Amsterdam – Amsterdam/Hamburg/Copenhagen vacation – August 2018

Amsterdam – Amsterdam/Hamburg/Copenhagen – August 2018

I had always dreamed of a European vacation, but it felt out of reach for many reasons – kids, money, time.  Our son got the opportunity to travel to Denmark with his soccer team, so we thought “here’s our chance to go”!  We had 10 days, so we wanted to make the most of it and see as much as possible. Our travels included Amsterdam Netherlands, Hamburg Germany, and Copenhagen Denmark.  I can’t wait to go back!

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Amsterdam

Our adventure started in Amsterdam, Netherlands.  We took a train from the airport to Amsterdam Central Station and walked the few blocks to the hotel.  We stayed at the Grand Hotel Amrath Amsterdam for three nights.  This was a fantastic hotel in a perfect location.  It exceeded all of my expectations (clean, comfortable, and even complimentary snacks, soda, beer and wine in our minibar) AND was in walking distance to everything we wanted to see and do.  When we arrived, we had been traveling for almost 24 hours were relieved to check in quickly and freshen up.

We wanted to hit the ground running and took off exploring J  It was late afternoon so we took a couple of hours to get acquainted with the area and scope out the restaurants, bars and landmarks.  I immediately fell in love with the city.  It was like taking a step back in time with the stone roads, canals, and architecture – everywhere I turned there was something interesting to see.

Attractions

It was impossible to do everything we wanted in two short days, but we enjoyed as much as possible! Here’s some of the highlights of our trip.  I recommend purchasing tickets to all the museums online!

• Royal Palace in Dam Square (paleisamsterdam.nl/). The palace was packed with impressive furniture, art, and wonderful stories.  I’m a huge history buff and loved it!
• Van Gogh museum (vangoghmuseaum.nh/). The museum takes you through the life of Van Gogh through his art and letters – very enjoyable!
• Heineken Experience (heineken.com/Heineken-Experience). This took you through the history of the company, the process of brewing beer, and came with two beers J
• Canals – we did not have a chance to do a canal tour, but loved walking alongside them!
• Street market – wooden shoes, tulips, and other souvenirs galore!
• Iamsterdam sign – snap a selfie in front of this famous landmark.

Restaurants and Dining

There were so many things to eat and drink in Amsterdam – here’s some favorites!

• Omelegg – wonderful little breakfast restaurant
• Waffles and crepes – we enjoyed waffles and crepes from multiple restaurants, they’re everywhere
• Stroopwafel – thin waffle cookies with syrup in the middle
• Bitterballen – traditional pub snack, deep fried meatball dish

Missed Attractions

I would return to Amsterdam for another vacation in a heartbeat!  Here are some other things we didn’t get a chance to do:

• Rijksmuseum (rijksmuseum.nl/en) – museum of Netherlands with Dutch art and history.
• Delft Pottery factory – this is outside of the city center and we opted to stay in walking distance of our hotel.
• Zaanse Schans (dezaanseschans.nl/en/) – residential area full of windmills, handicraft shops and museums – this is outside of the city center and we opted to stay in walking distance of our hotel.
• Frans Hals museum (franshalsmuseum.nl/en/) – work of Dutch artist Frans Hals
• Anne Frank house – I would have loved to visit, but we ran out of time.

I can talk about traveling ALL DAY LONG! If you have a question or comment, please feel free to message me below!

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