1 – Cheese Tastings: Amsterdam is known for their incredibly delicious cheeses. They make some of the best aged cheeses in the world. There are many places to choose from, as cheese shops dot the entire city. It’ll be hard to walk for too long without passing a cheese monger that has free samples. Amsterdam Cheese Company, Henri Willig, Old Amsterdam and Reypenaer all have multiple storefronts throughout the city where you can just walk in and try as much cheese as you’d like. Old Amsterdam and Reypenaer both do an incredible cheese and wine pairing. We highly recommend that you book one of these fantastic cheese tastings for your trip to Amsterdam. If you do your cheese tasting at Reypenaer, make sure to stop by and get some fantastic chocolates next store at Puccini Chocolates, directly across the street.
2 – Chocolate Tasting: Cocao & Spice is a fantastic family owned chocolate shop located in the heart of the Red Light District. The owner Salome is as passionate about chocolate as she is skilled in creating delicious and unique chocolates. Her and her husband will welcome you into their small chocolate shop, provide you with a quick lesson on Dutch history in the chocolate trade as well as Salome’s family history with chocolate in Southeast Asia. After that you’ll be off to the races with one of the best chocolate tastings we’ve ever experienced. Salome will bring out so much chocolate all completely unique that you’ll be wondering if it’ll ever end. You’ll try single source, organic chocolates from all over the world. She’ll also let you try all her different homemade chocolate treats that are really fantastic. The chocolates are fantastic and her passion is infectious. The conversation is great as she and her husband are incredibly personable, and the long line of interesting characters and friends that walk in and out of the store all add to the fun. Any time you go to Amsterdam you should set up a chocolate tasting with her in advance by emailing her at info@dutchtourcompany.com or checking out her website by clicking here. The best part…the tasting is only 17.50 EUR per person.
3 – Daalder: I cannot possibly say enough good things about this restaurant. The chef is a former upcoming star at some of Amsterdam’s best Michelin Star restaurants, who decided he wanted to open his own place that would provide similarly high-end food in a more casual atmosphere and more affordable prices. The chef’s tasting menu featuring an ever changing seasonal menu of locally sourced ingredients, expertly prepared in inventive molecular gastronomy fashion is probably the second best meal we’ve ever eaten after Vetri Cucina in Philadelphia. The price point is reasonable, the staff super attentive without being intrusive, the ambience is relaxing and causal, and best of all…their 5-7 course meal can be expertly paired with wines by their fantastic sommelier. The cost for a full 7 course wine pairing, which includes an aperitif before and after the meal, consists of essentially 9 full glasses of alcohol and would likely kill a full grown man, is incredibly reasonable. However, they also offer a half glass wine pairing which comes in at an even more reasonable price point of about 30EUR. Make sure to get reservations well in advance and don’t miss out on one of Amsterdam’s best and most reasonable restaurants.
4 – Van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum: Not much to tell you about these two museums other than the fact that they are fantastic and you should highly consider going as part of your trip. Buy tickets online prior to your visit and skip the lines.
5 – Rent a Bike: Amsterdam is one of the most bike friendly cities in the world, if not the #1 most bike friendly city on Earth. If you want to get around Amsterdam like a local one of the best ways to do so is to rent a bike. There are bike rentals all over the city. Neither is worlds better than another. Just keep your head on a swivel. If you’re a pedestrian, not used to the bike lanes it’s easy to walk into them and upset a local on their bike. They are not pleased when you get in their way. If you’re on a bike you’ll get the unique tourist experience of getting upset at absent minded tourists who step into your bike path.
6 – Try Stroopwafel: Amsterdam’s famous stroopwafel is a traditional desert made from local bakers pressing two thin waffle wafers together with gooey delicious caramel syrup in between. These waffles are often times covered in other delicious treats. The best way to eat them is with others. Eating one of these sugar bombs entirely by yourself is an undertaking that will almost definitely leave you feeling sluggish and with a belly ache. Some of the best spots for Stroopwafel are Lanskroon, a traditional dutch bakery that makes huge simple stroopwafels that they serve with homemade ice cream along with coffee and tea, Original Stroopwafels which is a small kiosk in Albert-Cuyp Markt that serves the most traditional Gouda-style stroopwafels in town for only 1.50EUR each, and Van Wonderen Stroopwafels which add experimental toppings and chocolate sauces to the traditional stroopwafel base.
7 – Visit Brouwerij ’t IJ: This is a super fun brewery located in the Oost (East) section of the city that is built inside a large windmill. It’s a crowded boisterous beerhall with open seating, both indoor and out, as well as a large bar. Here you can get flights of local beer while meeting strangers from all over the world.
8 – Check out Amsterdam Noord: Take the free ferry to Amsterdam Noord’s renovated shipyard and hipster enclave, NDSM Warf. Make sure to stop at Cafe De Ceuvel.
9 – Shop: Amsterdam is a boutique shoppers dream city. The entire city is filled with boutique shops where you can find everything from clothes to furniture and everything in between. One of the best places to shop is along De Neegen Straatjes (The Nine Streets), a group of 9 narrow streets in Amsterdam’s canal district right next to the Jordaan neighborhood. The streets are packed with great restaurants, cafes, art galleries, jewelers, as well as vintage and boutique shops. Also check out the two main shopping streets in Amsterdam’s city center, Kalverstraat and Leidsestraat. Shop for art and antiques on Spiegelkwartier. In the east is The Utrechtsestraat, which is a string of fantastic trendy stores where you can find everything from clothing and home decor to art and vintage records. Finally, in the south is a relaxing upscale shopping street named Beethovenstraat.
10 – Foodhallen: Eat at food stalls in a former tram depot. Located in the hip Oud-West neighbourhood, De Hallen is a hotspot for arts, crafts, fashion and food in a recently refurbished industrial building dating from 1902. De Hallen houses a cinema, independent stores and a boutique hotel, as well as the impressive Food Hallen where visitors can munch their way through a selection of upmarket street fare from one of many vendors located around a central bar. Every other weekend, a fortnightly local-goods market sets up stall in the building’s central passageway.
11 – Go see the Tulip Fields in the Spring. We had to cancel our trip to see the tulips this Spring due to the Coronavirus pandemic, but when we get a chance to travel again, I’ll put up a dedicated post discussing our trip and offering some advice.
12 – Vuurtoreneiland: This is a once-in-a-lifetime dinner experience. As far as taking dining to the level of an experience, nothing comes close to Vuurtoreneiland. A special boat takes you to this small, rugged island in the IJmeer with just a lighthouse, an old abandoned fort and a large greenhouse dining room. In Summer you will dine in a rustic greenhouse and in the Winter you will dine in an equally rustic underground bunker kept warm by fire and blankets. Here you will be presented with a five-course set menu of the freshest regional produce, prepared using ‘old-fashioned artisan techniques’ everything is cooked entirely on an open fire. The idea is to eat “in and from nature”. The restaurant has no electricity or running water so the environmental impact of the restaurant is painstakingly attended to. Make sure to have a reservation well in advance.
13 – Walk De Negen Straatjes (The Nine Streets). Located on the west side of Canal Ring are 9 commercial streets which offer the best shopping in Amsterdam. These 9 parallel streets, filled with boutique shops, are a shoppers paradise.
14 – De Ton Ton Club: This Red Light District bar features endless games, from air hockey, to foosball, to arcades to pinball…if you enjoy alcohol and arcades this is the perfect spot to drop in for a drink and a couple games with friends.
15 – Electric Ladyland: This is a one of a kind art museum dedicated to neon art. Full room neon displays make this museum a great place to take photos.
16 – Wynand Fockink Genever Experience: Genever is the historical precursor to gin, gin being invented when British merchants were exposed to the Dutch alcohol Genever via the Dutch East India Trading Company and tried to recreate it themselves. Genever has a long, rich history in Dutch drinking culture. One of their unique customs is pouring the drink in a small stemmed shot glass all the way to the top until the alcohol literally spills over the edges. The patron of the bar then puts his hands behind their back, bends down over the glass and drinks the liquor straight from the glass. Apparently this harkens back to Amsterdam businessmen’s notorious cheap streak in demanding their glasses not be shorted any liquor. At Wynand Fockink you can try from hundreds of different flavored Genever liquors made by Amsterdam’s oldest Genever distillery. They also have an interesting tour that walks you through the distilling process, the history of Genever and provides an ample tasting experience. Even if you don’t do the tasting experience and tour, stopping in and having the bartender provide you with a tasting of a couple different flavors is a fun experience.
17 – The Heineken Experience: Kind of cheesy and super touristy, The Heineken Experience is a short tour through the old Heineken Brewery, followed by a rotating experience of lights, colors, electronic media and other experiences that have little to nothing to do with Heineken. If you’re out of things to do on a rainy day it’s well worth an hour of your time, but don’t go out of your way to visit.
18 – The Anne Frank House: Well worth a visit if you’re interested in learning more about this brilliant little girls struggle to avoid the Nazi’s. The museum is extremely bare bones, so don’t expect much. You’ll pretty much walk through an unfurnished row home, in line with hundreds of other tourists, reading quotes by Anne Frank stenciled on the walls, until you reach the attic upstairs where her and her family hid behind a bookcase for years trying to hide from the Nazis. Her family’s hiding area is well preserved and the horrible fate of her and her family hits you hard by the end.
19 – House of Bols Museum: A unique museum dedicated to Amsterdam’s love for liquors, especially its famous genever. Here you’ll learn about Amsterdam’s history of distilling liquor and will also get to learn how to make cocktails from an expert bartender.
20 – Take a day trip to Windmills, Zane Schans, Marken and Volendam: Check viator.com and getyourguide.com for up to date tour information. They have dozens of tours to meet your every need that provide daily transportation and activities for day trips from Amsterdam.
21 – Red Light District: Even if you’re not interested in the many vices available and on display in the Red Light, this area of town is still an incredibly interesting place to walk around. It’s full of cool shops and stores and cafes and bars, little restaurants and for those so inclined plenty of cannabis shops and window prostitutes as well. It is legal in Amsterdam to sell and consume cannabis as long as it is not concentrated in oils or edibles. So you can find bags of whole weed or pre-rolled joints, but no brownies or vaping cartridges. Anything you see edible with a pot leaf on it is just CBD and will not get you high as edible THC is outlawed. However, they do sell magic mushrooms in their local De Wallen corner stores which is a site to see. If you’re really adventurous you can also check out one of Amsterdam’s famous sex shows where performers will have live sex on a stage right in front of you. It is by far the weirdest thing you can do in Europe and is treated like a very normal and pleasant show in the city of Amsterdam. The theatre goers in their best pearls sitting in the front row golf clapping to two people having sexual intercourse in front of them is possibly one of the most off putting and interesting things someone can see. You will also probably walk past a window or two with scantily clad ladies offering their services. The only advice I can give you there is ‘be cool’…it is considered highly disrespectful in Amsterdam to stare at or take photos of the ladies in the window and it is very frowned upon to treat them with anything other than full respect and a friendly smile.
After all your sinning make sure to stop at Oude Kerk, Amsterdams oldest church and one of it’s most instagrammable buildings.
