Amsterdam, The Netherlands

I visited Amsterdam in December of last year for my boyfriends birthday. Amsterdam is such an underestimated city. There is so many reasons to visit this canal based city. From culture rich museums to Michelin star restaurant to unique attractions. We only visited for 2 days, which is such a shame but by planning well you could fit in so much of the city.

Stay

We stayed in the Kimpton De Witt. This hotel is in the heart of Amsterdam. It completely stands out from anything else with it's chic and urban vibe. A gorgeous boutique hotel with a modern take on class. The refreshing atmosphere exudes through 270 bright and creative rooms, each designed on different aspects of Dutch culture. Our stay here was so lovely.

One of the hardest decision I had, especially not knowing what the city was like, was picking where to stay. After spending hours online searching for deals I found this amazing place. This hotel was perfect for our short city break. Right in the centre of Amsterdam, each room fitted with complimentary Nespresso machines, for me this was a big deciding factor!

All the staff were beyond helpful and crazy friendly, it really gave the place the most amazing atmosphere. Everyone had impeccable English so any queries we had were easy to discuss. Staff were more than willing to help, the concierge offered us some great tips on where to eat & drink etc. Also, what I thought was a nice touch was the complimentary wine evenings. Every evening for 5pm-6pm there was free wine for guests. Talk about spoiled! Would highly recommend this hotel and will definitely rebook the next time I’m in town.

Eat

The food in Amsterdam was probably one of my favourite things about the city. When we arrived as our room wasn’t ready yet, we set out exploring. After about an hour or so of walking we needed a food break. There was this cute restaurant right in the middle of dam square for some lunch. I loved this place, I didn’t think it was possible to make a BLT fancy, but apparently you can. I don’t know if it was because we were so hungry but the food was delicious, I was very impressed. Definitely an 8/10 from me!

Dinner

The concierge in the Kimpton was extremely helpful in this area. We were craving Italian the first night, the concierge kindly informed us that there were two across the street, we could literally see them from the window. So we chose Savini. To be completely honest I’d probably rate the a 6 or 7 out of 10. It was nice food don’t get me wrong, but we thought for the reviews it had it was only mediocre, nothing special. I ordered garlic mushrooms for starter, which were very good but sparse in size, I need to eat, if I am not full leaving a restaurant I will never be happy, genuinely suffer from hangriness. The prawn linguini for the main was nice, but again I felt I’ve had Italian food with much more flavour and a lot more on my plate also.

Treats

If I were to recommend one place we found when we were there, it would definitely have to be Sweetella. Sweetella is such an experience, the staff are insanely creative in everything they do. The menu is absolutely massive, you're hardest decision will be what to pick.

We found ourselves so busy the second day that we snacked a lot, when I say snacked we ate at a lot of churro stands…it was my boyfriend’s birthday so we wanted something sweet because he was missing out on a birthday cake. This is why we went to Sweetella, it's his faourite place, and now mine too! If you didn’t know about Sweetella, find out and thank me later.

We just told the staff all our favourite things and asked for a two-person plate of it all...crepes, chocolate, waffles, churros and ice-cream. Best meal ever! If that wasn't enough the lights turned down and it came out in an explosion. I was full for days after it, the next time I have to try the freakshakes they have!

Must-Sees

Amsterdam is known for its completely diverse attractions at offer. When you're done staring at the gorgeous scenery, you'll sure want to make time for the city's famous museums, breweries and attractions such as:

The Canal Belt

Possibly the most famous aspect of Amsterdam. The city is surrounded by four canals, recognised by UNESCO. The Canals were originally built for traders to bring food to the city, all designed to improve trade. Now hundreds of houses are found among the canals adding to it's unique look.

Vondelpark

If you're a nature lover, you need to add this to your list. The completely open greenery divides the Oud-West and Oud-Zuid of Amsterdam. Filled with plush scenery, you could spend hours here!

Dam Square

Well, this is kind of an obvious one but a must for everyone. There is so much to do and see here, the square has everything from endless streets of shopping to the Royal Palace and the National Monument. There's is nearly always street entertainment here too, you could literally get lost.

The Rijksmusuem

We didn't get time to visit this museum, but it will be first on my list when we go back. With masterpieces by Rembrandt, and Van Gogh. The museum even allows cyclists in with a bike lane.

Madam Tussaud's

We visited the house on our first day. It was amazing we loved it! So much talent and what I loved as well was the rooms were interactive with stories, and games to keep visitors attention the entire way through!

I was so impressed, the time and effort that must have gone into every artwork, even organising the rooms to themes just amazed me. All the interactions to grab everybody’s attention, the small details, it really was outstanding. Personally, I think it’s a must see for anybody visiting.

Activities

I would recommend visiting Amsterdam around Christmas time, it was beautiful, Next time I would go a week later, we went on the 5-7th December. A week later all the winter markets were set to open. That was my only regret about the trip. IceAmsterdam luckily had opened the week before though, this was so much fun, and I recommend it to everybody. We had such a laugh, trying not to fall into the puddles as it was an outdoor ice rink.

Thank God, there were a few close calls, but we left dry thank god! We both thought we were pro’s coming home, we went to the one we had here also. This experience was relatively cheap and I’m fairly sure there was no time limit on it. Also, as with everything you get cheaper rates booking online, so if you know when you’re going it’s worth it.

Next Time

Other Experiences we didn’t have time for, time seriously got away from us over there, but I would definitely do the next time we go are the canal cruises and the Heineken experience, these from anyone I’ve spoken to are probably some of the best-rated tours and something we should not have skipped out on. Oh well, just an excuse to go back again.

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Thanks for reading,

Char

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