Weekender to Amsterdam

We stayed about 20 minutes outside the city, in Assendelft, as the metro is extremely easy to use and the Airbnb's were much cheaper out of the city. In the morning, we walked through Amsterdam and simply explored and even rented some bikes to blend in with the locals. We ended up at the Museum square, where multiple of Amsterdam's best are and attempted to go to the Van Gogh Museum, but unfortunately, the line was a few hours long. Instead, we opted for the MOCO museum, an art museum that rotates exhibits by modern and contemporary artists. We happened to see the Banksy and Andy Warhol Exhibits, and they were amazing. Afterwards, right near by is the Heineken Brewery, or Heineken headquarters where you can take a full 2 hour experience tour that includes stirring barley, 3 tastings, making your own bottles, etc. Book your experience a little in advance to ensure getting the date and time that you want, but I would highly recommend it! There are also many good lunch options near there right along the river for after you are done.

That evening, we went to the Red Light district to explore and find some nightlife. While the Red Light District gets a bad rap, and is very culturally different than what most of us are used to, it actually is much less dangerous than it used to be as it’s become a huge tourist spot / attraction. There are a multitude of “coffee shops” (weed / smoke shops) where you can stop in for a joint or edible (if that's your thing) and a ton of touristy shopping. The best and most famous “coffee shop” is the Bulldog and it has three locations fairly close to one another. The locations differ from bars, to coffee shops, to social clubs and they are all brilliantly painted and graffitied with a really fun vibe. Even if you don’t smoke, it’s fun to see what all the hubbub is about. We also popped into the Prostitution Museum, which provided a short guided tour about the history and modern prostitution industry in Amsterdam. It was actually extremely informative and helpful!

We headed over to the famous I AMSTERDAM letters to take fun pictures. You can of course climb all over and on top of the letters to get whatever pictures you want, but I recommend going early so that you can beat the crowd and all the tourists wanting their own photos. After this, we headed out for a brunch before we visited the Anne Frank House. The Anne Frank house is another attraction to buy your tickets for a few days early to make sure you get in for the time slot you would like. It takes about an hour or so, and is a somber, but very impactful experience. It’s right on a canal and you can stop for a lunch with a nice view to lift your spirits again.

We actually took a short canal cruise in the early evening with drinks to enjoy the sunset. You can find tickets and tours like those on multiple websites like TripAdvisor and Viator. In the evening, we headed to the Amsterdam Observatory to try out the A’DAM lookout, where you get to swing off the massive tower for a view over the entire city. I’d recommend trying to get sunset tickets, but we did ours at night. It was a similar experience to the Empire State or Eiffel Tower, but made fun with a swing! There is a restaurant and bar at the top as well for dinner or drinks.

We spent a mellow morning in the more local area of where our airbnb was. We got breakfast and coffee and admired the tulip adorned landscape before having to catch our trains back to the airport to head home.