amsterdam travel diary

If you read my recent travel diary, then you would know that I recently went interrailing and that I decided to do more in depth posts about all the places I have been over the summer. As the first place that I went to was Amsterdam, I thought that is where I would start with my blog posts.

One of my favourite things about Amsterdam has to be just walking along all the canals and taking in how beautiful they all are. There are so many boat tours along the canals but unfortunately I didn't have enough time to do one of these but they looked like such a great way to see the city and there are so many different kind of ones that you would definitely be able to find one that suits whatever it is that you want to do.

 Something that Amsterdam is famous for is the Red Light District. I never said that it was somewhere that I really wanted to go and see but as we were walking through the canals we came across it (which since coming back a lot of people have told me happened to them as well). It is an interesting street to walk down just because it is such an infamous thing in Amsterdam, however it isn't as x rated as I thought it would be.

If you want to try some of the best waffles ever then Amsterdam is the right place for you! I had some incredible waffles whilst I was here, including Amsterdam's famous stroopwafels. This amazing waffle was from Metropolitan Waffles which is rated so highly on TripAdvisor as a great place to go and get waffles. There are so many pancake/waffle shops though that you will be sure to get a lovely one wherever you go!

 The hostel I was staying at was on the opposite side of the river to the main city which means that we always needed to get the (free!) ferry across every day. However this is one of the most amazing places to sit in the evening as you get an amazing view of the sun setting and reflecting off the buildings of the city. Something which I would suggest doing on the other side of the river is the A'DAM Lookout. This is at the top of a tower where you get a 360 degree view of Amsterdam and where also (if you are brave enough) you can go on the swing over the edge of the tower. This looked like so much fun but once again the time restraint that I had here made me unable to do it, however I would be sure to do it the next time I go!

A beautiful place to walk through is the flower markets along one of the canals. These are all little huts full of flowers and seeds which is just a lovely calm place to look at. The flowers here are all so beautiful and this is such a lovely free thing to do. 

 A main sightseeing location is the Iamsterdam sign which is in so many people's photos if they've ever visited Amsterdam. Of course you have to take a photo with one of the letters and this is also by a beautiful pond which you can sit on the side of and dip your feet in which is so relaxing when you've been walking around the busy city.

The final thing that I did whilst in Amsterdam was, of course, go to the Anne Frank House. This is such a hard hitting place to see as you go through the museum half before going into the actually annexe. I would definitely recommend this to anyone going to Amsterdam as it represents such a massive part of recent history.

There are so many other things to do in Amsterdam that I didn't get the chance to do whilst I was there, this includes: The Heineken Experience, Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, Vondelpark and the Rembrandt House. I would definitely recommend Amsterdam to people who are looking for a weekend city break becuase it is so easy to get there as well, either by plane or the new eurostar route. I hope you have enjoyed this travel diary and look forward to the rest of the places to come!

bethany x