Help with pre-cruise stay in Amsterdam in Aug
 

Hi everyone.
I hope someone can help as I am clueless and chances are I might get some help.

I will be taking a cruise in August (2013) starting in Amsterdam. I will be traveling by myself with my 21 month old baby girl. My husband does not like traveling and I'm "addicted" to traveling.

I have never visit Amsterdam before and I've heard is beautiful. I need to know what is the best/ safest area / hotel to stay at. It will be happy to stay at least a 4 star hotel. Also, how long should I stay? Im looking at least 3 days not including the day I get there and the day I get onboard the cruise.

One last thing, I am a chef.... any restaurant recommendations???
Thanks to all of you who take the time to answer.

One last thing, I am a chef.... any restaurant recommendations???>

One of the most famous restaurants in Amsterdam is the Keuken van 1870 - featuring down-home Dutch food - a set meal for a really low price so if wanting to eat traditional Dutch food like folks ate in 1870 head here - but this is not a gourmet place.

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaur..._Province.html

According to yelp, Keuken van 1870 has closed.

Wow - an iconic place - I guess folks just do not want authentic traditional Dutch food - even the Dutch - Amsterdam's restaurants are mainly IME ethnic ones from all around the world. Its Chinese-Indonesian restaurants are famous for the Rice Table - may be the signature meal in all of Holland.

There are of course loads of traditional Dutch restaurants around.
Like this one maybe.....
http://www.pietdeleeuw.nl/

This also begs the question I wonder what PQ thinks is authentic traditional Dutch food is?

Amsterdam is safe. I'd happily live there but 3 or 4 days is enough to get a good taste of the city.

Go to tripadvisor.com and look for the 'bidding on a 4 star...' and 'bidding on a 5 star...' threads in the Netherlands forum. By bidding for either in the numbers 2 and 3 areas on the PL map you will be guaranteed an excellent, well located hotel and for less than $100 US a night with any luck. See also http://www.betterbidding.com for info.

<i>
Help with pre-cruise stay in Amsterdam in Aug
Posted by: MI74 on Apr 24, 13 at 9:08pm
I will be taking a cruise in August (2013) starting in Amsterdam. I will be traveling by myself with my 21 month old baby girl. My husband does not like traveling and I'm "addicted" to traveling.
I have never visit Amsterdam before and I've heard is beautiful. I need to know what is the best/ safest area / hotel to stay at. It will be happy to stay at least a 4 star hotel. Also, how long should I stay? Im looking at least 3 days not including the day I get there and the day I get onboard the cruise.</i>

Traveling with your toddler in Holland will be a pleasure. The Dutch love babies and kids.

For safety I suggest avoiding the sailor's district, the area south east of the train station and centered around the canal Oudezijds Voorburgwal.

For a unique 4* hotel have a look at the Hotel Ambassade on the canal Herengracht, http://www.ambassade-hotel.nl/en/. I stayed there once and loved it. I don't know if they have an elevator, something you would probably want when traveling with a 2 yo. A kid that age has more luggage than two adults.

One of the most famous and oldest restaurants in Holland is the Five Flies, d'Vijff Vlieghen in Dutch. It bills itself as "a culinary museum." It is also unique, and very good, but expensive of course. Check it out at http://www.thefiveflies.com/en/home.

I avoid Indonesian restaurants. They smell like Taco Bell joints. The food is oily. The only item worth eating there is the sate, grilled pork on skewers flavored with spicy peanut butter.

Three days in Holland will just get you started. Besides Amsterdam there are plenty of day trips you can take. I suggest Haarlem, only 20 minutes by train. I have lived there and love it. The weather is usually hot in Holland in August. If you like the sea go over to Zandvoort for a good beach. You can leave the top of your suit in your hotel. Topless is normal.

In Amsterdam there are a couple of safety concerns. Be careful walking across tram tracks. The trams (streetcars) are not easy to hear with all the city noise and can be on you in an instant. Another more frequent danger comes from the zillion bicycles zooming through the city. Well, that's an exaggeration but be careful. There are special bike paths throughout the city and where there aren't bike paths they use the streets.

Ciel Bleu at Okura,
Le Restaurant
Gartine
Beulings
Lastage

http://www.iens.nl crowd sourced reviews.

There is a reason why "1870" went bust. Essentially it was a soup kitchen where the alcoholic went to eat, and tourists in search of Dutch cuisine. The Netherlands, and especially Amsterdam is where the traders are. And so the restaurants reflect this by offering every type of cuisine under the sun.

topless is not "normal" in the Netherlands. Just a word of warning.

Hi everyone, thanks for taking time to help me out. I appreciate soooo much!. I am taking all of your comments into consideration. I am creating a list of what to do and where to go and all of these will be included.
In regards to the beach, I live in Puerto Rico which has more beaches than I can count. So I will be skipping the beach on this trip. Either way topless was not an option.
Keep on coming the comments. I am taking notes :)