I’ve been to Amsterdam 5 times in the past year and a half. There is so much to see… and yet once you get there all you want to do is hang out. It’s the perfect city to chill. So packing all of the sightseeing into 3 days is rough!

Total Days OOO: 1 (2 if a regular weekend, but I went during a long weekend)

What I did

So on day 1, straight off the red eye, I went to work at the Amsterdam office of my company. If I didn’t do this… I would have immediately gone into the city, straight to a bike rental shop, and taken a bike tour of the city.

May I suggest Mike’s Bike Rentals at 123 Kerkstraat. I once took a 3 hour tour that took us throughout the entire city — Rijksmuseum, Vondelpark, Anne Frank house, Red Light District, and a few of the picturesque neighborhoods. We ended at the Brouwerij ‘t IJ brewery, a lovely windmill with a ton of beer to try. The best part about this tour is you have some sense of where you’re going and how to navigate afterwards. Let me tell you… Amsterdam is confusing AF because of all the canals and the overall ring structure.

If you’re into it, coffeeshops and the red light district are intriguing in the evening, if only for people watching (no cameras!) Ocean’s 12 was filmed at the Dampkring. Tour guides have mentioned avoiding anything with English names due to price gouging.

On day 2, buy tickets online and make sure you wake up early enough to get to the Heineken experience before 11am to avoid a line. Or avoid this altogether as it is pretty touristy, but hey I had a great time! We brought 2 kiddos with us and made it a family affair. Good times had by all.

Also make sure to order Van Gogh museum tickets in advance. It’s a fantastic museum, as Van Gogh stays with you forever. I remembered certain paintings I saw at the National Gallery in DC when I was like… 10 years old. Paintings I hadn’t seen photos of since. Museumplein is great, I recommend seeing Rembrandt at the Rijksmuseum, though I’m super guilty because this is the one thing I still haven’t done! Riding under the museum is awesome, and yea, taking photos with the I Amsterdam letters is a must. Dam square is also pretty cool.

If you go to the Anne Frank house, it’s least busy during the week about an hour before closing.

This itinerary is definitely aggressive. May the odds be ever in your favor… choose wisely.

What I ate

Brouwerij ‘T IJ – Fun brewery and very scenic, not too central but easy to get to. The 22 bus is a direct shot from Central Station. There is also the tram!

Winkel 43 – Amazing apple tart with whipped cream! A little hard to find by bike… we got lost twice lol. The fried cheese rolls were also all of the yummies.

Indrapura – Ever heard of the Dutch East Indies in history class? Yup. That’s Indonesia, so you know it’s going to be delicious.  Think Asian style tapas. It’s like… how Tex Mex is a thing in the US. Legit.

The rest is pretty general because I honestly can’t remember where I ate (oops!) Be sure to try bitterballen and savory pannenkoek met kaas. Street frites are pretty damn good (who cares if they are from Belgium). Also I haven’t been but I hear that Na Siam has great Thai!

How I got there

Eeeeek flying to Amsterdam from the states is so cheap if you do it right. I got $450 tickets on British Airways from DC one week before I went. There is also a straight shot from Madrid, but round trip was about $150-200. KLM flies direct, but I gotta get dem miles!

To get to city center: I’m absolutely pissed at myself for taking a cab once, because getting to the city center is literally the easiest thing.

From the airport, near the Burger King, are a ton of yellow machines. Easiest with coins for one way in case your card doesn’t work… since that seems to be what happens every freakin time I go. The card is cool if you add at least 20 euro and will work for everything… like a Smartrip. You can buy a ticket to Amsterdam Centraal in a second, and then just scan your ticket and take the escalator down to platforms 1/2 for the next train. It’s about a 15-20 minute ride, and then boom! You’re in the city center. From there, it’s easy enough to metro or take the tram where you need to go. When you have wifi I would plug it into Google maps and figure out your route.

There is also uber, but keep in mind it’s a hard life for cars out there. You have to walk a bit to get to where cars can go. And yea… BIKES RULE. Cars. Humans. Everything…. yield to bikes. It’s backwards yielding day every day!
Where I stayed

Lucky me! I stay with friends 🙂

Hostels are really expensive and I don’t know why. Hotels are as well… maybe Airbnb is the way to go? Sorry I can’t be of help in this arena.