You know that moment when you are  asked by your buddy’s from abroad: ” Hey we are coming to town for a few days, what are fun things to do?” And your mind just goes blank ———- because when you’re a local you don’t do all the things tourists do.

This past year I’ve been discovering a lot of new things  in Amsterdam and I had my younger brother visiting me recently which was the perfect opportunity to be a tourist in my own city. I rounded up some tips which I hope might help anyone who is planning a visit here.

Transportation

We are very well connected through train, bus, metro and tram. From the airport you can go to the city by train or bus. The train will take you the Central Station and runs every 15 min (except for the night). Tickets must be bought beforehand. The  bus takes you to other parts of the city  and tickets can be bought inside the bus. These two websites will help you al lot during your stay in Amsterdam:

• How to travel from point to point
• Amsterdam’s own public transportation system

On to fun things! Our #1 transportation is the bicycle, I highly recommend you to rent a bike  to discover the city, it’s much more fun then sightseeing on a bus. But when you do please pay good attention  to the road and fellow bike riders. Other then bicycles, our canals in the city are also very famous. Obviously this is obligatory sightseeing  #2 to do when in Amsterdam. I so loved it! Really enjoyed the different perspective I got to see though the canal cruise. The ferry in the collage is also part of the public transportation system which runs 24 hrs and is free of charge.

Area’s worth to walk around are (Collage shows points 1, 2 and 3):

• Museum square (yes, several museums are situated here: Van Gogh, Rijksmuseum and Stedelijkmuseum)
• Vondelpark area, grab a coffee to go first at Brandmeester!
• Jordaan District, my favorite area.  It’s beautiful to walk or bike through. Has lot’s of nice restaurants and shops. Very good vibes everywhere here.
• De negenstraatjes in the city centre, this area is full of cosy lunch spots, vintage stores and such.
• Westerpark area. Where you can enjoy some Jazz and Pizza all together:

Another area I highly recommend to go see is NDSM across the river (the ferry gets you there). It’s an old shipyard terrain.  I already talked about it in this article. On this site this  you a get another different view of the city and you can enjoy a good sunset:

Restaurants:

• Kantjil en de Tijger :  Good priced Indonesian food. We have a lot of history with Indonesia so while your visiting The Netherlands why not get a taste of this too.
• For the best pizza in town I highly recommend Italian restaurant Yam Yam. The pizza in the pic is also called Yam Yam, if you are a truffle lover then this is a must eat pizza! The restaurant is very small and basic but so are the prices for their dishes while the quality is sky high.
• If you are  a steak lover restaurant Loetje is the best in town.
• Last but not least Restaurant Moeders is a must go to for typical Dutch food. This is one of the tiniest restaurants I know but oh so cosy and full of pictures of “moms”. You can order a combo of all sorts of dishes so that way you canget a taste of everything.

For drinks these are the TaniStates recommendations:

• Morgan and Mees. One of Amsterdam’s new hotspots. Love the Swedish furniture they have going on inside.
• Pllek. Located on the NDSM terrain. Need I say more.
• Razmataz. Great Gin and Tonic cocktails here.
• Skylounge. Great view over the city.

Well I hope it wasn’t bad to read through this long blogpost. If you visit one of these spots I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Love,

Tanimara