our lunch and dinner that day. We learned a lot about Amsterdam from our guide too. My husband didn’t much like the fast pace, congested sidewalks, and crowded museums in the city, so spending our final days in Haarlem and going out to spend some time in the countryside visiting windmills was like a break for freedom, and we appreciated seeing a bit more of the country than just Amsterdam.

Posted by
4071 posts

We'll be there overnight in early November before returning home and thought about having dinner at Winkel 43 just so we can have their apple cake for dessert. Anyone been there?