Amsterdam, Netherlands

Posted on by Caitlin

I really try to be as honest as possible when I’m writing my travel posts. I thoroughly enjoy writing, especially about travelling, but I have more than a handful of locations in my ‘Destinations’ tab that consist merely of a few sentences about the place. Usually (in every instance) this is because Paul and I have drank instead of sightseeing then spent the consequent day recovering, and obviously this is what happened in Amsterdam.



Booking.com

We took the train from Brussels at 6.45am to arrive in Amsterdam for just after 10am. We booked our return tickets in advance on the Trainline website for €19 each, and the trains were painless; quiet, clean and spacious enough to sleep on.

We really did try to see some of the city. We walked around the city centre for two hours or so, seeing plenty of canals, the Red Light District, Dam Square and the Damrak shopping street.

And that was it. Because we were only visiting for the day we decided against both the Rijksmuseum and the Anne Frank Museum. We went to the Bulldog, ate a space cake and drank some pints and then ate our way through the rest of the day. Several portions of chips and mayonnaise, cakes, anything we could find really.

Before we visited, I never thought the city would appeal to me, but now we’ve seen a snippet of it I would definitely return for a few days. We’ve seen so many places across Europe, apart from in the North. Now that we’ve ventured into new territory, we can’t wait to return and see so much more of Central and Northern Europe.

34 thoughts on “Amsterdam, Netherlands”

  1. Hi! I’ve never been in the Netherlands, but it seems to me that Amsterdam is one of the most beautiful capital cities of Europe; and I’ve also heard that it’s a lively city, if you know what I mean, with a flourish art scene.

    Reply

    1. We’ll definitely be back! We’ve done loads of European cities but never really any of the North of Europe, so that’s next on our list! I’m an Art History student so am in awe of the collections in Amsterdam and Utrecht! X

      Reply

  3. I went to the Bulldog. There was a really weird atmosphere there! If you do go back I’d recommend Dampkring. Much friendlier – plus they have a resident cat!

    Reply
  4. Pingback: Brussels, Belgium – Caitlin Jean Russell
  5. Pingback: Venice, Italy  – Caitlin Jean Russell

  9. i think there are travels or trips like that, its not always jam packed with adventures, so no worries, it even happens to me, that I just saw one place and that’s it.

    Reply

  13. Insiders tip: go & see the bustling city of Utrecht. It’s older than Amsterdam, has beautiful buildings and a cozy city centre including canals (‘grachten’) and loads of outdoor hipster bars & restaurants. Albeit a bit less overcrowded compared to Amsterdam 😉

    Reply

  14. “Usually (in every instance) this is because Paul and I have drank instead of sightseeing then spent the consequent day recovering, and obviously this is what happened in Amsterdam.”

    Hey, that’s what Hemingway did too.

    Reply

  17. Amsterdam is beautiful, and I think it might be the case that if you’re able to remember acutely all the details of your trip in the city, you may have missed some of the point of going in the first place… Love the photographs too. I’ve never seen ‘Dam with snow on the ground but I’d like to.

    Reply

  19. Honesty is the best policy, but you honestly missed a lot and need to go back to Amsterdam. We spent 3 days there in 2017 and were surprised how much we enjoyed it, other than when my wife got conjunctivitis. We definitely want to go back. Cheers. Allan

    Reply

  22. I’m going to go against the grain here and say that is because drinking is the best thing to do in Amsterdam. 😀 It’s a beautiful city, but I found it to be sterile and boring. I was there for 5 days and felt like I’d had my fill after 2. After that we did day trips, and fortunately found a bar we loved called the Cave. Cheers. 🙂

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Caitlin Cancel reply