My second day in Amsterdam
 

My husband and I will be visiting Amsterdam May of 2012. Our second day we would like to visit Zuiderkerk, The Rembrandt House, the Resistance museum. Have a lunch and then off to the Willet Holthuysen House. Is this doable and is it easy to walk from one attraction to the other?

Is de Waag and Niewmarkt worth seeing? Also which tram would I take to get to the Church in the Attic? Is it in the Red Light District?

Our first day we plan on visiting the Amsterdam History Museum, Bejinhof and having lunch on the Spui. Any lunch suggestions?

We will be in Amsterdam for six days and are staying at the Pulitzer Hotel before embarking on a 12 day Baltic cruise.

Thank you for the help

Cafe Luxembourg at the Spui is my favorite lunch spot in Amsterdam. The menu is on their web site.

If you are in the neighborhood between 6 and 10 PM visit the Cafe Hoppe, a few doors north, to meet the locals. This is probably the best watering hole in Europe. Customers are professionals and business people. I see the same people in there from 30 years ago.

May is tulip time in Holland. Visit Keukenhof for a great display of bulb flowers. See http://tinyurl.com/y8hltjl. If you can push your trip forward so that you are already in Amsterdam on April 30 you can have have the party of your life on Queen's Day, http://tinyurl.com/yln3hrp.

I went to the Church in the Attic many years ago. I think that it is in the RLD. If you want to stroll the RLD the best time is probably right around sundown. Don't bring a visible camera.

Haarlem is a convenient day trip, and a nice break from the hustle of Amsterdam. For lunch I recommend the Cafe Brinkmann at the Grote Markt. If it is a sunny day the patio is great for people watching, along with a great view of the Sint Bavo Kerk, Haarlem's landmark. Service is slow at the Brinkmann. If you are still in Haarlem when the offices and stores close visit one of the pubs around the big church.

The Michelin Green Guide is one of the best for Amsterdam.

You will love Amsterdam and the Pulitzer. I recommend dividing your time in A'dam up by neighborhood. For example, devote much of one day to the Museum Quarter, another day to Anne Frank house and that neighborhood, etc.
I second the recommendation for Cafe Luxembourg.
Also love Cafe de Pieper - a true "Brown Cafe"-
We did a lovely day trip by train to Delft - rented bikes right at the Delft train station, visited the studio where the Delftware is made, the sight where Vermeer painted "View of Delft" and the old church in the town center. Since our visit, Vermeer's studio has been opened to visitors. Really recommend this.
You'll love the Netherlands - the people are very friendly and Amsterdam is a wonderful town to explore on foot.

Pulitzer is indeed a great hotel, you will love it there. The garden terrace is lovely to. Make sure you take out some quiet time to enjoy it!

May I ask why you would want to visit the Zuiderkerk? I don't know whether you like exhibitions and photo exhibitions in particular, but in May there will be the World Press Photo exhibition in the Old Church, which is in the middle of the Red Light District and very close to Our Lord in the Attic - absolutely worthwhile to visit! No need to take the tram there if you are already in town. The Red Light District is about 15 minutes walk from your hotel. (one of the great things of Amsterdam is, is that it is very easy to get around by foot - unless you are not used to walking around)

If you those two things first, then have lunch at Pucinni in the Staalstraat - about 10-15 minutes walk from Our Lord in the Attic. From Pucinni you can easily walk to the Rembrandt House as it is very close. The Resistance Museum is a little bit further, but can easily be reached by tram 9 or 14. From Rembrandt House it is about 20 minutes walk.

De Waag and the Nieuwmarkt are nice to see, De Waag might also be an option for you to have lunch, instead of Pucinni. There is not that much more to see on the Nieuwmarkt. It is close to China Town...if you walk from the Red Light District to the Waag and/or Pucinni, you will/can walk through China Town.

Amsterdam Museum and Beguinage (Begijnhof) are very close to one and another, you will probably do this in about half a day. Spend the other half day to just wander through town and get a god feel of the city. Your hotel is in De 9 Straatjes (Nine little streets), a lovely and charming shopping area with great lunch places (and not far from the Beguinage). Very close to the Beguinage is a lovely, very small organic lunch and tea room, Gartine. It is so small and so popular, that you have to make a reservation!!! Check Amsterdam Travel Guide for more great restaurant tips: http://ow.ly/8CwZP

If you would like more tips for the rest of your days, then maybe you get inspired by these recommendations: http://ow.ly/8Cx3c

Hope these tips helps you to have an even greater time in Amsterdam! :-)

AMSTraveler

Thanks so much. Can Nieumarkt, the Waag, Rembrandthuis and Resistance museum be done in one day? Would we take Tram 14 from the Pulitzer to Nieumarkt? The Pulitzer is on Prinsengract.

Do you recommend visiting the Rijk and Van Gogh museums on the same day or breaking them up?

Have you been to the Tulip Museum and The Boathouse Museum?

What are your feelings on the Church in the Attic? I hear that it is under renovation. Is it worth visiting?

Thank you

Answer to your first question: yes, totally. Amsterdam is a small city. Take the 14 tram from Westermarkt and you'll get there.

Perhaps mix it up a little: in one day, do a museum and a bit of city walking but not two museums on the same day.

the tulip museum and the boathouse museum: give it a miss.

If you want to do something off the beaten track altogether: take one of the ferries behind Central Station to NDSM and have lunch there, at IJkantine, or better yet, at NDSM itself at Noorderlicht and visit some of the artists' studios there. It's a lovely 20 minute trip on the IJ and it's free.

http://ndsm.nl/agenda/events-2/

http://www.noorderlichtcafe.nl/?p=home