What to do in Amsterdam?

Question

Hi, I'm going to be heading to Germany (and briefly the Netherlands) in two weeks, and I'm trying to look through travel books to decide what I want to do. But between restaurants, clubs, museums, sites, etc., there's just too many things listed. For people who have lived or visited there, what are some of your top favorite sites and things to do? Any help would be much appreciated!

Answer 1

Definitly vist a few coffee shops.

Answer 2

Well, first of all you have to know that Amsterdam is not a monumental city like Paris, London or Rome, so you don't have like a long list of things to do in which you have to check them all. It doesn't have any particular landmark. It's just to spend a couple of days walking around the city, enjoying the canals and discovering streets and squares. Interesting things to do:

Visit Van Gogh museum. You cannot miss it. It will take you less than 1h and a half but it's really nice.

Don't miss the flower market.

Red light district: Even you don't like this kind of things, it's curious to see it.

A boat trip along the canals might be nice to see the streets and the canals from another perspective while resting at the same time.

Other things:

Anne Frank house. Not really amazing but if you like history and you put it in the context it's ok.

Rijkmuseum. It's nice too.

If you have spare time, you could spend it by visiting other cities in the Netherlands. The train system is really efficient and because the cities are quite small, the train just drops you in the center of the city. For instance you can go to alkmaar (there is a chesemarket on Friday morning). Other interesting cities: Leiden, Utrecht, Den Haag (don't miss Mauritshuis (a museum in which you can find some Vermeers), Delft, Rotterdam, Haarlem. None of them is monumental either but each one has its nice thing. Keep in mind that if you buy a train ticket to your destination, you can stop in all the stations in between. So if you want to go to Den Haag, you can stop in Leiden first and visit the city and continue your trip.

Answer 3

Don't miss the Anne Frank House!   In fact,  before you go (or maybe while you're on the plane) read the Diary of Anne Frank again (most young girls in USA have read it in school) to have the story fresh in you mind when youvisit the house.   It's really moving.