The Magic of Amsterdam: A City of Canals, Coffee Shops, and Culture

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The Magic of Amsterdam: A City of Canals, Coffee Shops, and Culture

May 13, 2023

7–10 minutes

Amsterdam is a city with a youthful vibrancy like few others. The hustle and bustle of all the bicycles, pedestrians, trams and busses mixed with the old-world feel of the architecture and canals give it a unique vibe. The city’s open-mindedness is evident throughout, and you will see people of many different cultures and sub-cultures as well as food from many regions of the world. I visited for a couple days on my most recent trip to Europe, and found that it was much different than I expected

Why visit Amsterdam?

There seems to be two types of tourists in Amsterdam; the ones excited to see museums and architecture, and the ones excited to partake in the debauchery it is more famous for. In my case, I was more the former, with plans to see the Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank House, and Rijksmuseum. I know many of my friends would have fallen under the second camp, ready to indulge in the coffee shops and stroll through the red-light district. I think a lot of people would probably fall in both camps, and no matter what your preferences, there is something for you there.

Museums

Amsterdam is home to the Rijksmuseum, one of Europe’s premier art museums that displays many artifacts from the Dutch Golden Age. It’s most famous painting is Rembrandt’s “Night Watch,” painted in 1642. It also holds many paintings from Van Gogh, Manet, Goya, and more.

In the same square as the Rijksmuseum, you will find the Van Gogh Museum. This museum houses the largest collection of Van Gogh paintings and drawings in the world. It contains over 200 paintings, 500 drawing and 750 letters by Van Gogh.

Depending on your interests and time available, there is also the Anne Frank house and Rembrandt House Museum. The Anne Frank house is located in the same house where her and her family hid from Nazi’s in the annex. It contains many artifacts from her life that provide historical context to her story. It also serves as a place to educate people on the history of the Holocaust and human rights. The Rembrandt House Museum is another art museum, containing a collection of paintings and etchings from the famous artist, located in the house where he lived and worked between 1639 and 1658.

Architecture of Amsterdam

Central Amsterdam is a beautiful city, and one of the most visually appealing in Europe, in my opinion. It is a bit confusing to navigate, since it is not a traditional grid like many cities and many of the streets look nearly identical. However, there are rows and rows of gorgeous houses and idyllic canals. Many of the houses/apartment buildings have stores and restaurants on the ground level, many of which seemed localized. There are also pretty sights such as the Royal Palace, and the Central Train Station.

Amsterdam’s Royal Palace backlit by the sunset

Food, drink, and other substances

As I mentioned before, there is food from many regions of the world here. One place where you can go and see many of them showcased is Foodhallen. It is a food hall with food themes from the US, Korea, Japan, Mexico, and many European countries as well. It shares a building with a lowkey club, and had it’s own DJ when I visited. The room seemed like an old warehouse, and gave the vibe that it was candle-lit, which was cool. I was shocked at how young and energetic everybody there felt after being in places like London and Paris, which are generally young but maybe a bit less energetic. This almost felt like New York to me.

In Amsterdam, you can also find very good Fries. The fries here are similar to the ones you’ll find in Belgium, adorned with cheese, and different types of sauces (usually mayo-based). For our fix, we went to Fabel Friet. It was PACKED, but they had “security” to move the line quickly and efficiently, so we still got our order in less than 10 minutes.

My biggest food goal in Amsterdam was to obtain Stroopwafels. I wanted to try Rudi’s Original Stroopwafels at the Albert Cuyp Markt, but it was closed while I was there. So, we went to Van Wonderen Stroopwafels. The stroopwafels were tasty, with a variety of toppings available (including caramel, chocolate, and different types of candy). However, the secret was out on Instagram/TikTok about this place, so it was packed with tourists like us ;).

Amsterdam probably isn’t the first place you think of when you think of ramen, but we went to a shop called Ramen Kingdom that I think should put Amsterdam on your ramen map (if you have one). We arrived right before opening, and found that there was still a line of people waiting to get in. They were extremely efficient at getting people through, however, so we only waited 20-30 minutes even though there were a few groups ahead of us.

At first, I thought the price was a bit steep (20 euros a bowl), but then when I went to check out, I learned that the price included two additional toppings of your choice (I usually pay extra for eggs or tea anyways, and they were both options in this list of toppings). So, by the time I got my egg and extra noodles, I think it was cheaper than what I would have paid in a city like London or Paris (or even Houston where I live) for a similar order. Even though there was a line and they were doing everything in their power to get people in the door, it didn’t feel rushed at all, and they continued to fill our water even after we sat for a couple minutes to plan our next stop. I highly recommend this shop, especially if it’s a cold and rainy Spring day.

While I can’t say I tried out any coffee shops, they were abundant and easy to spot in Central Amsterdam. If you come here for this and you stay near the city center, you will have no problem finding what you are looking for, and you will notice many people partaking.

Finally, there is the Heineken Experience. The experience includes an hour-long tour, 3 pours of Heineken beer, and access to their rooftop bar overlooking the area. It was an awesome experience and I would highly recommend if you like beer!

Getting around Amsterdam

Public transport in Amsterdam (and all of the Netherlands from what I saw) is AWESOME. This is one area where the stereotypes are definitely true, at least as a tourist. They have many ways in which you can use it, and they are all compatible with tap-to-pay. In terms of which one is best, I think that will mostly depend on your route. Nowadays, maps will show you the best one to get you where you’re going, so I relied on that heavily.

Busses: We took this a lot from where we were staying, which was a houseboat in a marina a bit out of the center. It was pretty fast and got us to the center within 10-15 minutes. All the busses I saw were huge, essentially 2 busses attached together like a subway car, so seating was never an issue.

Trams: We didn’t use these too much, as they seemed mostly good for when you were in the center, and less useful for getting in and out of it. However, we did use it to get out of the rain. It essentially operated like a larger bus

Metro: This was one of my favorite metro systems that I have ever been in. It was incredibly clean, both the stations and the cars. One of the stations had a really cool neon map of the system on the ceiling of the escalator. Even though the platforms were fairly deep down, they did not seem to be the cell-reception dead zones that London and Paris stations can sometimes be.

Conclusion and tips

Just like any city with a large bike presence, you need to be incredibly cognizant of the bikes as you cross the street. Unlike cars, you will hardly hear them coming and there are as many or more of them than cars in other major cities.

Another word of advice is make sure you book your museum tickets in advance! I wasn’t able to visit all of the museums I had intended to because I forgot to book these tickets far enough in advance. I looked a day or two ahead and there were very few available, so I would recommend booking a couple of weeks ahead, at least.

Amsterdam has something for almost everybody. I hope you found this blog helpful, and maybe inspired you a bit to go visit. For me personally, writing this post just made me want to return in the summer and enjoy the things I missed as well as the energy when it’s warm out. As vibrant as it was on a rainy and cold March weekend, I can only imagine a sunny and warm day in the summer.

Thanks for reading, and follow along as I shift to some of my upcoming travels in the Americas! I’ll be going to Miami later this month and Chicago at the beginning of July, with some other potential trips in between.