Are 4 nights in Amsterdam to much for kids?
Apr 26th, 2006, 05:47 AM
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Are 4 nights in Amsterdam to much for kids?
We are currently planning to spend 4 nights in Amsterdam with our kids ages 7,11 and 15. My husband is suggesting that maybe 4 nights is too much, if we don't want to the museum thing. We're planning on doing the Anne Frank house, and a couple of museums, but are there other kid-friendly things to do that would keep the kids happy for 5 days? We do a lot of biking and really like that.
Are there day trips from Amsterdam to surrounding areas that we might want to consider. Our next stop is Brugge where we are currently planning on staying 2 nights. Should we cut down Amsterdam by 1 night and spend 3 nights in Brugge? We are planning on taking the train to Luxembourg City from Brugge 1 day. Thanks for any thoughts.
Are there day trips from Amsterdam to surrounding areas that we might want to consider. Our next stop is Brugge where we are currently planning on staying 2 nights. Should we cut down Amsterdam by 1 night and spend 3 nights in Brugge? We are planning on taking the train to Luxembourg City from Brugge 1 day. Thanks for any thoughts.
Apr 26th, 2006, 06:52 AM
#2
Vondelpark is a wonderful place if the weather is good. Biking around the city streets appears to be kind of hairy for non-locals, but doing so in the park or outside the city somewhere would be great. There's a bizarre museum about the Tropics that might appeal to kids more than a normal museum. Riding the trams and taking a tour boat on the canals would be fun, seems like.
Apr 26th, 2006, 07:21 AM
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We spent 5 nights in Amsterdam last June, with our older teens, and we all loved it. The park by the museums sometimes has open air concerts and other events your kids could like. You might enjoy a bus trip outside the city, as we did. I'm posting below my trip report:
"Final stop: Amsterdam. Five nights’ stay, first visit for all of us.
LOVED, LOVED, LOVED Amsterdam! You always hear of the Red Light district and the coffee shops and the laissez-faire attitude, but you don’t hear how open and friendly the people are, how lovely the canals and side streets, how wonderfully trendy the restaurants and cafes, how people are out strolling at all hours of the night and you feel safe everywhere. I think I’d expected it to be quaint and charming (which it is), but in a dark wood-paneled cliché way, not in the young and contemporary way it is.
The standard reply we were given in Amsterdam, when we asked for anything, was always “Of course!” How refreshing.
We stayed in a fabulous location, at The Hotel Residence le Coin, which was directly across a small street from the Hotel de l’Europe, down the street from the Hotel Doelan, on Nieuwe Doelenstraat (sp?). A great neighborhood in the heart of old Amsterdam.
The hotel has a lift and A/C, also free use of the hotel’s washing machine and clothes dryer in the basement (which was welcome as we’d been traveling over a week when we arrived there). Each room has a little kitchenette, a nice-sized bath, large rooms with wooden floors and a sitting area. It’s fairly new, so everything sparkles. Very friendly front desk, too.
Two cafes on the same block as the hotel were wonderful: Café Katoen for a university atmosphere, and Café de Jaren, for great table seating on the canal.
Amazing dinners at two restaurants in particular:
“Stout!”, at Haarlemmerstraat 73 (www.restaurantstout.nl). Fabulous ‘foamy asparagus’ soup with shrimp, chateaubriande, fresh fish, dessert course, wine list. Very trendy lighting. Great service. We’d gone to the neighborhood in search of a restaurant called “Lof” which we’d seen written up. We didn’t like its atmosphere, but were lucky that Stout! was just across the street.
Also at “Restaurant Dining Eleven” we had a great dinner. It’s at Reestraat 11. Also trendy and contempory, well-presented and beautifully-served meal.
Another nice dinner at “frenzi”, at Swanenburgwal 232. Very simple and contemporary. We arrived shortly after 10:00p.m., when most restaurants close in Amsterdam, and persuaded the owner to sell us any left-overs they had in the kitchen! They put together a nice Caesar salad with cooked-in-the-shell shrimp and mango. Very nice.
Also a good brunch at a place across the street from frenzi—called “Puccini”. Creative salads and sandwiches. Very nice also.
We took a canal cruise one evening. Toured the Anne Frank Huis and the Van Gogh Museum. Visited the Nieuwe Kerk (sp?) Our teens went to a concert at the Paradiso and loved it.
One afternoon we did the 2:30 “Best of Holland” excursion to Volendam and Marken, with a stop to see wooden clogs made, Gouda cheese created, and to visit windmills. It was by bus, with a boat from Volendam to Marken. A lot of fun. Even our two teens liked it.
Our teens also liked shopping at one street in particular, between our hotel and the museum district. Also a Zara shop there, and many others like it. They thought the selection and prices were better in Amsterdam than what they’d seen in London and Paris even.
A detail about Amsterdam if you go there-- carry enough Euros in cash, because many places won't accept a credit card for a 'small' purchase (i.e. under 25 EU).
The only unpleasantness we encountered in Amsterdam related to cab rides and inconsistent pricing. Especially when our two teens were grossly overcharged cabbing to the hotel from the concert. They were well aware of the route, having walked it already twice, but we'd wanted them to cab home late at night. They knew the cabbie took a very round-about way back in order to over-charge. Also, when we arrived at the taxi sand at Central Station, I was literally swarmed by rather aggressive cabbies and felt uncomfortably jostled by them all."
"Final stop: Amsterdam. Five nights’ stay, first visit for all of us.
LOVED, LOVED, LOVED Amsterdam! You always hear of the Red Light district and the coffee shops and the laissez-faire attitude, but you don’t hear how open and friendly the people are, how lovely the canals and side streets, how wonderfully trendy the restaurants and cafes, how people are out strolling at all hours of the night and you feel safe everywhere. I think I’d expected it to be quaint and charming (which it is), but in a dark wood-paneled cliché way, not in the young and contemporary way it is.
The standard reply we were given in Amsterdam, when we asked for anything, was always “Of course!” How refreshing.
We stayed in a fabulous location, at The Hotel Residence le Coin, which was directly across a small street from the Hotel de l’Europe, down the street from the Hotel Doelan, on Nieuwe Doelenstraat (sp?). A great neighborhood in the heart of old Amsterdam.
The hotel has a lift and A/C, also free use of the hotel’s washing machine and clothes dryer in the basement (which was welcome as we’d been traveling over a week when we arrived there). Each room has a little kitchenette, a nice-sized bath, large rooms with wooden floors and a sitting area. It’s fairly new, so everything sparkles. Very friendly front desk, too.
Two cafes on the same block as the hotel were wonderful: Café Katoen for a university atmosphere, and Café de Jaren, for great table seating on the canal.
Amazing dinners at two restaurants in particular:
“Stout!”, at Haarlemmerstraat 73 (www.restaurantstout.nl). Fabulous ‘foamy asparagus’ soup with shrimp, chateaubriande, fresh fish, dessert course, wine list. Very trendy lighting. Great service. We’d gone to the neighborhood in search of a restaurant called “Lof” which we’d seen written up. We didn’t like its atmosphere, but were lucky that Stout! was just across the street.
Also at “Restaurant Dining Eleven” we had a great dinner. It’s at Reestraat 11. Also trendy and contempory, well-presented and beautifully-served meal.
Another nice dinner at “frenzi”, at Swanenburgwal 232. Very simple and contemporary. We arrived shortly after 10:00p.m., when most restaurants close in Amsterdam, and persuaded the owner to sell us any left-overs they had in the kitchen! They put together a nice Caesar salad with cooked-in-the-shell shrimp and mango. Very nice.
Also a good brunch at a place across the street from frenzi—called “Puccini”. Creative salads and sandwiches. Very nice also.
We took a canal cruise one evening. Toured the Anne Frank Huis and the Van Gogh Museum. Visited the Nieuwe Kerk (sp?) Our teens went to a concert at the Paradiso and loved it.
One afternoon we did the 2:30 “Best of Holland” excursion to Volendam and Marken, with a stop to see wooden clogs made, Gouda cheese created, and to visit windmills. It was by bus, with a boat from Volendam to Marken. A lot of fun. Even our two teens liked it.
Our teens also liked shopping at one street in particular, between our hotel and the museum district. Also a Zara shop there, and many others like it. They thought the selection and prices were better in Amsterdam than what they’d seen in London and Paris even.
A detail about Amsterdam if you go there-- carry enough Euros in cash, because many places won't accept a credit card for a 'small' purchase (i.e. under 25 EU).
The only unpleasantness we encountered in Amsterdam related to cab rides and inconsistent pricing. Especially when our two teens were grossly overcharged cabbing to the hotel from the concert. They were well aware of the route, having walked it already twice, but we'd wanted them to cab home late at night. They knew the cabbie took a very round-about way back in order to over-charge. Also, when we arrived at the taxi sand at Central Station, I was literally swarmed by rather aggressive cabbies and felt uncomfortably jostled by them all."
Apr 26th, 2006, 07:43 AM
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If you want to leave the city of Amsterdam and have an auto or I'm sure you can take the train, there is a wonderful openair museum in Eindhoven that your whole family would probably enjoy. We were there 2 years ago on the advice of a B&B owner and made a great day away from the hustle and bustle. Here is a website if you're interested in finding out more about it - www.historisch-openluchtmuseum-eindhoven.nl Have a wonderful trip.
Apr 26th, 2006, 07:56 AM
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My daughter (14) and I had five nights in Amsterdam last August. I had wondered if Amsterdam was worth that much, but it definitely was. With the biking excursions and all of the other attractions and daytrip possibilities, you'll have no problems using up the time.
My daughter liked Madame Tussaud in Amsterdam, the Hard Rock Cafe, the outdoor chess games by the Hard Rock Cafe, the Waterlooplein flea market, the Torture Museum, and I'm sure she would have liked the Amsterdam Dungeon, if we had known about it. (She did like the London one.) She also enjoyed the Stedelijk museum, the Boijmans Van Beuningen museum in Rotterdam, and Rembrandt's house.
My daughter liked Madame Tussaud in Amsterdam, the Hard Rock Cafe, the outdoor chess games by the Hard Rock Cafe, the Waterlooplein flea market, the Torture Museum, and I'm sure she would have liked the Amsterdam Dungeon, if we had known about it. (She did like the London one.) She also enjoyed the Stedelijk museum, the Boijmans Van Beuningen museum in Rotterdam, and Rembrandt's house.
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