October 2017
In our home, when you turn 13 years old, you get to pick a trip for your birthday! Since Amsterdam is one of my favourite cities, I was thrilled that my daughter chose it as her 13th birthday destination. And when my mom found out about a girls’ trip to the Netherlands, she wanted to come too!
So, 3 generations set off to explore “Venice of the North”!
Day 1
After an overnight flight from Toronto, we arrived at noon in Amsterdam and checked in to our apartment rental in the Jordaan area for a quick half hour rest. We wanted to transition as quickly as possible to the European time zone – so we opted not to sleep too much and went out to hit the streets!
Amsterdam is a great city for wandering.
Yes, you’ll get lost – but isn’t that part of the fun?!
While I often find that guided tours are a great choice for the first day in a new city, I have been to Amsterdam many other times – as a teenager on a family trip, as a university back-packer, to visit my fiancé while he was working there, on several work trips, and now as a parent – and I love that I see the many things this city has to offer through different eyes with every visit.
We spent our first afternoon wandering through downtown (Centrum). We didn’t go in to any of the sites on our walking tour – we were simply trying to stay outside in the sunshine to fight the jet-lag and get our bearings.
Wandering Walk around Central Amsterdam (from the Jordaan)
(45 minute walk without stops)
Dutch Tip: gracht=canal kerk=church dijk=dike straat=street
- Walk along Prinsengracht (One of the main canals)
- Westerkerk (West Church)
- Anne Frank Museum
- Noorderkerk (North Church)
- Haarlemmerdijk to Nieuwendijk to Kalverstraat (pedestrian shopping street)
- Old Centre
- Dam Square
- National Monument
- Koninkijk Paleis (Palace)
- Nieuwe Kerk (New Church)
- Begijnhof (A beautiful & quiet square right downtown – you have to know it’s there or you’ll walk right by it!)
- Munttoren (Tower that on the site of the original city walls)
- Bloemenmarkt (Flower Market)
- Walk back to Jordaan along either Singel, Herengracht or Keizersgracht Canals
TIP: I do not recommend doing the Amsterdam boat cruise on the day you arrive from North America. Nothing will lull you to sleep faster in your jet-lagged state than a cozy boat cruise!
Have more energy?
If you aren’t fighting jet-lag, try the Amsterdam Museum (Kalverstraat 92 near Begijnhof on the walking tour). It’s an excellent museum that gives an overview of the history of Amsterdam. A good choice for the first day in the city.
When you’re renting an apartment, one of the priorities for the first day is to find a grocery store to stock up on breakfast items and snacks! I have to admit that one of my favourite things about travelling is going grocery shopping – everything seems so different and unique. We always let the kids pick out a new fruit, interesting crackers or bag of chips with an unusual flavour. Our kids now look forward to going grocery shopping on the first day in a new country as well!
Language Tip:
Be aware that in Amsterdam:
Coffeeshop: an establishment that sells cannabis
Brown Cafés (Bruine Kroeg or Bruin Café): a pub
Café or Coffeehouse: place to have a coffee
And so, we ended our first day by having a quick dinner-time snack in a café, getting groceries, and falling into bed!
Grocery Stores in Amsterdam
Google one of these to find the closest to your apartment
- Albert Heijn
- Marqt
- Hema
- The Dutch people I know LOVE Hema – a cheap and cheerful department store. Be aware that all locations may not have an extensive grocery section, but it is a store that is worth checking out at some point on your visit to the Netherlands!
Itinerary for Day 1 in Amsterdam
| Day 1 | |
| Morning | Arrival & Check-In |
| Lunch | We weren’t actually that hungry when we arrived due to jet-lag. We got a few snacks on our walking tour. |
| Afternoon | Self-guided walking tour of downtown area Print out walking map or take a screenshot Find a grocery store near apartment for breakfast and snack supplies |
| Dinner | When you’re arriving from North America, you may not feel like a big meal on the first day. We found a little cafe to grab a snack and that was enough for us. |
| Evening | We were in bed early to beat the jet-lag! |
Edit your own Amsterdam Itinerary
Interested in a printable and editable version of my Amsterdam Itinerary? I’ve added my main suggestions as well as space for you to add what interests you!
Day 2
We woke up feeling much better after a good night’s sleep.
We were careful to have a light breakfast because this morning’s adventure was the Jordaan Food Tour.
Jordaan Food Tour
We met our guide and set off with a group of about 6 other people for a highly recommended morning exploring the food of the Jordaan area. This tour took us to several restaurants and food shops where we sampled pickled herring (surprisingly good), cheese, mini pancakes (poffertjes – my daughter’s personal favourite), apple pie and more.
I am always conscious of whether or not having kids on these tours will affect the experience of the other patrons, but this tour was totally appropriate for teens and older kids. We did go to a bar to try a locally brewed beer at one point, and my daughter simply had a soft drink – no problem at all.
We felt that this tour not only helped us understand the local food and culture a little more, but it also gave us a better understanding of the area where our apartment was.
Shopping Afternoon
Since we weren’t sure how jet-lagged we would be, we didn’t plan for much more this day. My daughter wanted to do some shopping, so we went back to the main pedestrian shopping street (Kalverstraat) and browsed the shops.
This area tends to be a perfect shopping street for teens since it has all of the major brands plus some Dutch/European ones as well. Many are fairly reasonable in price as well. Don’t forget to check out the Dutch cheap-and-cheerful department store Hema (Nieuwendijk 174-176)!
My favourite shop in the area is Luba (Haarlemmerstraat 12-A) – a little outside of the main strip but worth a walk if you like unique, locally made clothing. There’s also a location in the De Pijp area of Amsterdam.
Dutch French Fries: If you’re in need of some sustenance while shopping, try getting French Fries from Vlaams Friteshuis Vleminckx (Voetboogstraat 31-33).
Turn down Heiligeweg at the van Wonderen Stroopwafels (Kalverstraat 190) and the Friteshuis will be down the street to your right.
Yes, you could simply get French Fries with mayo, but they have so much more on the menu!! How adventurous are you?!
Stroopwafels: Looking for something a little sweet after the French Fries? Head back to Kalverstraat to the van Wonderen Stroopwafels (Kalverstraat 190) to try their custom stroopwafels. Stroopwafels are somewhere between a wafel and a cookie – often with a caramel inside – best eaten warm. In fact, a Dutch friend of mine once told me that they will often put the stroopwafel on top of their coffee mug in the afternoon to warm it from the steam – and then enjoy a warm treat with their coffee.
No trip to Amsterdam is complete without tasting stroopwafels!
Tip: If you’re really not interested in shopping, I recommend going into the Amsterdam Museum (Kalverstraat 92) if you didn’t have the energy for it yesterday. It shows an excellent overview of the history of Amsterdam.
An Evening at the Van Gogh Museum
I had read so much about the line-ups to get into the museums in Amsterdam that I bought all of our tickets ahead of time. In the end, perhaps because we were there in October, the lines weren’t as bad as I had expected. Still, we were glad to be able to skip into the museum without a thought. You can purchase tickets for the Van Gogh museum ahead of time on their website here.
Because the Van Gogh museum is open late on Fridays, we opted to go in the evening when the crowds were supposed to be a little quieter. It was an excellent decision.
Keep in mind that when you speak to people in Amsterdam, their pronunciation of Van Gogh differs from native English speakers – the “Gogh” rhymes more with “cough”. My husband was embarrassed at one point as he told some new Dutch friends that he had never heard of this famous artist they kept referring to!
The Van Gogh museum is definitely worth a visit. My daughter and I chose the audio guide which took us about 1 1/2 hours. It was a perfect evening event with teens.
Itinerary for Day 2 in Amsterdam
| Day 2 | |
| Morning | Jordaan Food Tour 3.5 hours You won’t need lunch after this tour! |
| Afternoon | Shopping afternoon for teens along Kalverstraat Stop for French Fries at Vlaams Friteshuis Vleminckx and Stroopwafels at van Wonderen Stroopwafels |
| Evening | After a day of snacking, we didn’t feel we needed a big meal so we headed straight to the Van Gogh Museum. |
Day 3
After breakfast in our apartment, we started our day at the Anne Frank Huis Museum. People line up for hours to get into this museum…or you can get tickets ahead of time on-line. No surprise, I highly recommend getting tickets ahead of time on-line!
This museum is incredibly sobering and quite emotional. Probably best for 10+ although with the right support and parental guidance, younger kids could manage it too. I made sure that a version of Ann Frank’s diary was mandatory reading for my daughter before we arrived in Amsterdam. If you don’t have the time for the full version (even though I recommend the original diary), they do have graphic novel adaptations here. This museum took us at least 2 hours to go through.
After going through the museum, we needed to recalibrate a little bit so we wandered over the Noordermarket in front of the Noorderkerk on the Prinsengracht. It takes place on Mondays and Saturdays and has an interesting collection of food and bric-a-brac.
After a little lunch in a canal-side café, we just wandered around in the 9 Straatjes (9 Streets) for the afternoon. The 9 Streets are 9 shopping streets between the Jordaan and the downtown district. They are my favourite places to wander and shop in Amsterdam by far. Some of the shops are expensive but most of them are filled with Dutch locally made items so worth supporting. And they’re all just so darn cute!
My favourites for locally-made (or non-North-American brands at any rate):
- Who’s That Girl (bright clothes from Belgium) Reestraat 18
- King Louie (interesting European brands) Hartenstraat 10
- Hester Van Eeghen (expensive but really fun purses and bags) Hartenstraat 37
- The Frozen Fountain (modern home accessories) 629 Prinsengracht
I’ll stop there – because really, it’s more fun to discover your own favourite spots!
For dinner, we met up with some friends who were living in Amsterdam for the year. While the restaurant we went to was lovely, I recommend that you find a spot that sounds interesting to you and try it out!
| Day 3 | |
| Morning | Buy tickets ahead of time for the Anne Frank Museum Wander around Noordermarkt (Mondays and Saturdays) |
| Lunch | Pick any of the cute little cafés in the 9 Streets (De Negen Straatjes) for lunch |
| Afternoon | Wander around the 9 Streets, stopping in the shops and pausing for a coffee to people-watch |
Day 4
Today we joined a 30km bike tour with WeBikeAmsterdam around the countryside on the outskirts of Amsterdam. I have been to Amsterdam several times and I had no idea what beautiful landscape was a simple ferry-ride away.
I cannot recommend this tour highly enough! It was fantastic!
WeBikeAmsterdam also has city bike tours but I have to say that I would not be comfortable doing this on my first few days in Amsterdam. There are very specific rules of the road when you bike in Amsterdam. Bikes are not just for joy-riding – they are a means of transportation! With teens, I really suggest doing the countryside bike tour and stick to walking, boat tours or the trams in the city.
On the morning of our tour, we met at the WeBikeAmsterdam office to pick up our bikes and then proceeded to take the ferry across to Amsterdam-Noord. After following our guide through a few quiet suburban streets, we suddenly found ourselves in small towns and green, open farmland.
The tour was suitable for both my 13 year old daughter and my 70 year old mother, as the entire 30km is on flat paths and roads (almost no traffic anywhere!) There were many opportunities to stop and hear about the places we were seeing – as well as some delicious café stops.
Admittedly, we had a gloriously sunny day for this excursion, but we all agreed that this 4 hour country bike tour was the highlight of our week in Amsterdam.
When we arrived back in Amsterdam, we were pretty tired, so we rested our legs during a canal tour of Amsterdam which allowed us to get to some corners of the city that we wouldn’t have seen. There are many different boat tour options – if the weather is nice, I would recommend finding an open boat with no roof.
Before heading back to our apartment, we stopped in the “Our Lord in the Attic” Museum (Museum Ons’Lieve Heer Op Solder) where we explored a secret church that was built into the attic of a canal house when Catholic celebrations were prohibited in Amsterdam. Not an absolute must-see, but an interesting stop.
Keep in mind that this museum is considered to be within the Red Light District (De Wallen) of Amsterdam. I discussed this with my daughter before hand and since we were there in the middle of the day, there wasn’t much to shock her. Families live in this area and while I recommend having a frank conversation with children who are old enough, there is no reason to avoid it during the day.
In the end, this was a full day, so we all agreed that picking up pizza from La Perla and eating in our apartment was what we wanted to do for dinner!
| Day 4 | |
| Morning | 4 hour Country Bike Tour with WeBikeAmsterdam |
| Afternoon | Canal Boat Tour Museum “Our Lord in the Attic” |
| Dinner | Pizza from La Perla |
Day 5
Delft
One advantage of many European cities is the inexpensive rail system. This visit to Amsterdam took us to the lovely small city of Delft, but scroll down to see other wonderful day trip options from Amsterdam.
We chose to go to Delft for the day because my childhood best friend grew up there (she now lives in Canada). We wanted to see where she grew up and to see something other than Amsterdam.
We started our day at the Amsterdam Centraal Train Station where we walked through a parking lot of thousands of bicycles to find our train.
The train trip to Delft took about an hour and cost about 30 Euros. We enjoyed seeing the countryside along the way, including many fields of tulips and flowers – even in October!
Once we arrived in Delft’s new and modern train station, we really didn’t have much of an agenda! We decided to start our day with a coffee and a snack in the main market square. Always a good decision! We enjoyed people-watching and the views of the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) and the City Hall.
My daughter and I climbed to the top of the New Church (Nieuwe Kerk) tower for the view of Delft. It is the second highest tower in the Netherlands and worth doing with kids, but be mindful that there are many many stairs!
As the Nieuwe Kerk has also been the location of royal burials since William of Orange in 1584, we also enjoyed walking through the interior of the church as it had a timeline display of the royal history in the Netherlands.
While the entrance ticket to the Nieuwe Kerk also allows entry to the Oude Kerk (Old Church), the Old Church was under construction while we were there and we couldn’t have a look.
The rest of the day we really just spent wandering the town and enjoying the beautiful quiet streets and canals of Delft. We stopped in a few shops with my daughter’s favourites being the candy store Jamin, (at Oude Langendijk 17) and the incredibly fun and inexpensive Flying Tiger (10 Jacob Gerritstraat). While I usually have every day of a trip (over!)-planned, today we were happy to walk around, stop for coffee, walk some more, stop for ice cream, and browse in the shops.
We finished our day in Delft with a lovely meal in the square and caught our train back to Amsterdam.
Other recommended things to do in Delft:
- Vermeer Centrum (a museum dedicated to the artist Vermeer)
- A visit to the Royal Delft Factory
- The Prinsenhof historical museum
- Oostpoort Bridge (the eastern gate of the city from the early 1500s)
Other fantastic (and totally manageable) day trips from Amsterdam:
- The Keukenhof in Lisse (the tulip botanical gardens – best in spring)
- Haarlam (don’t miss the Fran Hals Museum)
- Leiden (several small museums in a beautiful town)
- The beach – yes, the beach! Just a half hour bus ride from Amsterdam! I enjoyed Zandvoort but there are many others.
- Zaanse Schans is still on my list but just a half hour train ride will take you to an historical area of museums and windmills.
| Day 5 | |
| Morning | Catch train to Delft (1hr) from Central Train Station in Amsterdam Brunch in Market Square |
| Afternoon | Wander around town of Delft including stops at the Nieuwe Kerk, Oude Kerk, Vermeer Museum, Royal Delft Factory, Prinsenhof, and/or the shopping area. |
| Evening | Dinner in Delft Train back to Amsterdam |
Day 6
Museum Day
Even though we were flying home to Toronto tonight, we wanted to make the most of the time we had left in Amsterdam. We dropped our bags off at our friend’s apartment and made our way to the Rijksmuseum.
The Rijksmuseum has an incredible collection of paintings and sculptures by Dutch masters including Rembrandt, Frans Hals and Vermeer. It is the most visited museum in the Netherlands and purchasing your tickets in advance (especially during peak vacation times) is recommended.
For a while, my daughter patiently looked at the famous paintings that I showed her. We were also very intrigued by the collection of doll houses for grown women from the 1600-1700s. One of the books that I had read before coming to Amsterdam was the Miniaturist, by Jessie Burton, which had one of these doll houses at the centre of the story, so I loved seeing the real-life inspiration for this novel.
Soon, however, it was apparent that there was only so many museums that a 13-year old could take. So, we decided to do our own thing for a while – my mom stayed at the Rijksmuseum and my daughter and I went outside to explore a bit more.
For a complete change of scenery, we wandered over to Pylones (Leidsestraat 65) which is a French chain of stores with funky, colourful household items. We always try to find a Pylones store in any major European city. (Be aware that when I searched this on-line, it comes up as “Permanently Closed”. It may no longer be open in Amsterdam!)
We continued on our way through Vondelpark in order to be in the sunlight and fresh air as much as possible. It is an easy park to wander through with a lovely spot for a coffee at the Groot Melkhuis or lunch at Vondelpark3.
Our final stop in Amsterdam was to the to the Museum Van Loon. While we enjoyed wandering around this historical canal house, we also had a family connection to the Van Loon’s and we were able to see a portrait of a great-great-great-aunt displayed.
At this point, we reconnected with grandma, collected our suitcases from our friend’s apartment and grabbed a taxi to the airport.
| Day 6 | |
| Morning | Check out of Apartment Rijksmuseum |
| Afternoon | Vondelpark Pylones Shop Museum Van Loon |
| Evening | Return Flight Home |
Amsterdam proved to be an excellent destination for 3 generations to explore for a week. Of course, there were so many other things to see and do here, but as I have been back to Amsterdam many times (and hope to return!), I hope that my daughter can also get to know the many sides of Amsterdam over time as well.
Other great places to visit in Amsterdam:
- Rembrandt House – a glimpse into Rembrandt’s canal house and studios
- Toscanini – I have spent several great evenings with amazing food and good friends at this Italian restaurant just outside of the city centre
Places still on my list for next time but look cool…
- Westergasfabriek – a new area of restaurants and shops in an old gas factory
- MOCO Museum – modern, contemporary and street art
- Stedelijk Museum – modern & contemporary art
- NEMO Science Museum
- De Hallen – a food hall and cultural centre
- Eye Film Museum – take a free 3 minute ferry to the north shore and walk to this museum with an (apparently) fabulous café
- A’Dam Lookout & Over The Edge Swing – also on the north side near the Eye Museum is an observation deck with the highest swing in Europe
Click here to see my suggestions for pre-trip books and movies about Amsterdam.
Do you have recommendations for family vacations in Amsterdam?
