Did you decide on London? I think Amsterdam is very charming and feels manageable for a short visit. I have been there once in the winter, right around Christmas, and it was cold but bright, very pretty. Also went in the early summer, and of course that was more enjoyable than the winter, with such long daylight hours and everyone outside all the time.

I suggest if you are doing London, to see Churchill War room - very interactive, we loved it. Also, we did several short London Walks tours including an excellent one of the London museum and Westminister that got you in the back door with no lines. Just google London Walks and look at the schedule. It's flexible, you decide on the day and just show up at the meet spot and at that time I paid 5 pounds (probably a little more now). We did one of the day long excursions by train to Avebury (site where many of Harry Potter films were filmed).

thank you guys for all your replies!!

unfortunately, i decided to go to amsterdam.

i am sorry i didnt choose london for this trip. makes me feel bad because i feel like i wasted all your time by answering my question

thank you and im sorry again ;(

i am sorry i didnt choose london for this trip. makes me feel bad because i feel like i wasted all your time by answering my question>

No you got opinions on both with several saying Amsterdam for various reasons.

And book those Thalys trains ASAP to save big money Paris-Amsterdam. www.thalys.com. Can get 39-49 euro tickets vs $200 or so full fare.

No, no. Do not feel bad. I, for one, love travel; other people's as much as my own. I like talking about it, reading about it, writing about it, discussing museums, transportation, looking at pictures, etc. I think most people on this board feel the same.

You may not need every answer, but someone else may, so no information offered is wasted.

For you - it is your trip. You have a right to choose, in the end, what you want. Sometime you will go to London. Bookmark all this information and you will have it handy and make it easy to plan that future trip.

Enjoy Amsterdam!

Enjoy Amsterdam! It's a lovely place to spend a few days, and in January hopefully not too busy.

If you need "winter Amsterdam" tips, just shout out. January is actually quite lovely, fewer tourists (marginally) and thankfully everything is back to more or less normal.

make the most of the cosy time in restaurants, cafes, go to a concert.. there's loads to do besides museums.

https://www.podiuminfo.nl/concertage...aats=Amsterdam

And again it may not be that cold... walking around Amsterdam has always been its top joy and if sun is out not bad. But again there are a slew of museums of all types and historic churches...

and day trips are great too = especially easy is to go by train to nearby Haarlem for a half day or so. Experience some of the more real Holland.

if i wana go for a day trip from amsterdam, is it better to go to brussels or bruges?

other than visiting museums, is there anything else to do in amsterdam in january?

Neither is good. Big waste of time to travel all the way to Amsterdam from Paris, then double half way back to go to Brussels or Bruges. You could skip Amsterdam and go to Brussels, Bruges and Ghent, but you do not have time to go back and it would not make sense. Look at a good map.

If you find Amsterdam not as interesting as you expected, take a day trip to either Haarlem or Leiden. They are just 25 to 40 minutes from Amsterdam, are absolutely gorgeous and great for walking. I have been to them and they are just as pretty as towns in Belgium.

Or Utrecht: much more medieval than your standard Dutch provincial city. (20 minutes by train from Amsterdam Central)

Anyway, its_rachel: what do you like to do? Amsterdam is a city of about 800000 inhabitants, who probably never visit a museum or rarely, and find plenty to do in their spare time. What are your preferences, so we can go hunt for you.

Also consider Rotterdam. 40 minutes by ICD train from Amsterdam Central.

Bruges is 3.5 hours or so each way so you'd have just a few hours of daylight once there.

Again Haarlem is very close and as 'medieval' as any Dutch city and just 20 minutes from A'dam - I also like Utrecht though it is a very large city compared to most regional Dutch towns.

Rotterdam would give an experience of a high-speed train but being mainly really modern would not perhaps fulfill most ideas of old-world as Americans anyway are looking for but a fascinating city in many ways.

id like to visit van gogh museum, anne franks house, and maybe take a walk to red light district. i wana do the heineken experience too lol and do a canal cruise.

if i dont do day trips to bruges or brussels, id prob go to rotterdam or haarlem

i will think more of what im gonna do and keep it posted

thank you guys so much!

A little old but most of it is still relevant - https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...m#last-comment

some of my favorite stuff in Amsterdam and others too.

Especially good discussion about Rijstaffel - the famous Chinese-Indonesia dish served in numerous Chinese-Indonesia restaurants - about how to separate tourist-oriented from more authentic Rice Tables (rijstaffel).

Be sure your canal boat tour goes also into the Harbor as many do - great view of Amsterdam's still medieval-looking seafront facade.

book your anne frank house ticket now and hope you get in. and if you want to avoid waiting in line at the van gogh museum, book a timed ticket now as well.

other museums you might like are the Amsterdam Historical Museum, right in the center in a beautiful old orphanage, and perhaps the Jewish Historical Museum.

Consider doing a trip across the IJ for lunch at Noorderlicht in the NDSM area. And instead of the RLD (really nothing to see there but the results of human trafficking), do a walk east of Nieuwmarkt: Schans, Kromboomsloot, Lastageweg etc, and have the best coffee Amsterdam has to offer at Latei, on Zeedijk. Anything in the interior can be bought...

and if you want to avoid waiting in line at the van gogh museum, book a timed ticket now as well.>

Last time I went to van Gogh Museum with museum pass I sidestepped ticket line and wonder if this is still possible. Not at Anne Frank House I understand though museum card is valid. Wonder if you can book museum slots with having a museum card and thus not pay entry fee when booking?