From Berlin we headed to Amsterdam, Netherlands for our last part of our summer holiday. We covered a lot in this beautiful city from wold famous museums, to a canal tour, and even checked out Off the Beaten Path smaller museums in the city.

Amsterdam, beautiful city of canals

Amsterdam, probably the most touristy city on our holiday and yet it was fun and interesting. This city is surrounded by hundreds of man made canals – really it’s another Venetian style city in Europe.

Amsterdam is flanked on both sides of the canals with gingerbread style homes. Seriously folks, all I could think is “Gingerbread must have been invented here 😄.” Rows upon rows of brown buildings with white outlines, it was like a picture perfect postcard.

Flight cancellation cut our 3 day trip to 2 day holiday in Amsterdam

We were supposed to have 3 full days in Amsterdam but our flight from Berlin got cancelled. We had to pivot and make new flight reservations via Stuttgart, Germany with a 4 hour layover there before reaching Amsterdam at night. What was to be a 1 hour flight ended up taking us all day 😞.

The famous sites in Amsterdam include the Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank House, The Rijksmuseum, Canal Tour and the Red Light District.

We toured the Van Gogh Museum which was spectacular! I’ll do a more detailed post on this airy beautiful museum and what made it so enjoyable.

Canal Tour

A canal tour in Amsterdam is a must do. A great way to sit back and relax in a slow moving boat and enjoy the canals that run throughout the city.

Off the Beaten Path. Van Loon Museum & Our Lord in Attic Museum

We got to check out a few off the beaten path museums such as the Van Loon House Museum to get a glimpse of how the merchants of Amsterdam lived. A more detailed blog on this relaxing visit.

The most unique museum I’ve ever been to was The Lord in the Attic Museum! A full on church built in the attic of one of the homes. It was fascinating. I’ll do another blog on this beautiful visit.

Walking around Amsterdam

A great fun way to explore Amsterdam is just to walk! Lots of canals and foot bridges make it a pleasure to stroll with beautiful scenery everywhere you look. Cafes, shops and retail on every street from cheese shops to french fries.

A local favorite – flavored french fries!

Called patat, or Vlaamse frites, these are crunchy and thick-cut french fries that are a very popular street food in Amsterdam. Sold at small storefront counters, street stands, and fast-food cafes, people line up to get these insanely popular street food.

What we didn’t cover

We didn’t cover the Riksmuseum as we didn’t have enough time. We also were not able to see the Anne Frank House – as the tickets get sold out months in advance! But we were able to walk past this rather unassuming home.

We didn’t see the Red Light District as instructed by local who hate this area for what it signifies – open exploitation of women and young girls. A recent statistic cited that over 50% of women in this area are either young girls or women who have been brought here by human sex traffikers.

The most unique hotel we’ve stayed at

I usually don’t talk about the hotels we stay at as it’s a personal choice depending on budget and what accommodations one wants. But this hotel in Amsterdam is the most unique hotel I’ve ever seen.

Truly it was like staying in a museum an artsy funky hotel called Pulitzer – yes it’s named after the Pulitzer family of the famed Pulitzer price.

The stairs in this historic building

Want to just grab a cocktail or lunch?

The bar at the hotel is popular and open to anyone. And so is the restaurant that is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and very affordable.

What I love about Amsterdam

Amsterdam is a charming city filled with canals, bridges and sidewalks flanked by picture perfect homes that look like they belong in a postcard.

Cafes and shops on every street, cool weather, beautiful buildings, this is a city one could get lost in just walking the streets.

We could have stayed for two more days and done a couple of day trips to Delft where Delft Blue Factory is, or gone to Kinderdijk to see the windmills. You know what this means? We just have to go back to Amsterdam!

That’s a brief look at our stay in Amsterdam

I hope this brief itinerary gave a glimpse of how beautiful the Amsterdam is in the summer. I’ll share more details on the places we saw and also share with you tips on where you HAVE to buy tickets in advance as they do not sell them on location.

Looking for a fun city to explore in Europe? Make Amsterdam your next choice destination.