Amsterdam - A Journey Across The Magical City

Amsterdam is the capital of Netherlands and is one of the most popular and fascinating destinations of Europe. I have already covered the Dutch countryside tour in my earlier blog that has its own splendor. In this blog, I will be taking you on a tour around Amsterdam city and giving you all the important pointers to keep in mind while planning your tour.

Best time of the year to visit - This city can be visited throughout the year but the winter months (November through March) might be too cold for walking or cycling. The warmest of the months are from June through September. I got an opportunity to visit this city during both the times.

Moving around in Amsterdam – Amsterdam has a very good public transportation that includes trams, buses, trains, metros, ferries and off-course bicycles to move around the city. All you need to do is take a GVB day pass (approximately around 8 Euros) from any ticket counter of station or in the information center, which is right outside the Amsterdam Central station. This pass is applicable across buses, trams and metros and you can move around the city very easily. As you all know Amsterdam is called the Bike Capital of the world and hence you will find people on bicycles more than walking on the streets. Bicycles cost around 10 to 12 Euros per day. You can rent is easily in your hotel where you are staying as most hotels have this provision or you can even rent it at some of the bike centers around you. Trust me, I found this the best way to move around the city. You can get a feel of local life by just cycling around the canals. In addition, there is an extra advantage to it – In most of the cities, pedestrians have the right of way. However, in Amsterdam, cyclists have the right of way J. You will notice this while cycling across streets as signals open up for cyclists first. 

Places to eat – When you are here, do not miss the Holland fries and Stroop-Waffles. Once you are out of Amsterdam Central, as you walk across the canal side and enter the side streets from the left you will find a food street with food across various cuisines, Malayan, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai etc. We would visit this place every Friday night for dinner and explore the taste of each cuisine. Indian restaurant “Saravana Bhavan” is also there but you will need to take a tram from Amsterdam Central and travel for around 5-6 stops. Another interesting piece –There are lot of licensed cafe shops where you can buy and smoke Marijuana in Amsterdam but please remember is illegal to carry it with you along outside Amsterdam.  

Places to Shop – There are lot of Souvenir shops around Dam square. You can take magnets, key chains, caps, umbrellas etc everything below 5 or 10 Euros depending on what you are picking obviously J. If you want take home some nice candies, Jamin is a nice candy store with varieties of them. You can pick a zip lock of your size and pick the ones whichever you like. This is weighed at the billing counter and priced accordingly. This shop will be super crowded always. While there are all kind of Fashion retailer shops like Zara, H&M around dam square, if you are looking for some reasonable shopping then Primark store is the place. This store is a discount fashion chain and is located near Dam square only. I really liked it for the varieties and pricing. You will definitely come out of the store buying something for sure. I also got a chance to visit Waterloopein Flea market. This market has lot of stalls offering a wide variety of items from second hand clothes, antiques, leather coats, shoes, household items, bakery products in fact everything.

Places to Stay – If you have planned a backpackers trip then there are lot of hostels, which you need to book in advance since they are mostly full. If you need some private space then there are good hotels slightly away from Amsterdam central like Holiday Inn, Ammonite that are just 2-3 metro stations away from Central station. I stayed in Ammonite Hotel during my first trip and Htel Serviced Apartments Amstelveen during my second trip. Both the places were good for a 6 weeks stay. Best part is from any of these places you have trams, buses and metros at regular frequency to reach Amsterdam Central.

Places to See

Amsterdam Central – This is the real heart of the city. For a first timer like me, as you are coming up the escalator from the central station, you get the first look of this place and your heart will say “Now this is Amsterdam”J. This is the final stop for all trams, so you will see Trams moving around and waterfront stations for canal cruises in the front. You will also spot the Amsterdam tourist office opposite to the station where in you can book for guided tours, hop-on hop-off buses, GVB day passes, and any other kind of inquiry. You will definitely get smitten by this first look of Amsterdam and you will just be standing there for a while admiring the beauty of this place.

Dam Square – Even if you do not have enough time to see around the city, you should not miss Dam Square. It is walk-able from central station and a nice relaxing place. As you walk towards Dam square from central station, you will spot “Holland” fries on your way. Grab one and then continue your walk as there will be some street acts going on in Dam square for people to watch and enough place to sit and finish your fries. You will find lot of souvenir shops, cafes, restaurants and shopping centers around this place.

Museums – Museums are an essential part of Amsterdam’s tourism. If you are a museum person then, these three museums must be on your list - The Rijks museum, Van Gogh Museum, and Anne Frank Museum. Getting tickets to these museums is not easy and expensive too. Even if you need to book online, you need to wait for the right time slot where in only limited tickets will be open. So request you to please plan in advance.

Canal Cruise – If you tired cycling or walking and want to relax a bit, then hop onto a canal cruise which will take you through the canals of Amsterdam. This one-hour cruise covers those intrinsic parts of Amsterdam that you may not be able to cover through other modes - Such as Anne Frank House, centuries old canal houses, historic neighborhoods, tilted houses each with different architecture etc. Upon boarding, you will receive an audio set in different language. So as and when you pass through each iconic landmark, you can hear out details of the same. This is also a completely different experience altogether and a must do when in Amsterdam.

Adam Lookout – Just like most of the famous cities across the world have a skyscraper tower with an observation deck to get a panoramic view of the City, Amsterdam has Adam Lookout for the same. It is an observation deck with an unrivaled panoramic view of Amsterdam. You can spot this place once you are out of Amsterdam Central station from the IJ side. It is located on top of iconic Adam tower. To reach there, you will need to take a free ferry ride from central. Once you reach the tower, you can take the ticket from the information center that is on ground floor and then take a lift to reach to the observation deck. This elevator rider is also very spectacular. Once we reach on top, there are multiple things to watch – panoramic view of the city from all directions, restaurant, Swing over the edge and you can even see the Amsterdam Central station with “AMSTERDAM” written on top.

Vondel Park – This is the largest city park in Amsterdam and is loved by tourists and locals. We reached there in our bicycles and were amazed to see joggers, dog-walkers, roller-skaters etc. It actually reminded me of Central Park, New York.  We parked our bicycles at one spot and relaxed on the grass for a while. On our way back we also spotted statue of poet Vondel.

NDSM Wharf – Beside the river IJ, the NDSM Wharf is a former shipyard turned into a hangout place for tourists. You need to take a ferry ride from the other side of Amsterdam central station, which is free of cost. We visited this place during onset of Winters (November 2^nd week). It was raining continuously since morning and was too chill. So with our umbrellas and winter jackets we moved around the shipyard and were amazed to see different paintings on the ship containers, walls, lampposts and every other place where they could paint with their canvas. Each artwork was creative in its own way. I felt this is a place where artists can find inspiration and visitors find a place to have fun

Red Light District – Amsterdam is also famous for its red light district. While it is not exactly my scene, I would still say it is worth wandering around to see what the area is all about. There is also a red light district tour if you wish to understand day in the life of a prostitute. As you stroll across this area, you will come across lot of sex shops and theaters. But there are two peculiar spots which I am sure most of them wouldn’t have visited in this area. First is the Amsterdam’s narrowest street. Despite its small size, it is one of the busiest street in Amsterdam as it is located in the middle of red light district. We were lucky to pass by this street and noticed some interesting artwork on both the sides of the walls.

Second, we spotted a statue titled “Belle” placed here in order to honor sex workers of the world.  The plaque on the “Belle” statue reads (in English) : "Respect sex workers all over the world".

Smallest House in Amsterdam – I am not sure not many people know about this place in Amsterdam. This is located around the corner of red light district. As you stand at the door and peek inside the house, you can see this written on the floor “Welcome. You are now standing in the smallest house in Amsterdam”.  

Amsterdam Pride Parade – this is a citywide gay festival held annually every year at the center of Amsterdam during the first weekend of August. This parade usually spans a week starting from last week of July with various activities for LGBT people including cultural events, stage shows, street parades etc. This event ends with canal parade with a parade of boats decorated with different themes by each industry sectors like police, professionals, doctors, RJ’s etc will be very colorful to watch.

 Heineken Experience – Heineken is a very famous beer and is a must try when in Netherlands. To understand why this is so special, one must visit this Heineken Experience. This is a very interactive tour, which will take you through the entire brewing. The entire experience is covered in multiple levels/floors – starting with history of the company, then 3 ingredients (malted barley, hops and water) which go into the making of this beer, the actual brewing process, tasting room where you will get a 3D experience too, Photoshop centers and finally on the top floor where you will get 2 complimentary beers. I took a sip and did not like the taste so unfortunately wasted that drink and took Fanta as second complimentary which luckily were allowed for people like me. 

While these are the main places you can plan in your itinerary, there are some places in Amsterdam which you can explore just by walking past the canal bridges, small streets or cafes. Its very beautiful to see and absorb Amsterdam's beauty this way also. 

During my stint in Amsterdam, I could see more places than what I had known. Only thing I wanted to see was “I Amsterdam” hallmark near Rijks Museum and click a picture there. However, got to know that it is removed from there and moved near Schiphol airport. I could not see it while on my way to airport since it slipped from my mind completely. If you are lucky, please stop by for this.

Amsterdam is a magical city equipped with museums, canals, casinos, cheese, marijuana and many more elements that are fun. So please ensure you plan your trip really well based on what you are exactly planning to do J. And, I hope my blog helps you in that.

With this, here goes one more tick from my bucket list J. I am thankful to my employer and god for giving me an opportunity to fulfill my wish of visiting one of my dream destinations.