Coat – H&M
Trainers – Asos
Bag – Selfridges
Last weekend we took a long weekend city break to Amsterdam, if I’m totally honest I was feeling totally stressed about going beforehand – why on earth would we book to go away so close to Christmas? As if there isn’t enough to pay for at this time of year… but I’m so so glad we went, it was exactly what we both needed, a few days away to reset, no house renovations, no work, just quality time exploring and catching up on some sleep – it was a holiday after all!
I had absolutely no intention of doing a blog post on this (and I’m glad I didn’t because I enjoyed the trip so much more not worrying about getting content and just enjoying it for what it was, a holiday) but I had so many DMs on Instagram with requests to share Amsterdam trip recommendations that I thought I’d put a really simple post together here with a list of all the places we visited along with the places that we really wanted to see but didn’t manage to squeeze in, but we will be back Amsterdam, so we will get round them all next time!
We stayed at the QO Amsterdam hotel (booked a package with flights via Voyage Prive) and I genuinely could not recommend it more – from the food, to the service, an incredible bar on the top floor and most importantly to me – the interiors were insane. It’s not in central Amsterdam but it’s right next door to the Metro so you can travel into the city in about 7 minutes. I think for a 2 day day ticket (for both of us) it cost about €25 – so about £10 each per day – bargain. It’s a quick way to get round the city much like the tube in London. And of course you can get Ubers out there if that’s more your thing.
One thing I will say is that I’m a serial TripAdvisor checker when on holiday – even when places are recommended to me, I’ll always check what the reviews are like. Especially in this crazy social media world that we now live in, it’s so easy to get caught up in what looks great on Instagram rather than what’s actually great in real life. Take Mama Kelly’s for example – that place has been on my tick list for ages (for obvious brass and pink interior reasons) and I was so looking forward to seeing it in person but when I checked the TripAdvisor reviews the weekend that we were in Amsterdam, the reviews were pretty awful and I just couldn’t justify making us travel to the other side of the city just for the gram. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying don’t go there, if we go back to Amsterdam again I’ll be sure to check the current reviews out again as I would love to go at some point! I’m just saying do your research – there’s nothing worse that regretting how you’ve spent your money!
I’ll leave you to make your own minds up about where you want to go, but here’s our Amsterdam hit list… you may or may not notice that there’s a lot of food places… no judgement please. *insert piglet emoji here*
QO Amsterdam
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Hortus Botanicus
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Lover’s Canal Cruise
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Polaberry
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Pluk Amsterdam
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Body Worlds
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Anne Frank House
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Dim Sum Now
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MOOK Pancakes
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Sissy-Boy (I wanted to buy ALL the interiors from here)
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Mama Kelly
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Van Gogh Museum
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Bhatti Pasal
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Red Light Secrets
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A’dam Lookout
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Foodhallen
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Cheese Tasting at Old Amsterdam Cheese Store – YUM
Flower Market – Bloemenmarkt
Other than these destinations, be sure to walk about the city – you will see all the gorgeous tall houses, canals and there are kooky gift shops on every corner and sweet cafes everywhere!
I hope this helps if you are planning a trip to this beautiful city!
