Visiting Amsterdam May 31-June 5 Looking for some insight regarding our plans

We did a week in Amsterdam in August of 2022.

1) Booking for the Anne Frank House can't be done until early the month prior to your intended visit. Be sure to go online and book ASAP, since bookings can fill up quite fast.
2) You might be able to do Anne Frank and the Rijksmuseum on the same day. We did them on separate days. We walked everywhere in Amsterdam and it took us more than half an hour just to walk from our hotel (near Anne Frank H) to the Rijksmuseum. Also, we spend almost two hours at Anne Frank, since we did a pre visit tour there on site before going on the tour. We spend over three hours at the Rijksmuseum.

3) We also did the Van Gogh Museum on a separate day. VGM is near the Rijksmuseum. We spent almost three hours at that museum. Frankly, it is a bit much for me to do more than three hours in museums in a single day.
4) One option outside Amsterdam is a windmills and villages tour that leaves from near the train station. You visit windmills and some villages on the Zyder Zee. Other places would be to Delpf, The Hague or even Bruges in Belgium.
5) You will need to spend a couple of days walking the city as well as a canal cruise.

“ We are looking for a day trip recommendation. Maybe an hour outside of Amsterdam by train? “

An hour outside of Amsterdam by train will get you to a whole lot of places, from Rotterdam, Delft, The Hague and Gouda to Alkmaar, Hoorn, Enkhuizen and Utrecht.
Without any indication as to what you might like to see on a day trip it’s impossible to give meaningful advice.

“Do we need to purchase a City Card? “
What City Card? And what would you like to use it for? Or think you need it for? For public transport? That depends on where your hotel is and how you travel to and from Amsterdam.

“Also, I would like some dinner recommendations. 3 to 4 $'s.”
I know you don’t mean a dinner for only $3 or $4 dollars, but other than that I have no idea what you’re willing to pay.

These chat boards can give, like you said, great advice and recommendations. We however can’t read minds, so you have to help us help you by giving a bit more information.

Honestly, if you have 5 full days in Amsterdam, I'd do Anne Frank Huis and Rijksmuseum on separate days. What time is your food and canal tour? If it's afternoon, I'd do the Anne Frank Huis in the AM and then something mentally light for the afternoon.

Are you interested in the Van Gogh Museum? IF so, I'd do that with the Rijks as they are near each other on the Museumplein. You'll need to get the Van Gogh Museum ticket well ahead as well as the Anne Frank House ahead of time. You can wait until later for the Rijksmuseum.

For the Rijksmuseum, I recommend downloading their app and buying the entrance ticket thru there, that way you can easily access it. Unless there is a whopping special exhibition (like last year's Vermeer) the Rijks can be a fairly last minute purchase but do watch their ticketing website calendar to make sure that holds true for this year.

Although I've not done it in Amsterdam, many enjoy a Rijsttafel, an Indonesian meal with many small dishes. I've had it in Haarlem with a group but otherwise I'm a solo diner so that's hard to do for one.

We ate a traditional Dutch meal at The Pantry. It is small so make reservations. We had stampot which is kinda a Dutch stew, but the surprise was the smoked eel, a specialty. We ended up eating there 2x during our last visit.

Haarlem is a nice day trip, easy train ride. We purchased the tickets that morning. If you go, prebook the Corrie Ten Boom museum (the family lived above their jewelry store and hid Jews. Kinda like a Jewish Underground Railroad). The Frans Hals museum is also interesting.

Delft is another nice day trip but the main attraction there is the Delft factory. If you’re not into the blue and white porcelain it may be a pass.

Bruges is too far, visit there on another trip.

You can also check out the Dutch website localbus.nl. They have 3 different routes outside of the city. The bus ticket is only around 12€, might be 15€ by now. Still a bargain for the sites you will visit.

Thank you all. This is a good start.

I would like some dinner recommendations. 3 to 4 $'s - I meant $$$ to $$$$ in cost. I wasn't very clear.

Dinner recommendation for Amsterdam: https://maps.app.goo.gl/PC6fGGaCkMC1ZdnY7?g_st=ic. Real nice place outside citycentre but easy to reach with public transport.

Daytrip one hour by train from Amsterdam: take a look at the city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch). Most tourists spend their time in the Netherlands in the west (provinces of south and North Holland) but there is also al lot to see in the north, east and south of the Netherlands. The city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch was founded in 1185 and has an historical city centre. The cathedral is beautiful, you can take a boat and have a look of the city from a different perspective (https://dagjedenbosch.com/en/activities/historical-boat-tour-on-the-binnendieze/) , there are nice museums, great places to sit down to have a drink, lunch etc…
https://exploringthenetherlands.com/things-to-do-in-den-bosch/

We just got back from Amsterdam a week ago today.

On our second day, we did the Van Gogh Museum in the morning and the Anne Frank House in the afternoon. That worked well for us as after the AF House you are mentally worn out. I would not have wanted to do the AF House in the morning and then try to have a "normal" day.

We did three day trips. We did Delft and Gouda, both on our own, and loved them both. The Delft factory/museum is a must IMO and was fascinating. We had dinner at Monastere in the main square in Delft and it was excellent! The third day trip we did, I do not recommend, at least not the way we did it. It is against the way we usually travel, but circumstances were such that we booked a tour. We went to Zaanse Schans, Volendam and Marken for a 5.5 hour day. It was way too rushed, and just overall, not good. I'll just leave it at that. If you decide to go to any of these, do it on your own.

In Amsterdam, I highly recommend Fulu Mandarin, The Pantry, Gartine's for high tea, and Restaurant 't Zwaantje. None of these are fancy by any means, but we had excellent meals at each. The Pantry was our favorite, although it is hard to compare as they are all very different from each other. You might be looking for higher end dining than these, but I thought I would share. BTW, we needed reservations at all of these. So many people were turned away at each place that thought they could wait for a table.

As for a canal boat tour, I highly recommend doing a private one. We had no planned on that, but our hotel, The Estherea, suggested one. This particular captain does either a private boat tour for 250 euro, or you can join in a group for up to 8 people for 55 euro per person. We opted for the group one, but happened to be the only ones that night, so had a private tour. It was 90 minutes long, and he had champagne, beer, etc as well as quite a few nibbles. The boat was beautiful! We booked with him through the hotel, but I found this link for him. https://www.trip.com/things-to-do/detail/37184867/

Edited to add, I just found his own website. https://amsterdamprivateboattour.com/tours/ click on book your cruise and you will see the two options.

The Amsterdam City Card gives visitors access to a long list of museums, other sites, boat rides, bike rentals, public transportation and some day trips for a single pre-paid price rather than paying for each one separately. You still need to make reservations for ones that require them. It does NOT include the Anne Frank museum. It is available for 24, 48, 72 etc hour options. In order to figure out if it would be of any savings for you, you pretty much have to go through the list and add up the individual costs. In my case, I found it was not worth it because I would have had to cram in too many sites and activities in a single day (or twice as much in 2 days) to make it pay off, and that is not how I choose to travel.

I just found, the hard way, that the Corrie ten Boom house in Haarlem books up about five months out. The info in the RS Guide needs to be updated .
Have a great trip!

We really enjoyed the Costume Museum, the Micropia Museum, Rembrandt's House, the Jewish Museum and Sephardic Synagogue, and the Dutch resistance Museum. We didn't do Anne Frank because it would have been too intense. We did a good tour at the Rijks Museum.

I just found, the hard way, that the Corrie ten Boom house in Haarlem books up about five months out. The info in the RS Guide needs to be updated .

Well there is limited availability as soon as 29 February, a couple of dates in March, then quite good availability from mid May (3 months away). Bear in mind that each tour only takes 12 people, and there are only 3 English language ones a day, then availability will always be tight.

• Delft and Haarlem are probably the best daytrips if you're looking for more traditional dutch towns with traditional dutch experiences (delftware, old churches in Delft; museums, old church, town square in Haarlem). Rotterdam may be a good option if you're looking for something different. Very modern city with much different feel. Rotterdam is about 45-50 min from Amsterdam Centraal.

• For transit, buy an ov-chipkaart. Rick Steves' book doesn't recommend but I think that's penny wise and pound foolish advice. Yes, it cost $7.50 purchase fee, but its rechargable, works on all transit (trams, trains, metro) and you simply scan in and scan out of all stations without having to purchase tickets every time. Once you get the hang of it, it's super simple. All that said, if you're NOT using trams while in Amsterdam and only going on one day trip, then just buy that one ticket.

• I wouldn't bother with the City Card.

• If you're adventurous eaters, you MUST go have a rijstafel (an Indonesian "rice table"). I like Long Pura near Anne Frank House and Blauw near Vondelpark. An interesting lunch snack is a lahmacun (aka 'turkse pizza', or 'turkish pizza). I like Effendy near Anne Frank House....there are a lot of bad turkse pizzas at doner shops, but Effendy does it well. Leeman doner down in de Pijp has a more traditional turkse pizza and is my absolute favorite, but is slightly off the beaten path. Cafe de Reiger is my favorite traditional, eetcafe in Amsterdam. If you looking for a good gastropub, I highly recommend de Biertuin (they have three locations, I have only gone to the one on the east ("oost") side of town. Fantastic ribs. Great beer selection. Great vibe.

• A fun thing to do is some jenever tasting (dutch gin). Wynand Focknink near the Red Light District is worth a quick stop. Great, helpful staff with lots of different tasting options.

For the Rijksmuseum
I would suggest buying your tickets on line, there is only 1 ticket booth that is across from the Rijksmuseum in a park, and times can be sold out,
You will need at least a half day if not more to see all 3 floors and the special exhibition on the lower floor.
We have been 3 times it is stunning and you need time to appreciate all the fine arts.
Take time to walk around the outside of the museum, enjoy the architecture and gardens.
The museum area is across town from the Anne Frank house.
near the AF House is a cool little shop, we stubbled cross while walking about.
check it out https://www.sam-julia.com/
I looks like kid stuff on there site, but go into the shop , you will never see anything like it.

The Seafood Bar in Spui very pricey but awesome seafood and fresh fish

Do a day trip to Hoorn, watch the trains,, 1 takes about 30 min, the other about 2 hrs.
Hoorn is Great town to see,

If time see Castel De Haar outside of Utrecht, after the Castel, be sure to see Utrecht.
if you do, eat at Broadway American Steakhouse in Utrecht, sit outside on the canal.

“near the AF House is a cool little shop, we stubbled cross while walking about.
check it out https://www.sam-julia.com/
I looks like kid stuff on there site, but go into the shop , you will never see anything like it.”

The Mouse House shop of Sam&Julia moved to a new and bigger location. There is even more to see now! The shop is therefore no longer near the Anne Frank House, but next to the Munt Tower at Muntplein 8

First off, the normal stuff others mentioned applies - ie make sure you get your tickets online ASAP for museums and the Anne Frank House. For AF, put an alert in your phone/calendar/whatever to books the day you want as soon as that day "opens" up in their online system.

Second - how active are you? Last year, we had a nice and simple itinerary planned out for Amsterdam (and Delft) and it got all sorts of reconfigured when we got to the hotel and there were "free" bikes at our disposal. It was an instant change from our usual walk and/or metro around town to hop on a bike and get going! Almost every day, we'd grab a bike and hit the road & paths, and it couldn't have been more enjoyable. We were there in early May, so you should have similar if not better weather. So, think on that a bit. Cycling is a GAME CHANGER in The Netherlands.

For food, besides a lot of random and recommended bars for beers and easy food like the bitterballen, there were two highlights - both we will be hitting again in July - rijsttafel (we loved Tujuh Maret) and a local small place by our hotel called Café restaurant van Kerkwijk. Tujuh Maret required a reservation and gave you a 2 hr window to eat, and van Kerkwijk did not take reservations, was small, and often had a LONG waiting list. We got there early, had some beers at the bar, and then got a seat.

We did lots of stuff both inside the cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Delft) and outside in the countryside and small town. A bunch of it, we only encountered because we didn't plan it and we spotted it on the way to something we did plan or talked to a local and got some good ideas.