Travelling Europe

Europe Travel Blog

In the following posts I will take you through different European cities I have visited with my boyfriend, friends and family. For each city I will mention the popular tourist attractions, the best hostels or hotels, and any recommendations I have from my trips.

Enjoy, Danielle.

#City 1 - Amsterdam

After two visits to the famous capital city of The Netherlands this is everything I can think of to pass on. Known for its elaborate canal system and other risky elements such as the legal aspects of drugs and prostitution. Amsterdam surprised me when I first visited in November 2015. I don’t know what I expected but I absolutely loved the city. The city has so much to offer, many tourist attractions such as The Anne Frank House, The Heineken Experience, the famous Red Light District, among many other things. The city itself is known for being quite expensive, the central accommodation is expensive but there are other options. On my first visit I stayed just outside of the city and took a short train journey in each day.This was perfect as the transport system is brilliant and cheap in Amsterdam along with many other cities in Europe. ( https://www.meininger-hotels.com/en/hotels/amsterdam )

On my second visit I stayed in The Generator, which was one of the best hostels I have ever stayed in. The building is amazing, and was previously a university building and has an auditorium as a bar. (https://generatorhostels.com/destinations/amsterdam?lang=en-GB )

What we did:

#1 Anne Frank House- The Anne Frank House at Prinsengracht 263 in Amsterdam is where she lived in hiding with her family for more than two years during World War II. Now converted into a museum it contains an exhibition about the persecution of the Jews during the war, as well as discrimination in general.

Cost: 9 euros

#2 The Heineken Experience

Cost: 16 euros

Even though I am not a fan of Heineken itself, I loved the tour and did the tour on both trips to Amsterdam. The price I feel is quite reasonable for the experience itself. The experience is brilliantly run and good fun. The tour guides are very informative and try to get everyone involved in the experience. There is plenty of virtual elements to the tour and plenty of funny photo/video elements included.

#3 Bikes

Cost:5-6 euros

Depending on how long you rent them for the price can vary there are also many options so definitely look around. We rented ours near Vondel park.

#4 Amsterdam Zoo

Cost: 21.50 euros

The zoo was one of my favourite parts of my first Amsterdam trip. It is an amazing zoo with many of their animals such as monkeys allowed roam free and you can see them up nice and close. There are many shows and interactive things on at the zoo each day. Really enjoyed and would definitely recommend if you are a fan of animals. (See pictures)

 

These are just some of the tourist attractions in Amsterdam. We also visited The House of Bols, the dungeons, spent time in some of the famous cafes, explored by foot, shopped etc. The red light district is also very very interesting to walk through and see how normalised it is over there. One thing I didn’t realise was how good the shopping was in Amsterdam. For many other tourist attractions there are so many tourism information spots in the city centre with free maps and advice!

My top tip: The best recommendation for Amsterdam I can give is firstly to stay in The generator hostel as you will not regret it. Secondly and almost a given rent bikes!! At first it can be very daunting as there is literally bikes EVERYWHERE. Yes you may nearly be run over once or twice, but during our interailing trip we rented bikes and cycled Vondel Park and it was fab. Very cheap to rent bikes too. One thing I haven't had the chance to do but will when I return to Amsterdam is to take a boat trip down the canal, there are so many different companies offering trips daily and many offer tickets in conjunction with another tourist attraction.

Food tips: There is so many options for food in Amsterdam, mostly we ate small meals throughout the day as there is just too many cafes full of chocolate,cakes and pastries. So no real restaurant recommendations for this city.

Over all opinion: I would 100% recommend visiting Amsterdam, whether it be for a city break with a friend or as part of a Euro trip. It can be expensive but is definitely doable on a budget.