When in Amsterdam....is a great destination for families. We are thankful to our guest blogger Lisa Watson who has a wonderful food blog Italian Kiwi. This posting was first published on her blog in combination with a recipe for Dutch pancakes. Mmmmm lekker.
Lisa and her family came to Amsterdam in August (summer) and the activities are useful for children to the age of thirteen. Thanks again Lisa.
We were recently
in Amsterdam for four days with our two boys, aged 7 and 10 years old. Amsterdam
is one of the most child-friendly cities we’ve been to in Europe, and we’ve
been to a quite a few! We could easily
have spent longer enjoying the city with the boys. We’ll definitely go back again sometime soon.
Here are 10 activities we discovered while there that we and our kids really
enjoyed doing.
 |
| Amsterdam canal boat tour (source: wiki commons) |
 |
| Amsterdam Tram 4 goes to RAI and the Amstel Park (source: Wiki Commons) |
2.
Park yourself in
Tranquility: Take tram 4 to RAI, then cross the road and
enter into Amstelpark. This sward of green is a paradise for children! The
playground is large, with different structures for different ages. There is
also a minigolf course, which is a little expensive, but very well-kept. For
children who like animals, you can find wallabies and alpacas, and for the
treasure-hunters in your family, there are egg sculptures hidden throughout the
park. There is also a miniature train that you can go for rides on.
 |
| Amsterdam's Amstel Park (source: Wiki Commons) |
 |
| Amsterdam's Parkcafe Zomers (source Parkcafe Zomers) |
3.
Feed Yourself and the Ducks: In
Amstelpark, go to eat some Amsterdamsche bitterballen (a delicious kind of
croquette) with mustard at Parkcafé Zomers.
Sit outside on the terrace near the lake and enjoy the view while the kids
feed/chase the ducks. The staff are very friendly and there is lots of room for
the kids to run around.
 |
| Amsterdam's Nemo Science Centre (Source: Nemo Museum) |
4.
Find Nemo: The Nemo Science Museum is located near Amsterdam's Central Train Station. It is a hands-on experiment mecca
for kids. Be warned, it will be difficult to get them out of here! The
beautiful building has an oasis of sanity in the form of a roof-top garden,
which has a beautiful view of Amsterdam. Important note: if
you want to see one of the demonstrations that happen at the museum during the
day, get your place at least 15 minutes before it starts or the kids won’t be
able to see anything and you will have crying fits on your hands (learnt from
hard experience!).
 |
| Amsterdam's Prisengracht bordering the Jordaan (Source: Wiki Commons) |
5. Talk a Walk: Take a tram to Dam Square, then go for a walk in the West of the centre along canals and down tiny
streets of the Jordaan. The bonus is that if the kids are getting hungry or tired, there are
plenty of cafés to choose from. Just don’t go into a place that calls
itself a “coffeeshop”, as they deal in another kind of “pick-me-up”! Note: In
the weekends there are many groups celebrating stag and hen parties. With
children, it is better to walk around this area in the morning or early
afternoon. Avoid walking into the North-eastern part of Amsterdam from the Square as
that is where the Red Light District is situated.
 |
| Pancake House Amsterdam: De Carrousel Pannenkoeken (Source Carrousel Pannenkoeken) |
6.
Eat in a Merry-Go-Round: A short walk from the Museumplein and infant of the old Heineken Brewery there is a fantastic restaurant called De Carrousel Pannenkoeken that serves Dutch pancakes. It
has been set up in a converted carousel building. Some of the horses are
still in place. The service is fast, and the food is delicious. Even better,
you can relax with an end of lunch coffee while the kids can go to a small area
where there are comfy chairs a TV playing cartoons, and a blackboard on the
wall for them to draw on.
 |
| Zaanse Schans, Amsterdam day trip (Source: Wiki commons) |
7. Feel the Wind in Your Hair: Take bus number 391 from just outside the Central Station in Amsterdam to the unpronounceable Zaanse Schans and see fabulously restored windmills in a beautiful setting. The bus takes 40 minutes, but drops you right at the gate of the park. You can enter the park for free, but if you want to go inside any of the windmills it costs you a small amount. I think it’s worth it to go inside one of them to see the vanes and mechanisms from close up. You can catch a little passenger ferry across the river Zaans to the quaint little village, or just walk across the bridge. Don’t eat in the actually park if you can avoid it. The food is really not that good. A perfect place for lunch is a restaurant called De Vijf Broers, just across the bridge from the park. It has fantastic outdoor seating next to the river, a wonderful view of the windmills, and best of all, a giant sand-pit with toys in it, walled in on three sides so children can’t flee to the water! You can also catch a train from the tiny station of Zaanse Schans, which only takes 15 minutes to get to Amsterdam. We caught it only on our way back to Amsterdam, as we didn’t want to have to drag the kids around the enormous Central Station looking for a train.
 |
| Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Source: Wiki Commons) |
8. Soak Up Some Culture: There is, of course, the famous Van Gogh museum. We didn’t even try to go in as there was a two hour wait outside, whether you had already bought ticket or not. The museum is small and fills up very quickly. We did go to the Rijksmuseum, which was excellent. To avoid any queues, buy the tickets for the adults in the family online before you go, and then go to the reception desk in the middle of the beautiful entry atrium (NOT the ticket windows) to pick up free tickets for any children in the family under 18. Start on the fourth floor and snatch glimpses of the masterpieces as the children pull you past. Our boys loved a room on that floor where there is a huge replica of a battle galleon, and paintings on the walls of ships. Just after that, there is a room full of enormous dollhouses, which I’m sure girls would love! The museum provides a brochure for kids with a kind of treasure-hunt for them to follow. They need to look for particular parts of paintings in different rooms. I suggest you limit your visit to an hour to avoid the worst of the “museum fatigue” that sets in quickly when children are present.
 |
| De DierenCappel, Amsterdam Petting Zoo (Source: De DierenCappel Facebook) |
9. Go Farming: Visit the
farm/petting park that is situated right in the middle of Amsterdam. The
farm is called De Dieren Cappel and
is within walking distance of the Central Train Station on the western side. They have all sorts of
farm animals, such as goats, pigs, sheep and rabbits that the kids can pet.
 |
| Amsterdam's Het Scheepvaartmuseum (Maritime Museum) (Source: Het Scheepvaartmuseum Facebook) |
10. Sail The Seven Seas: Well, the boat
doesn’t actually set sail, but you can get the sea expeience by going to the Het Scheepvaartmuseum (my kids think the name is
hilarious!). This Maritime Museum is next to the Central Station. You can
explore a real-life replica of a sailing ship which sunk in the 1700’s, plus
inside the museum there are lots of hands-on activities for kids, plus
different tours you can take around the museum. Check out their website
for details.
If you are planning to hit more than three museums or
more, look into getting some kind of museum pass like theAmsterdam and Holland Pass or
a museum card,
at least for the adults. The children often get in free up to a certain
age, so it’s less interesting to get one for them.
When in Amsterdam...enjoy!
You may also like the following blogs:
All Time Top 10 Things to do in Amsterdam: a critical approach
Amsterdam's Top 10 things to eat: a critical approach
Things to do in Amsterdam: local tips from famous Amsterdammers
Amsterdam the Fault in Our Stars book and movie details
When in Amsterdam...enjoy!
You may also like the following blogs:
All Time Top 10 Things to do in Amsterdam: a critical approach
Amsterdam's Top 10 things to eat: a critical approach
Things to do in Amsterdam: local tips from famous Amsterdammers
Amsterdam the Fault in Our Stars book and movie details
No comments:
Post a Comment