Amsterdam, The Netherlands
There is much more to the beautiful Dutch city than coffee shops and seedy streets.
GO. So we did this differently. Each night a ferry leaves the Port of Hull bound for Rotterdam. Alongside the containers of goods, buses of school trips and lorryloads of imports and exports you can travel as a foot passenger on what P&O call a “mini-cruise”. Passengers then have the option of a pre-booked coach transfer from Europoort to Amsterdam - which takes 90 minutes and drops you a 15 minute walk from the Central Train Station. We got there for around 11am.
Was it worth it? Yes - although for a simple day trip you’re looking at a total of 16 hours travel there, and the same back, for approximately 7 hours in Amsterdam itself. Adding the extra night in Amsterdam - which you can do as a option when booking the mini-cruise - turned what would effectively be a day trip into a long weekend. We viewed the ferry as part of the experience and made the most of our time on board.
STAY. Central Amsterdam is relatively expensive however due to the short time we had here it was an important balance between convenience and cost. We used the remnants of the discontinued Hotels.com rewards nights programme to bring the cost of a hotel down. We found the NH Leidseplein offered some good rates - and is ideally located slightly out of the centre (quieter), and right next to a mini transport interchange (4 tram lines). However - we did end up walking most of the time as the centre of the city is relatively condensed.
EAT.
Breakfast and Brunch. Highlight of this was a visit to the Pancake Bakery. Huge, light pancakes with more sweet and savoury topping than you can shake a stick at. We had the well priced breakfast deal (€15) which included a stack of bacon, coffee and orange juice; an “English” (pears and ice cream!) and a fantastic ham and cheese omelette. Walk ups only under 6 people, we found no queue on a Saturday at 11.
The Pancake Bakery - the immense “English”
On the boat we did eat breakfast twice in the Brasserie rather than the main buffet restaurant. Price wise this worked out about the same, and it is of course not all you can eat, but the quality is really good, options wider and it’s all freshly cooked. Fren cha toast, pancakes, kippers, and a full breakfast all went down well.
Pancakes and Bacon in the Brasserie on board the Hull to Rotterdam Ferry
Main Meals.
When we arrived we needed something just to tide us over after breakfast - and we also intended to graze through the day. Wandering around we noticed the Bistro Berlage in the old Stock Exchange building - a quick review scan (Tripadviser/Google Reviews - see here) - turned out positive so we dived in for a drink and something to eat.
This proved a sound choice - reasonably priced grazing boards and a small Flamkuche (€12/13) were not huge but did for the three of us, and introduced us to Bittenballs. These tiny oozy fried balls of beefy goodness are amazing - a bit like a Spanish croquette, shaped like a ball, with gooey beefy mash in the middle. An added bonus here is the ornate and pleasant setting - a lovely place to relax for an hour and make more plans for the day.
Bistro Berlage’s sharing snacks
Our Friday night meal was taken at Bistro Amsterdam. It is often a case of balancing menu options for our 8yo, reviews and general feel as we look through a window. We ventured in to be met with some quite loud German singing, and seated enthusiastically at a table before being greeted with “Welcome to the Madhouse!”.
This rustic, friendly restaurant was dishing out a range of hearty meals - big plates at good prices given the location in a relatively “touristy” area. The extremely friendly hosts explained there was a large group of Swiss customers in and they liked to make any customers feel at home - before launching into quite the impromptu display of yodelling.
We ordered 2.5 meals to share - something we will often do rather than pick from a chicken nuggets-or-hamburger kids menu - which also allow our little one to try different things. The Garlic stuffed steak was incredible, as was the large schnitzel and vegetable soup. Everything was wolfed down after a long day around the City.
The Steak at Bistro Amsterdam
We did try and get in Café Sonneveld for evening meal but this was a Friday at 8 with no booking. Although they tried, and could offer us an outside seat, it was just too cold. The food and atmosphere looked amazing and we love to try again if we return.
Snacks.
Winkel 43. A traditional Amsterdam cafe famous for its big slabs of apple pie with cream. You may have to queue outside to get a table - it took about 15 mins - however this is a bit of an institution worth visiting. Also - cracking bittenballs (again!).
FabelFriet. Having recently been to Brussels, we were happy to find a number of the “friteries” in Amsterdam. Piles of crunchy, fresh fries with thinly grated cheese (cheddar or Parmesan) and a huge choice of sauces (look no further than curry ketchup!) made for a great snack sat by the canal close by.
Fries, cheese and curry ketchup.
Stroopperie. We shared one of these massive Stroopwaffels with lots of toppings. It’s very sweet, and three of us only just got through one of them. You can probably find these slightly cheaper as this is a prime location, but €9 for us all to try one of these big traditional snacks was fine.
A big old Stroopwaffel from the Stroopperie
DO.
Anne Frank House. You certainly need to be booking this at least 2-3 weeks in advance to secure the best slots. We did not do this, and it meant that we had to book a slightly more expensive ticket which included a talk before the museum entry. However… this talk was fantastic! It does say 10+, but our 8yo really enjoyed it. The presenter kept it simple, used plenty of visual aids and it gave a great background to the Anne Frank story. Perfect for then walking round the museum with the audio guide.
Tony’s Chocoloney Store. There most likely will be a queue here - it looked long and stretched pretty much all the way up the buildings side - however took about 20/30 mins to get inside. You may feel that’s too long for a chocolate shop - however for our boy the opportunity to design and build your own chocolate bar was worth the wait and the €10 price tag.
A HUGE selection of chocolate at Tony’s Chocoloney
Circle Line Boat Tour. There are a lot of options for boat tours, and I think that many of them are of similar quality. We picked circle line mainly due to the convenience near Anne Frank House / Pancake Bakery, and the look of the boat. We can’t compare to other companies, but our boat captain gave just the right amount of commentary to add to the audio guides played through the boat speakers, and was pretty funny as well - humour for adults and children!
The Seven Bridges on the Circle Line Boat Tour
By Popular Demand Gift Shop. We only really wandered into here to get out of the rain and because it looked quite good through the window - then spent about 20 minutes browsing and ended up buying some really nice gifts.
Dille & Kamille. A bit of an oasis of calm and homeware located on one of the central streets in Amsterdam where there is a distinct smell. We bought a garlic shredder, what a souvenir!
The Nicolaas Basilik. This beautiful church is free to enter. We often light a candle for those who are no longer with us where we go. Whether they were religious or not (and we are not particularly), it is a nice way to see stunning architecture and remember loved ones. You can also always rely on an 8yo lighten the mood, as he took my lighting stick off me and declared that he would be very helpful by putting it out… in the font!