Amsterdam, Netherlands 🇳🇱

September 2025.

• Amsterdam is a great location for a quick European trip. Many people do Amsterdam over a long weekend, in just 3 nights or so. I think 4 nights was a perfect amount of time, especially if you plan on just staying in Amsterdam and not doing any day trips to other cities. There isn’t a whole bunch to see and do in Amsterdam, so 4 nights, allowed me to have slow mornings and not feel rushed.

• I also think Amsterdam is a perfect destination for a solo trip. It’s great for solo traveling, because it is very safe. You’ll feel safe being out late.

• Getting around Amsterdam: It is a very walkable city, and also has very easy to navigate public transportation.

  • Ubers are readily available, but I took the metro most days as it was cheaper.

  • For riding the trains/metro, you do not need to buy a ticket. You just tap your card or phone (Apple Pay) for entry and exit — super easy and convenient.

Attractions

• Canal Tour

  • Great activity for first day in Amsterdam, gives you great overview of Amsterdam and a bit of history.

  • There are serval different companies offering 1-hour long boat tours on the canals of Amsterdam. You can pre-book online (which is recommended for busy seasons and weekends) or book in-person while in central Amsterdam.

  • There’s also different kinds of tours: booze cruise, night cruise, cheese and wine, pastries, open-boat, enclosed boat, etc.

  • Flagship Amsterdam has some nice options, and so does Get Your Guide.

    • I did the unlimited drinks cruise with Flagship Amsterdam.

• A’DAM Lookout

  • Get amazing views of Amsterdam from 100 meters up, and learn about Amsterdam’s history.

  • The building has: an ‘Over the Edge Swing"‘ (where you can swing off the edge of the building), indoor and outdoor observation desks, a Skybar, a restaurant, a virtual reality ride, and more.

  • Not necessary to buy tickets beforehand, at least not during off season.

virtual reality rides

there's also a Photo Booth.

• Vondelpark

  • Amsterdam’s largest and most popular city park.

  • Nice park to ride a bike, stroll around, sit out, chill, read a book. There’s also a restaurant in the park.

• Jordaan District

  • Great area in central Amsterdam to just walk around and explore. There are beautiful houses, speciality shops, restaurants/pubs, museums.

• Museum/History

• Anne Frank House

  • You tour the actual house/annex that the Frank family hid in during the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam. It is a very solemn experience and saddening to be reminded of the depravity of humans, but I would say it is a must visit.

  • Book in advance online! Tickets are available online 6 weeks in advance.

    • I booked about 5 weeks in advance and there were plenty of time options. I traveled during “off-season”, and people were trying to get tickets at the door and being told they were sold out all week.

• Van Gogh Museum

  • Book tickets in advance.

• MOCO (Modern + Contemporary Art) Museum

• Pretty cool museum where you will get to see art from artists like Banksy and Jean-Michel Basquiat. There are also immersive digital installations.

• Also recommend booking tickets in advance to be safe, but plenty of people bought tickets upon arrival when I went.

Banksy

Basquiat

Robbie Williams

• There are so many museums in Amsterdam, but here are some other popular museums:

  • Rijksmuseum: national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history

  • Stedelijk Museum: modern art, contemporary art, and design

  • Foam Photography Museum: shows the photography of the world’s greatest photographers and works by up-and-coming young talent.

  • Straat Street Art Museum: street art and graffiti held in an industrial building

• Shopping

• Designer Shopping

  • de Bijenkorf Amsterdam: luxury designer department store/mall with luxury clothing, accessories, beauty, and home items.

  • P.C. Hooftstraat: street lined with luxury designer stores

• Parfumerie Marjo

  • A perfume shop I stumbled across and had a decent selection of some niche fragrances

• Vintage luxury designer stores

• Gimme Glitter Designer Vintage — clothing and accessories

• Fashian - clothing and accessories

• Mor Store - clothing and accessories

• l'Étoile de Saint Honoré — bags

• Amsterdam Vintage Clothing (AVC) - clothing and accessories

Fashion, vintage Roberto Cavalli

Gimme Glitter, vintage Versace

Parfumerie.nl

Food

Breakfast

• Lagom Amsterdam

• Ted’s All Day Brunch

• Breakfast Club

• Moak pancake

• Corner Bakery

• Loop51

• Pancakes Amsterdam

• Locals

Lagom

Ted’s All Day Brunch

Locals

Lunch/Snacks

• Chun

  • People recommend the garlic and shrimp sandwich

• Popular on TikTok (TT), so long line

• Foodhallen

• Dim Sum Thing

• Mur du Nord

• Holy Fried Chicken

• Wok to Walk (multiple locations)— to order Asain stir-fry, packaged so easy to take and eat on the go

• Fries — very popular in Amsterdam, you can find countless places around the city to get fries to go

  • Manneken Pis — my favorite, over 25 different sauce options

  • Fabel Friet (truffle, parmesan fries) — popular on TT, but not worth a long wait in line

• Maijard Smash Burger — also popular on TikTok

• Stick-up Indofood

• SWEETS:

• Pat's Poffertjes — mini Dutch pancakes

• Stroopwaffel — incredibly sweet, but pretty much a “must-try” in Amsterdam.

  • Many different shops sell them. Recommend going to a place that has made-to-order fresh ones.

Mannekenpis

Pat's Poffertjes

Fabel Friet

Foodhallen, Dim Sum Thing

Stroopwaffel

Wok to Walk

Dinner

• Lolo Italian restaurant

  • Very cute restaurant, with very friendly staff. Delicious specialty cocktails, and tasty food.

  • Also, don’t leave without visiting the basement, which has a Photo Booth.

• The Butcher (multiple locations) — burger restaurant

• Secret Garden — Nikkei cuisine (Japanese + Peruvian fusion)

• Ventuno Sky Lounge —21st floor of Ruby Emma hotel, with niece views, performances.

• Indonesian food

• Made’s Warung

• Kartika

• Warung Atika

• Jamaican

  • Reggae Rita’s

  • Jerk Bay

Reggae Ritas

The Butcher

Lolo

Lolo

Lolo basement Photo Booth

Bars

• Luminair — on the top floor of the Double Tree Hilton near central station.

  • Has great views of Amsterdam, and absolutely beautiful inside. Great specialty cocktails menu.

• Cafe De Duivel (black, hip-hop bar)

• Selva

• Sonora

Luminair

Luminair

Accommodation

Ruby Emma Hotel & Bar

• I really liked this hotel. It is beautiful decorated and clean. There are also speakers in the room and electric guitars in the lobby you can take to your room and play.

• Location: It is a bit out from central Amsterdam, but that allowed the rooms to be much bigger than the ones in central Amsterdam. It is a quick 15 minute metro ride to the Central Station. And the metro station is less than 5 minute walk from the hotel; it is just on the street behind the hotel. There are 3 lines that take you to Central Station, so the wait is never longer than 5 minutes for a train.

• I stayed in the Loft Room, which was wonderful.

My Itinerary

Sat, 8/30

• Land in Amsterdam at 9:20 AM

• Check into Ruby Emma hotel

• Fries from Mannekenpis

• Canal boat cruise

• A’DAM Lookout

• Dinner at The Butcher

Sun, 8/31

• Breakfast at Lagom Amsterdam

• Mini pancakes at Pat's Poffertjes

• Walk around Jordaan neighborhood

• Anne Frank House at 2:45

• Lunch Wok to Walk

• Dinner at Reggae Rita

• Drinks at Luminair

Mon, 9/1

• Breakfast at Ted’s All Day Brunch

• Shopping day

• Lunch at Fabel Fries, Chun, or Maijard smash burger

• Indonesian dinner

Tue, 9/2

• Breakfast at Locals

• MOCO Museum

• Van Gogh museum

• Lunch at Foodhallen

• Walk around Vondelpark

• Dinner at Lolo @ 7:30 PM

• Stroopwaffel for dessert

More pics