3 Nights in: Amsterdam 🇳🇱 

Hi everyone – hope you’re all doing okay.

Today’s blog post is a little roundup of my trip to Amsterdam I went on last Easter.

I’m finding it very annoying that, for some reason, I don’t have very many pictures of my trip. However, after visiting once for 3 nights, I absolutely want to return in the next few years and I’ll definitely be doing a second ‘revisited’ blog post about it!

So, we landed in Amsterdam very early in the morning, and experienced some drama about 5 minutes after arriving in the country. Right, taxi to our apartment; let’s go… apparently not. After finding what we thought was a normal taxi driver (I mean, why wouldn’t he be?) and following him to his car, we were chased by the police shouting and screaming because he appeared to be a ‘fake’ taxi driver, and apparently would have conned us out of about 100 euros for a 10 minute journey. Oopsy. (Thanks for saving us, though, po po.)

Oh yes, even more embarrasment: when we arrived to our so-called air B&B, it appeared that there were 2 men sitting on the steps by the entrance. My boyfriend Jake then proceeded to say ‘excuse me’, trying to get in to the apartment… only to find that the bloke sitting down was looking at him in horror because we were trying to open the door to his home. Right in front of his face.

Umm, anyway… shortly after arriving, we wanted to get out ASAP and see some sights. Amsterdam itself is such a gorgeous city, full of winding, cobbled streets, bikes zooming in every direction at about 100mph and, of course, the famous canals.

We figured that, just maybe, Easter weekend wasn’t the best time to visit Amsterdam, as everywhere was utterly jam-packed to the point where we struggled to find seats anywhere.

There are an abundance of attractions and sights in Amsterdam, and 3 nights just wasn’t enough to experience everything! Even if you’re just wandering around the city not doing anything specific, you could easily take an entire day to really get a feel for the place. Everything is very urban-style, bright and colourful.

My absolute favourite thing we did was the Body World’s museum – perhaps not one for the squeamish, but it was the most interesting museum I have ever been to. I’ll try to explain it without making it sound disgusting: it’s basically a museum of art and exhibitions which are all made out of real bodies, organs, muscles, skin and more. Yes, it sounds absolutely foul, but I promise it’s not, and I was fascinated by everything I saw. Unsurprisingly, you’re not allowed to take photographs in there, so you’ll have to go and see it for yourself!

I would probably say many things Amsterdam boasts aren’t for the faint hearted; considering every street and ‘shop’ you walk past stinks to high heaven of, erm, a suspicious smelling plant, some people may not particularly like it. As well as this factor, there’s the Red Light District (again, no photo’s allowed) which some people find ‘offensive’. Really, I think it’s all part of the place, and contributes to it’s totally unique, unusual aura.

Amsterdam has a significant food scene (I wouldn’t say gourmet, more like cones of chips and nutella waffles) – I wonder why? If you’re ever feeling peckish in the city (which many people probably will) you’ll never be far away from some delicious snacks. Me and my sister practically lived off crepes when we were there, as pancake houses are on every corner… for someone with no willpower when it comes to eating, this was dangerous!

The food was all pretty reasonably priced (apart from one cafe which tried to charge us 18 euros for two crepes). Yeah, really good deal.

Speaking of food (my one true love), we visited a really great restaurant called CAU Amsterdam. Now, I usually steer well clear from steakhouses, because I’m generally spoilt for 0 or 1 veggie options there. However, this place was really accommodating, and all 4 of us thoroughly enjoyed our meal.

My food was delicious, and the service was also spot-on. Although I usually wouldn’t rush to dine at a steakhouse (as the photo of that steak is making me feel slightly ill) it provided all 4 of us with a fab evening, so it gets a big thumbs up.

Before we went, I was really keen to visit the Anne Frank House. I was gutted that we couldn’t get tickets online beforehand, and when we went to check, the queue was an estimated 4 hours long! An entire wasted day in a queue wasn’t too enticing (especially because it was raining) so next time I go, I am determined to go in and learn more about the place.

Amsterdam’s nightlife scene was also pretty buzzing, with stuff going on every night we were there. Whether you were looking for a romantic restaurant, loud bar, or chilled-out coffee shop, there was certainly something for everyone. You could also pay a visit to the red light district for a specific kind of ‘show’ (which I’m not going to go into detail about here), although prepare to leave feeling slightly sick and violated.

Luckily our air B&B was very central, so we were within walking distance of everything including the XtraCold Icebar, the Red Light District, and tonnes of cafe’s, shops and museums.

There were so many things I wanted to do in Amsterdam but didn’t get the chance for, so a second visit is vital. Because of the weather, we didn’t go to Vondelpark, which looks like the perfect place for a bike ride, and there were also lots of museums I missed out on.

It seems like that’s the end of my Amsterdam post. I hope you all enjoyed reading about my trip, and look forward to a part 2!

Love, Dayna x

P.S If you enjoyed this read, check out my other travel blogs!

• Barcelona
• Norway
• Benicassim
• Zante