Romantic weekend in Amsterdam
Attractions, Restaurants & Shopping
Pay attention ♥! The following post details our romantic (and indulgent) weekend in Amsterdam at January 2020.
In addition, there is a post I prepared before the trip with details of everything worth doing in Amsterdam, including arrival maps and ticket purchase links.
Have fun 🙂
Shop. Never Stop.
I hate shopping. really. Especially clothes shopping. Hate to go into the store and see thousands of items, and choose, and measure, and replace, and return, and yes! Hate it.
And this illuminated sign “Shop. Never Stop” appears on almost every avenue of shops in the city, attacking your consciousness, trying to normalize the pursuit of the next “SALE”.
The hatred got worse after seeing the fascinating documentary “True Cost” , which talks about the true price of the fashion industry. Especially when it comes to fast fashion that has shocking environmental and social impacts.
In this context, I ask that you spend 2.5 minutes just to watch the trailer for this movie. really. I’d rather You watch the video, even if it’s at the expense of reading this post.
Now, I’m not a complete righteous or a monk or a sworn minimalist, yes? It’s not that I never buy, and it’s not that I don’t feel the need to replace the TV we bought a decade ago with a larger, higher-quality TV, and it’s not that I don’t enjoy watching Adi, my spouse, with a flattering new outfit, and it’s not that new gadgets don’t excite me sometimes. It does. I confess. And it’s a constant struggle between me and the consumer culture whether to buy or not to buy, and I am proud to say that I usually beat consumer culture.
To my delight, Adi, too, is really not a shopping enthusiast, and usually buys what she really needs, but on this vacation we knew it would be different. She knew what she needed, what each child was missing (I admit, i had no idea), and decided to wait to buy in Amsterdam. And me? I decided to flow. I even got a compliment from her for flowing with her in the vast majority of the times she wanted to go into another H&M (There isn’t one square mile without H&M in this city!), or PRIMARK or some other false store, and I answered “Clearly we must go in!”. It also came out far less expensive than the two of us imagined. Not because it’s very cheap, but mainly because she found the best sales and discounts. Make no mistake, a big suitcase came out of Israel quite empty, and almost returned as an overload).
Not just
This vacation in Amsterdam wasn’t just another trip. Three years have passed since we took ourselves a few days abroad without the children (pregnancy, birth and so on). Amsterdam is also not just a city for us. This is the city we traveled on our honeymoon (one of the three), and we have long wanted to return to it. This vacation also comes in the midst of a super busy period for both of us, so this break was necessary.
A word about the weather – many ask how cold is it in Amsterdam in winter? So yes, it’s cold, but there is something in the European coldness that is easier to adapt to, and if you have thermal clothing and a good coat, then the cold doesn’t interfere with the trip. Inside the buildings it’s very warm and cozy, so dress up the onion method.
Well, enough with the intro already, tell us how it was!
So the truth is it was amazing, and we were able to balance quite well between her desire for shopping and my desire for… well, everything else except shopping. Below is the full and detailed itinerary, including objective, scientific and accurate reviews of everywhere!
Statement of transparency
If you order tickets through some of the links in the post, you won’t lose anything (the price will be the same, or even cheaper), and I will earn a small commission to help me finance my blog investment a little. I would really appreciate it.
Clicking on the place names links will open the Google Maps app and lead you to the place. For links to all sites and ticket reservations, read the post “Amsterdam in the winter”
Thursday - January 2nd, 2020
El Al morning flight. Waking up at 1am, the children are already resettled with their grandparents. We take off at 7, and land in Amsterdam at 10:30 in the morning.
The cheapest way (and the truth is also quite convenient) to get to the center of Amsterdam is by train from the airport at € 5.5 per ticket (usually leaving from platform 1).
You can try buying a ticket on the machines in the airport, but I recommend buying online in advance at this link, and printing your tickets in advance at your home printer. It will also give you an extra euro off the ticket.
So we arrived by train to Amsterdam Central. All day ahead, but we’re hungry and tired. It’s easy to find our hotel, which is an 8-minute walk from Central Station, on one of the canals, on a quiet street adjacent to Chinatown and the Red Lights District.
Pluses:
A small, intimate hotel right on the cana (children under 12 aren’t allowed), in a really nice and quiet location. 11 minutes from Dam Square, 8 minutes from Central Station, 5 minutes from Red lights district, and 1 minute from Voyager CoffeeShop. In general, we enjoyed the hotel very much, the room was great (cozy and warm, large comfortable bed with mosquito net, sofas and table, large dresser with TV, and the icing on the cake – a large bathroom with a luxurious bath / jacuzzi and shower, very high level). The owner is lovely and kind, the place is clean and quiet and we just didn’t lack anything. Breakfast is also available (personally we preferred to enjoy the restaurants around).
Minuses:
Those who care about staying on the main square won’t enjoy the hotel’s location. Plus, like many other places in Amsterdam – the hotel has quite a few steep stairs. A little challenging in different states of consciousness :), especially on the second floor where we slept. You can also request a room on the first floor, which is also equipped with rooms with a bath (but not a jacuzzi).
Landing and Adaptation - Buying a local sim and checking (how not) the blue chips
We put our luggage at the hotel, the nice man at the reception brings one of the suitcases up to the room, allowing us to check in two hours before the official check-in time. We decide to go for a meal first, and are pleased to find that the Thai Bird Restaurant is 5 minutes from the hotel. Wow, how tasty! I order noodles with tofu and vegetables in a spicy green curry sauce, and Adi enjoys Pad Thai with shrimps + vegetarian eggroll for both of us. Everything is delicious! Adi promises herself that we will be back here before the end of our holiday
After the restaurant we go to the hotel to take a nap, and force ourselves to wake up in the afternoon to buy a local sim (phone point, ten euros for 3 gigabytes. Completely enough), and a short shopping trip. On the way we see a really long queue for the blue french fries, and decide to avoid the queue. On our way back to the hotel the queue is still really long, and we decide to go for it. Fucking half an hour in line, but if everyone stands, then it’s probably worth it, isn’t it? Well, no !! Nice, but not very tasty, probably made a mistake when we just ordered it with ketchup and mayonnaise and not with any of the 24 special sauces they offer. The secret of these fries seems to be in the sauce, not the fries itself, so I recommend choosing a sauce that you haven’t tried yet. After that we were tired and retired to the hotel (very) early with sore leg muscles.
Us being romantic
Friday - Amsterdam's dungeon and perfect vegan food
So what happens when you go to bed early? You wake up at 5 am, and find that the sunrise in Amsterdam is so stoned that it occurs at 8:50!
So even when we finally get ourselves out of bed and get out of the hotel at 8am (we lend an umbrella from the hotel, because today is the only day that is expected to be rainy), it is still dark, and it feels like we can still go out to some nightclub like the cool couple we no longer are ..
After some serious deliberation, we decide to go on foot to the Winkel 43 cafe which is famous for its apple pie. We have breakfast and pie. The pie is amazing, and I relish every bite, though it’s not the most delicious I’ve ever eaten in my life (that’s why you’ll have to go to Salzburg).
At this point we decide to part, so that Adi does some shopping and I go for a little solo time. I give another chance to the blue chips, this time with mayo pesto, and it really enhances the flavor. After about an hour we meet again, finish with the shopping, and go to put the bags (fucking heavy!) In the hotel. After a short rest, this time we decide to take a taxi to Amsterdam’s Dungeon, because we no longer have the energy to walk (order tickets to the Dungeon via this link). Important tip: If you plan to be with a local Sim, do yourself a favor and download Uber in advance, because you need a phone number to run the app.
We arrive, there is a huge queue along the street, but we don’t give up, and after about half an hour, we enter. So what is the dungeon? It’s basically a comedic medieval performance. The show basically involves moving between quite a few rooms, with each room having a different actor guiding the group, making a show, taking audience members and engage them, trying to be a little funny, a little scary. Very invested and nice, but not scary enough, and this attraction isn’t really a must, in my opinion.
Vegan Junk Food Bar
We’re hungry when we finish, and decide to go eat at the Vegan Junk Food Bar. On the way, my umbrella is constantly blowing inside out, and instead of helping me, Adi is laughing her ass off again and again. No, I have no idea at what kind of mental state she was in.
At the end we arrive at the restaurant. After standing in line for 15 minutes, we get inside. We order fried vegan shrimp that are surprisingly delicious. I order a schnitzel burger, Adi orders shawarma (with spicy red peppers from above and tahini), and everything is so tasty. I wish they would open a branch in Israel as well.
After we finish, we go for a little walk through the busy streets, some shopping, and Adi indulges on churro with Nutella at Rene’s croissanterie, en route to the hotel. She claims it’s the most delicious churro she has ever eaten. I didn’t eat because I don’t like chocolate. yes, yes, i’m wierd like that.
The umbrella constantly flips and Adi is busy taking photos
Vegan junk food and excellent apple pie
Saturday - high on public transport
We wake up at a normal hour and decide to go have breakfast at Omellege, which is a restaurant with lots of egg options of all kinds. Great if you your’e a cheese and meat fan.
We decide to make this a lazier day (after each evening we got broken by all the walking), so we come back to the hotel and book a 48-hour ticket for free public transportation throughout the city (truthfully? Too bad we didn’t do it the first day. Highly recommended) . We booked through this link, went to GVB’s offices in front of the main station, gave them the email we received, and they gave us 2 cardboard cards to be used from now on. Simply use Google maps, choose a public transit route and you’ll know how to get anywhere.
Say No More
In general, there are 2 main options:
- Recommended option – Buy a ticket in advance for a few days via this link, go with the Voucher you’ll receive by email to GVB’s offices outside Amsterdam Central, and you’ll receive a ticket with which you can travel throughout Amsterdam by metro, tram and bus. Just don’t forget to pass it on a validation machine at every entry and exit. Just do what you see everyone doing.
- Buy a prepaid OV Chipkaart on the machines and load it with money. If you come for a few days you need Disposable card and not Anonymous card (which is good for 4 years, and therefore suitable for those who have come for a long time or just come to Amsterdam a lot)
Swinging, Flying & Floating
After taking the tickets, entering the Central Station and coming out on the other side, we boarded the free ferry that everyone boarded for Amsterdam Noord. We purchased tickets ahead of time on the site, and went up the cool elavator for a look at the view from the tower called A’dam Lookout. Let’s be honest.. The tower is nice, but the swing is the real deal. At the entrance to the tower there is an option to take photos with cool green screen images behind you, and then you can pay to receive their digital or printed copy (we paid for a digital copy, see pictures below). Incidentally, although we booked for a certain hour, we saw that there was not much queue and they agreed to put us in almost an hour ahead of time, so the time you booked is not very obliging if the place isn’t too crowded. It’s a 5-minute electric swing, with the view of all Amsterdam spread out before our eyes at a height of about 100 meters above the ground. A really cool experience, and not at all scary, if you ask me (Adi .. On the other hand … was a little terrified, cursed be a little bit, but eventually enjoyed it alot).
After the swing we continued on to This is Holland, which is the coolest flight simulator over the whole of the Netherlands. Click here to order a combined ticket for observation and the simulator (without swing) at 25 euros. At first you enter 2 rooms that feature films with a brief explanation of Holland’s history, and in the third room begins the simulator (10 minutes in total). It also includes smells, wind and a real sense of aviation. Short but really worth it!!
Isolation tanks
It was already 15 noontime, and at we booked an isolation tank for 18:15. So we used our public transit card for the first time and traveled to the area with the tram. So comfortable and fun. We had a great pizza at La Zoccola, and from there we hiked some more and arrived almost an hour ahead of time at the Koan Float.
So what are these Isolation tanks (also known as sensory deprivation tanks)? It’s a large bath tank (for one person) with a lid that you close after you enter. Inside there are buttons with which you can control the lighting and also music that you hear underwater. The bathtub is full of Dead Sea salt style water, so even if you completely relax your body, you just float. It’s a cool, special, and relaxing experience, though it also made me dizzy for a few minutes out of the 45 minutes session. It’s recommended to do it naked. You do it in a locked room that also has a shower inside, so there is no privacy problem.
The Koan Float itself is in the nice neighborhood of 9 streets, and it’s very nice to walk around there. Not far away is the Flying Tiger toy store so we went there and bought some gifts for the kids.
From there we took the tram to the hotel. We wanted to eat something but all the restaurants were over crowded and we finally found ourselves in a Chinese diner called Pad thai world, and we ate a Pad Thai. Don’t bother!. I put up the link just so you know where not to go.
Sunday - the most delicious cookie in the world
We open this morning at the Mr. Rabbit restaurant. It’s a fine breakfast, and a cute Israeli waitress. We then proceed to the famous cookie – Van stapele. Listen, I have no idea what they are doing there but surely this is the most delicious cookie I’ve ever tasted in my life, and I don’t even like chocolate! Note: It well may be I wasn’t in the most objective state of mind…
After a bit of wandering the streets and shopping in Primark, we went to fulfill Adi’s promise to herself, and ate again at Bird. Adi suggested we also really try to rest for a moment on this vacation, so we spent a few hours in the room, and in the evening we just went out to eat a delicious vegetarian hamburger at Hard Rock Cafe, with great music and atmosphere. The restaurant is right next to the museums square, so we jumped in and saw the locals skating on the ice in a lovely plaza that’s set up every winter.
Then Adi chose to go read a bit in our cozy room, and I went to take a look at one of the alternative pubs I recommended, the Excalibur, which is in the Red Lights District. There was rock music, and there was a pool table on the second floor, but I found it hard to really get in the atmosphere when I knew that Adi was in the room and maybe waiting for me, so I cut back to the hotel quite early.
Monday - Albert Cuyp Market, H/earth and Sarphati Park
Last and long day ahead of us because the flight only leaves at 21:30. We open the morning with an excellent breakfast at the Ree 7 restaurant, and from there return to the room to pack because check-out time is at 12 o’clock. After an impressive packing of loads of Primark bags, we put your luggage in for storage in the hotel, and head out to the Albert Cuyp market. Plenty of food stalls, clothes, jewelry and whatnot. In the middle of the market you’ll fing the almost 100% vegan restaurant – H/earth. We really liked the pun. It’s actually a restaurant that incorporates an art studio, and it’s also coolly designed (for example, a large table with 3 swings in each direction in the center of the restaurant), and also really tasty. We ordered the broccoli gnocchi with cashew cream, and vegan sushi, and it was really tasty, and very aesthetically pleasing. warmly recommended.
From the restaurant we continued for a walk in a Sarphati park, which is a small park with a lake and ducks in the center. Very Amsterdamish and peaceful. At the entrance to it you’ll notice a sign that instead of asking people to keep it clean, it says “Most people in this park throw the garbage in the trash or take it with them.” We loved the original approach. Will it work in Israel too?
After a short rest on the lawn and a video chat with the kids, we decide to go to the Big Brother of a Sarphati park – Vondel Park. At this point we no longer have the strength to walk and after a short visit we decide to go for a last meal at the Vegan Junk Food Bar. This time I tried a double cheeseburger in a black bun and it was just perfect. Much better than the Schnitzel burger.
That’s it. tired, full and cool like we are, already smelling the house, and beginning our way to the airport and home for the children, shattering into everyday reality.
No, they didn’t miss us at all.
To conclude
Oh Amsterdam .. a beautiful and luxurious city. There aren’t any “musts”, or insanely exciting attractions, and I’m still fascinated by it every time. Her beauty, the tall, tall houses and the canals in between, or any other piece of street or park, simply fills your heart with such positive vibes. The liberality of this city, the free atmosphere, the couples you see on the streets bursting with laughter with no reason (well, who am i kidding?), the coffeeshops, and even the Red Lights district. You see that the Dutch are really trying to give maximum freedom, even if it doesn’t always work 100%, and I appreciate that. Although it was January, it was packed with tourists, and everyone got along fine with the coooold weather. The food .. which is a battle in itself, what to eat first, when, and how to put all those things we want to taste in a limited time and with a finite stomach …
And finally, the convenience of the getting aound, whether it is by public transport, or by bike, or on foot, it’s all close and comfortable. And fun!
There are many other things I wrote on my list that we didn’t get to do, so I will certainly come back many more times, both for a solo trip, and with friends. But even without this list, it’s just fun to be there. Don’t hesitate and book your tickets now.
I would love to hear from you about your experiences from Amsterdam, and what did you think about this post
