Amsterdam with teens
 

We are a family with 4 teens (20, 18,15,13) travelling in July (22-26) to Amsterdam after staying a week at the Coldenhove resort (east of Utrecht, near Arnhem) with Dutch friends. We are renting an apartment in the de Pijp area for a long weekend--Friday to Tuesday. I am looking for suggestions that the teens will love. I have read the books and forums, researched the museums and plan to do all the typical tourist stops. I am looking for concerts and/or off the beaten track things that might appeal to teens. These need to be reasonably priced. Ideas?

For starters, Anne Frank was about their age when her father put her and the family into hiding from the Nazis. There is a fantastic water park in Wassenaar named Duinrell. The Madurodam in the Hague is amazing for all ages. Back in Amsterdam the science museum is over run with kids. My daughter, then about 11, loved the Frans Hals museum in Haarlem. There is a windmill in Haarlem that you can climb around in. The Global Hemp Museum is also in Haarlem. The best windmills are in the Zaanse Schaans north of Amsterdam. Zandvoort has a great beach if the weather is hot. Your teen boys might get their first live view of bare boobs in public. Two of your teens are legal beer drinking age and legal weed smoking age in Holland.

If you want to <i>do all the typical tourist stops</i> you will need a few weeks not a few days. Your kids will come home as world citizens.

Great feedback. Thanks. I also understand your point about my comment about "all the typical tourist stops"...poor word choice on my part.

The windmill in Haarlem spaarne referred to is a great idea, but if you just want to view them, then there are ones which just pop up on the side of the roads as you tootle around the north towards Volendam (a great place to visit for the morning or lunch on the IJsselmeer, excellent Poffertjes and herring stands). The museum area in Zaanse Schans (www.zaanseschans.nl) might have some things of interest to your family too, but yes the windmills are great!

The area of de Pijp in Amsterdam has good access to a number of things, including the Albert Cuup Straat markets (bit of fun to trawl through for a while) and you could even take the family on a Canal Bike tour if the weather is nice. There is a canal bike hire place just opposite the Rijksmuseum (over the Stadhouderskade on the water) and you can fit up to 4 per boat so you could even split the family in half. The bikes are clearly floating so the two in the front pedal at their own pace and it's an alternative way to see the sights and experience the canals. You are provided with a map and can end at a different point to where you started, as long as you drop the bikes off at the offical point.

Have a look at the IAMsterdam site (www.iamsterdam.nl) for what's on during your time there. There's usually something going on in Vondelpark, which is an easy 10min stroll from your area.

Stomp is on during the time you are in Amsterdam if you fancy that. The tickets are, imho, expensive though.

www.amsterdamsuitburo.nl has all the exhibitions, concerts etc going on in Amsterdam. It is in Dutch only but you may be able to navigate it.

If there is something you fancy seeing you could perhaps ask your Dutch friends to buy the tickets for you, and you pay them back when you see them.

If your teens include girls they would probably enjoy the tassenmuseum (bag museum).